Warning: People keep calling 'The Great Gatsby' a love story and it drives me nuts

My book club in Austin argued about this for an hour last night. Half the group kept saying it's a tragic romance about Gatsby and Daisy. But the book is clearly about the American Dream failing, not love. Fitzgerald shows this through the valley of ashes and Gatsby's empty mansion. Has anyone else had to fight this battle with their club?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_elliot19d ago

Argued this same point last week. My take got shot down hard. They said I was overthinking it. But the green light isn't about love, it's about wanting stuff you can't have. Gatsby built a whole fake life to get Daisy. That's not romance, that's a failed business plan.

spencer_park2619d ago

Actually think you're both right in a way. The green light is about wanting stuff, but that stuff is tied up with love for Gatsby. He doesn't just want a rich life, he wants the specific past he had with Daisy. His whole fake world is built to win back that feeling, not just to buy a person. Calling it just a business plan misses how sad and personal his failure really is.

susanb3418d ago

Yeah but what if the green light is about the wanting itself, not the thing he wants. Like the light is always across the water, always out of reach. That's the whole point, he has to keep reaching. The second he gets it, the dream's dead.