controversial opinion: gatsby is a creep
Throwing party after party every night, it is finally revealed that Gatsby's motivation is not the enjoyment but his underlying hidden obsession for a lost love. Obsessing over a now-married woman, he spends years trying to gain even a sight of Daisy. If you don't find this the least bit suspicious, then there may be something wrong with you.
We often find Gatsby sitting in the corner observing his own parties, simply gazing out into his own creation. Though this may be stereotypical of a wallflower, the fact that they are his OWN is quite odd. This exemplifies the fact that he throws these parties purely for the fact that a married woman to show up. You may think that it is just my word choice which is slowly convincing you, but if we take a look at Fitzgerald's own quotes, he states that "he had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths- so that he could "come over" some afternoon to a stranger's garden."
Read that again. It sounds like the literal DEFINITION of stalking. We joke about it but imagine that you got married years ago, and suddenly you're invited to someone's house where you suddenly find out that your ex-boyfriend has been following you around and gazes at your house in the middle of the night. Creepy. Next time you think about Gatsby and his love for Daisy in all its glory, remind yourself about the fact that he followed around for a year.
We often find Gatsby sitting in the corner observing his own parties, simply gazing out into his own creation. Though this may be stereotypical of a wallflower, the fact that they are his OWN is quite odd. This exemplifies the fact that he throws these parties purely for the fact that a married woman to show up. You may think that it is just my word choice which is slowly convincing you, but if we take a look at Fitzgerald's own quotes, he states that "he had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths- so that he could "come over" some afternoon to a stranger's garden."
Read that again. It sounds like the literal DEFINITION of stalking. We joke about it but imagine that you got married years ago, and suddenly you're invited to someone's house where you suddenly find out that your ex-boyfriend has been following you around and gazes at your house in the middle of the night. Creepy. Next time you think about Gatsby and his love for Daisy in all its glory, remind yourself about the fact that he followed around for a year.
hey parvathi, I totally get what you are saying in this post. I feel really bad for Gatsby because he is truly stuck in the past as he is trying to get Daisy's attention through his plethora of purposeless parties. He does seem like a creep when he spends a majority of his party just looking at the guest hoping to see Daisy. But, one question I have is, if Daisy does come to one of his extravagant parties, what is he going to do, make her divorce Tom? This is a very interesting post.
ReplyDeleteI also sometimes got the feeling that he was just creepy and obsessed with this woman and went to extremes to pursue her. But I also just felt that since they had a thing before the war, it kind of made sense for him to be so obsessive over her. I love how you pointed out all the stalking actions Gatsby has done, it was really entertaining to read!
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