Great Gatsby Friendships

In the novel, “The Great Gatsby,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the quality of life is overall depicted as negative and dull. People are characterized as more selfish and uncaring compared to other time periods or novels. It is apparent that friendships and relationships are valued extremely low, and true rich relations are often very rare, as we only see a few throughout the entire novel. Common friendships in “The Great Gatsby” are usually based around a certain thing. For instance, Gatsby, the protagonists close friend, often hosts massive parties at his million-dollar mansion. Guests travel long distances just to enjoy the wealth and alcohol provided. However, it is obvious they do not attend for the sake of Gatsby, but what he has to offer to …show more content…
A disturbing quote from Daisy describing her new daughter says, “ I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool - that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”(21) This quote alone speaks volumes about Daisy and other women living during this time period. Being a “beautiful little fool,” essentially earns the person a wealthy partner who usually acts mainly as a financial crutch for the remainder of their lives. In example, Daisy, when left behind in America as Gatsby went to war, eventually turned to someone she felt slight connection for, but largely felt refuge in their wealth - Tom. This unhealthy relationship led Daisy to fall in love with comfort and safety, and forget about the struggling Gatsby. This situation clearly butchers any definition of true love, and deprives life 's beauty of natural things. Also, this led most marriages to be internally destroyed by affairs. It is arguable that the commonality of affairs can be traced to the deprivation of love, caused by financially based relationships. True love is also very misunderstood in the 1920’s as portrayed in the novel. After spending much time with Gatsby and hearing about how he feels about Daisy and the past that they had, Nick says, “ I couldn’t have talked to her across a teatable that day if I never talked to her again in this world.” (163) This quote is very interesting as it can be said that Nick is feeling this way after hearing about Gatsby and Daisy because it helps him realize how artificial and non-meaningful his current relationship is. It exposes him to what real love looks and feels like, and how blatant it is that these overwhelming emotions captivate Gatsby to the fullest extent. However, the average relationship of the 20’s as described by Fitzgerald does not come close to this level of intensity, and doesn’t deserve the right to bear the title