They both come from incredibly wealthy families, and live on fashionable East Egg, marking them as members of the 'old money' class.Īs Jordan relates in a flashback, Daisy almost changed her mind about marrying Tom after receiving a letter from Gatsby (an earlier relationship of hers, discussed below), but eventually went through with the ceremony 'without so much as a shiver' (4.142).ĭaisy appeared quite in love when they first got married, but the realities of the marriage, including Tom's multiple affairs, have worn on her. Tom and Daisy Buchanan were married in 1919, three years before the start of the novel. Then we will turn our attention to relationships that occur outside of marriage. We will discuss the romantic pairings in the novel first through the lens of marriage. To find a quotation we cite via chapter and paragraph in your book, you can either eyeball it (Paragraph 1-50: beginning of chapter 50-100: middle of chapter 100-on: end of chapter), or use the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text. We're using this system since there are many editions of Gatsby, so using page numbers would only work for students with our copy of the book. Our citation format in this guide is (chapter.paragraph). Analyzing the characters via the major relationships (including key quotes).

Keep reading for the ultimate guide to love in the time of Gatsby! Finally, we will go over some common essay questions about love, desire, and relationships to help you with class assignments. We will also include analysis of important quotes for each of the five major couples. We will also note how each relationship develops through the story, the power dynamics involved, and what each particular relationship seems to say about Fitzgerald's depiction of love. So we will explore and analyze each of Gatsby's five major relationships: Daisy/Tom, George/Myrtle, Gatsby/Daisy, Tom/Myrtle, and Jordan/Nick. Gatsby's portrayal of love and desire is complex. So what can we make of this? Is Fitzgerald arguing that love itself is unstable, or is it just that experiencing love and desire the way the characters do is problematic? However, none of Gatsby's five major relationships is depicted as healthy or stable. Love, desire, and sex are a major motivators for nearly every character in The Great Gatsby.

A stort where reality falls apart