The Great Gatsby: A Complex Tragedy
Meredith Dennis
Ms. Johnson
Pre IB English 9
27 November 2012
Tragedy Strikes New York The 1920s came as a time for music, art and literature inspiration. In 1925, The Great Gatsby was published and was considered to be an American master-piece. The novel revolves around a main character’s hope and dream. Some critics believed the novel to be a comic, while others considered the book a tragedy. With deaths, dying dreams and broken hearts, The Great Gatsby is none other than a work of complex tragedy. The overall focus of The Great Gatsby is the great American dream. Jay Gatsby, whose dream revolves around the novel, has always loved just one girl by the name of Daisy. Early on in the book Gatsby’s true feelings emerge about Daisy. He is said to have lied about his family, wealth and social status to purely make himself “worthy” of her. Without his lies, Daisy would never have even considered marrying Gatsby because of his financial situation. Gatsby, at this point, is called away in the war and later attends Oxford College in England. Daisy waits and waits for Jay, but begins to move on in life. She could not keep waiting for someone and stopping her life for him. Daisy dates, parties and is married before Gatsby can come back home. He only finds out about her marriage to Tom Buchanan from a letter addressed to him while he was still at Oxford. After this tragic event, Gatsby’s dream was shattered and his heart broken. He thought of nothing and nobody but Daisy for months on end. How could he get back the one that he loved now that she was married to another man? This marks a tragic occurrence in the beginning of The Great Gatsby. When Nick Carraway, the narrator of this book, drops by for tea with his cousin Daisy Buchanan, he is struck by a sudden secret. Tom apparently has another woman and is cheating on Daisy! This is very depressing when Gatsby would do anything to have Daisy as his own, and Tom who is married to her takes her for granted and
Ms. Johnson
Pre IB English 9
27 November 2012
Tragedy Strikes New York The 1920s came as a time for music, art and literature inspiration. In 1925, The Great Gatsby was published and was considered to be an American master-piece. The novel revolves around a main character’s hope and dream. Some critics believed the novel to be a comic, while others considered the book a tragedy. With deaths, dying dreams and broken hearts, The Great Gatsby is none other than a work of complex tragedy. The overall focus of The Great Gatsby is the great American dream. Jay Gatsby, whose dream revolves around the novel, has always loved just one girl by the name of Daisy. Early on in the book Gatsby’s true feelings emerge about Daisy. He is said to have lied about his family, wealth and social status to purely make himself “worthy” of her. Without his lies, Daisy would never have even considered marrying Gatsby because of his financial situation. Gatsby, at this point, is called away in the war and later attends Oxford College in England. Daisy waits and waits for Jay, but begins to move on in life. She could not keep waiting for someone and stopping her life for him. Daisy dates, parties and is married before Gatsby can come back home. He only finds out about her marriage to Tom Buchanan from a letter addressed to him while he was still at Oxford. After this tragic event, Gatsby’s dream was shattered and his heart broken. He thought of nothing and nobody but Daisy for months on end. How could he get back the one that he loved now that she was married to another man? This marks a tragic occurrence in the beginning of The Great Gatsby. When Nick Carraway, the narrator of this book, drops by for tea with his cousin Daisy Buchanan, he is struck by a sudden secret. Tom apparently has another woman and is cheating on Daisy! This is very depressing when Gatsby would do anything to have Daisy as his own, and Tom who is married to her takes her for granted and