Love can make us do unimaginable things. It can push us to get to a goal, but it can also drive us into madness. Obsession has the potential to do the exact same things. Does this mean that love and obsession can be intertwined into something hysterical? F. Fitzgerald illustrates madness in The Great Gatsby through Jay Gatsby as he is obsessive and desires Daisy Buchanan to the point where she is the only thing he can think about, which shows that love has the potential to become insanity.
Jay Gatsby is an example of madness through his obsession over Daisy Buchanan. When Gatsby gets back from the war, he searches for Daisy and finds her living in Long Island, New York. Gatsby’s life goal is to be with her, but there are some obstacles in …show more content…
When Nick leaves the Buchanans’ at “half-past nine” (142) and sees Gatsby, Nick tells him that Myrtle is dead. Gatsby acts strangely casual about the incident like it was an everyday occurrence and says that he “thought so” and “told Daisy [he] thought so” (143). Gatsby thought that “it’s better that the shock should all come at once” (143). The conversation went onto Daisy, just as every conversation between Gatsby and Nick. Gatsby spoke of the accident and how Daisy felt “as if Daisy’s reaction was the only thing that mattered” (143). This shows us that even after being involved in a fatal accident that could possibly put Gatsby in jail, Gatsby was only concerned about Daisy and how she was going to cope with all of the emotions. Any normal person, who was not obsessively in love, would have thought about the consequences that he or she would have to face and the predicaments that were going to follow. Gatsby, nevertheless, was going to support Daisy and declare that he was the one who was driving the vehicle. After the hit-and-run, Gatsby does not go home. Alternatively, he decides to “wait [in the bush in front of the Buchanans’ mansion] and see if [Tom] tries to bother [Daisy]” (144). It would have been understandable if Gatsby had waited an hour. But Gatsby took the obsession to a new level and stood there, waiting until “about four o’clock” (147). …show more content…
He had won over the love of his life, acquired a close friend, and was finally happy. Why would anyone ever want such an exhilarating summer to slip away? Gatsby certainly did not want his summer to fade away. When Gatsby’s gardener tells him that he’s “going to drain the pool” (153) because the leaves were starting fall, Gatsby quickly tells him not to. A sign of summer going away is the pool being drained, and Gatsby did not want that. He makes up an excuse that he had “never used that pool all summer” (153) and wants to use it now, just so that the summer can stay tight in his palm. Gatsby perceives that if the summer goes away, everything he has worked incredibly hard for will go, too. He’s afraid that Daisy will slip away from his arms, once again. From here, Gatsby’s compulsiveness to think about Daisy starts turning towards the possibility that she will leave, just as the summer was beginning to do. As Nick leaves Gatsby’s house that morning, he tells Gatsby that he’ll “call … about noon” (154). Gatsby responds nervously by saying that “Daisy’ll call too” (154) and hopes that Nick will corroborate this. This is when Gatsby’s obsession and love for Daisy turns into paranoia. If he wasn’t thinking about Daisy the whole time, he would have seen it coming. Gatsby would have seen the man with the gun. George Wilson was not an expert with guns, and was known to be benevolent. In order for Wilson to shoot at Gatsby and hit him,
Jay Gatsby is an example of madness through his obsession over Daisy Buchanan. When Gatsby gets back from the war, he searches for Daisy and finds her living in Long Island, New York. Gatsby’s life goal is to be with her, but there are some obstacles in …show more content…
When Nick leaves the Buchanans’ at “half-past nine” (142) and sees Gatsby, Nick tells him that Myrtle is dead. Gatsby acts strangely casual about the incident like it was an everyday occurrence and says that he “thought so” and “told Daisy [he] thought so” (143). Gatsby thought that “it’s better that the shock should all come at once” (143). The conversation went onto Daisy, just as every conversation between Gatsby and Nick. Gatsby spoke of the accident and how Daisy felt “as if Daisy’s reaction was the only thing that mattered” (143). This shows us that even after being involved in a fatal accident that could possibly put Gatsby in jail, Gatsby was only concerned about Daisy and how she was going to cope with all of the emotions. Any normal person, who was not obsessively in love, would have thought about the consequences that he or she would have to face and the predicaments that were going to follow. Gatsby, nevertheless, was going to support Daisy and declare that he was the one who was driving the vehicle. After the hit-and-run, Gatsby does not go home. Alternatively, he decides to “wait [in the bush in front of the Buchanans’ mansion] and see if [Tom] tries to bother [Daisy]” (144). It would have been understandable if Gatsby had waited an hour. But Gatsby took the obsession to a new level and stood there, waiting until “about four o’clock” (147). …show more content…
He had won over the love of his life, acquired a close friend, and was finally happy. Why would anyone ever want such an exhilarating summer to slip away? Gatsby certainly did not want his summer to fade away. When Gatsby’s gardener tells him that he’s “going to drain the pool” (153) because the leaves were starting fall, Gatsby quickly tells him not to. A sign of summer going away is the pool being drained, and Gatsby did not want that. He makes up an excuse that he had “never used that pool all summer” (153) and wants to use it now, just so that the summer can stay tight in his palm. Gatsby perceives that if the summer goes away, everything he has worked incredibly hard for will go, too. He’s afraid that Daisy will slip away from his arms, once again. From here, Gatsby’s compulsiveness to think about Daisy starts turning towards the possibility that she will leave, just as the summer was beginning to do. As Nick leaves Gatsby’s house that morning, he tells Gatsby that he’ll “call … about noon” (154). Gatsby responds nervously by saying that “Daisy’ll call too” (154) and hopes that Nick will corroborate this. This is when Gatsby’s obsession and love for Daisy turns into paranoia. If he wasn’t thinking about Daisy the whole time, he would have seen it coming. Gatsby would have seen the man with the gun. George Wilson was not an expert with guns, and was known to be benevolent. In order for Wilson to shoot at Gatsby and hit him,