The Great Gatsby questions

[RedPanny]

We currently starting to read the book in my English class and im very interested in reading it...

I cheated i guess and like watch videos about it and watched the 2013 version movie.

 

I noticed on the videos everyone in the comments going on about how Gatsby only loved the idea of Daisy i guess becuz of her money and social class and jizz like that. Others saying that he actually really did loved Daisy and not the idea of her. Which do you think is true?

 

Also, what did happened at the end? im confused like, why did Daisy picked Tom and not Gatsby, she wasn't stupid and knew what Tom was doing and she was unhappy in the relationship but, she still picked Tom.

 

One unimportant question as well, why was Daisy crying at the part where Gatsby was throwing clothes at her xD? Did she really cried because of how beautiful and nice the clothes were or...???

[literally tilted]

To read the Great Gatsby you have to understand a lot of the time period. Daisy picks Tom because he's Old Money and it's practically the status quo to stay with people like Tom. Tom doesn't have the most money but he has the right money, Gatsby involved with criminal intent was a major turn off for her. Plus, Daisy at some point always had feelings for Tom. Meaning she had feelings for him after Gatsby left for the war.

[lisssie]

Gatsby was in love with Daisy in the past but in the time the book is set in, he does not fully understand that Daisy is a completely different person. He's in love with the idea of what Daisy used to be. Daisy is a flightly woman, falling in "love" with the person who she finds the most attractive, and what she finds attractive is money and social status. 

For the shirt sobbing scene, there are a couple different ways to interpret it but it all boils down to Daisy being incredibly materialistic. But while she is materialistic, she understands that money will never buy her true happiness (hence why she wants her daughter to be a beautiful fool, so she never learns this lesson). So, you can either view the scene as Daisy becoming over excited over the luxuries that Gatsby is showing to her, as she is incredibly materialistic, or you can view the scene as showing Daisy's deep depression that is rooted in money and her materialism. 

[exo-l97]

Read this book in my English class a couple years ago, so my memory/perception may be fuzzy. However,

 

my take on it is that Gatsby did "love" Daisy back then in the past, but the current Gatsby is only in love with the idea of Daisy, but it's not because she's rich. Remember, Gatsby, at this point, is already rich af, lavishly throwing parties all the time to impress her.

 

Instead, Gatsby feels like the reason Daisy didn't pick him back then was because he was poor, so he thinks he can kind of go back to their past and win her love over. He basically wants to make up for back then, in the same way many people wish they can go back in time and fix certain things.

 

He thinks that by suddenly being different, it changes things from the past, but it doesn't. I think it's possible Gatsby still loved Daisy, but the majority of him just wanted to prove to himself that the new and improved Gatsby was enough to take Daisy back.

 

For the ending, Daisy chooses Tom because it's kind of what she's supposed to do. Similar to how she chose Tom for his wealth and status in the past, she's choosing him again because he's still superior to Gatsby. She's one of those people that does what society expects of her. I mean, even if your ex-boyfriend came back super hot and a little richer, it wouldn't change the fact that he was lower class (and doing illegal things!!) and not a truly rich person compared to your current bf.

[kyanite]

There are a lot of ways to interpret this book and it's themes are intricately complex but in a really cool kind of way. What I mean is it takes some careful reading to see the whole picture.

 

I remember being told that Daisy cries at the clothes becasue at that moment she realizes what she "could have had" with Gatsby. If I remember correctly, at that time he was also showing her around the house purposefully showing her the way he had decorated everything in her taste. Does that mean she cares in a loving way? Not really, more in a selfish way as if she starts to realize that she may have made a mistake. This of course stems from her materialism. 

 

Gatsby definitely loved Daisy, but he just doesn't understand the difference between present and past. I've always thought he was somewhat delusional in a way but that is mostly up to interpretation and what you make of the book.