The Language of Desire in Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - Book Report/Review Example

The language of desire in The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This essay explores how desire is evoked by language within the novel. The capitalist Gatsby's desire for materialism is insufficient to satisfy his desire for emotional wealth and this eventually leads to his death. The Great Gatsby is a novel on how Gatsby achieved his American Dream but lost everything eventually. His success is inconsequential to him without his love interest. He achieved wealth at the expense of his love life. Gatsby went away to earn his American Dream and Daisy got tired of waiting and married Tom Buchanan. Gatsby seems to be a victim of his desires. He reveals his love for Daisy A Marxist interpretation of The Great Gatsby reveals the failures of the American Dream and the decadence of personal values. (Tyson 66). Gatsby has a false sense of confidence and tries to forcibly buy Daisy with his wealth. Daisy loses her interest and respect upon discovering that Gatsby's position is due to illegal activities. Gatsby fails to win her over from Tom and is framed by him for Myrtle Wilson's death. The Great Gatsby seems to be a critique of the American Dream by showing the pitfalls of Gatsby but a close analysis of the novel conveys different messages. The narrator, Nick Carraway, writes that; 'Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men.' (Fitzgerald 4). Nick does not criticize the Gatsby's achievement of the American Dream. Tom is the critic on the American Dream that spurred Gatsby to acquire wealth in a short period of time. Tom was jealous and insecure about Gatsby wooing Daisy. He is the foul dust that preyed on Gatsby and framed him as a culprit that led George Wilson to murder him. The novel The Great Gatsby is thus in essence a critique on old wealth suppressing new wealth because of its ideologies. The richest man in the novel is not the showy Gatsby but Tom Buchanan. Tom uses money to buy women like Daisy Fay and Myrtle Wilson. When Gatsby was a poor man, he could not pursue Daisy. When Gatsby becomes rich, he ignored the morality of loving a married woman and insisted that she commit adultery and leave her husband. Fitzgerald uses brevity in language but successfully evokes the full dramatic effect with the choice selection of words. The narration reads; "Daisy's leaving you." (Gatsby) "Nonsense." (Tom Buchanan) "I am, though," she said with a visible effort. (Daisy). (Fitzgerald 178). Gatsby initiated this conversation and Daisy was pushed by into this confrontation. Tom does not want to lose Daisy because she has commodification value. Tyson says in his book that 'Commodification, then, is the act of relating to persons or things in terms of their exchange value or sign-exchange value to the exclusion of other considerations.' (Tyson 67). Daisy is a commodification because she has youth, beauty and social status. Gatsby desires Daisy because he has assigned her values that he appreciates. Gatsby tries to use commodification to buy Daisy over Tom's head. Gatsby loses because Daisy has her own commodifications attached to her choice of man. Gatsby made his wealth the quick way and he has a shady reputation. Tom often slights him for being a bootlegger. Tom belongs to the old school of reputable heirs who inherited old money. Gatsby is a capitalist who maximizes the economies of demand as he supplies the demands. The capitalist does not have scruples on the morality of his trade. The language is terse and the friction can be felt between Gatsby and Tom in this confrontation when Tom says; "I found out what your 'drug stores' were." He turned to us and spoke rapidly. "He and this Wolfshiem bought up a lot of side-street drug stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That's one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him and I wasn't far wrong." This is Tom's winning stake on Gatsby for Daisy. Gatsby makes the mistake of challenging him when he says; "What about it" said Gatsby politely. "I guess your friend Walter Chase wasn't too proud to come in on it." (Fitzgerald 179). Gatsby tries to bring Tom down with him by pointing out the fact that Tom also knows about Walter Chase. (Fitzgerald 180). The language evokes an image of Gatsby's cool reaction to show that he plays with a hand of confidence that masks his desire to win Daisy. The narrator's language tells that Gatsby's ingenious but illegal creation of quick wealth fails to win him his dearest desire in his heart. The narration says; 'It passed, and he began to talk excitedly to Daisy, denying everything, defending his name against accusations that had not been made. But with every word she was drawing further and further into herself, so he gave that up and only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away, trying to touch what was no longer tangible, struggling unhappily, undespairingly, toward that lost voice (of Daisy) across the room.' (Fitzgerald 180-181). Gatsby is right in a way. He maintains his innocence and it is not corruption that killed him but Tom, through George Wilson, that killed him. Nick is correct in saying that it is the foul dust that preyed on Gatsby that killed him. Tyson explains Nicks blatant defense of Gatsby by saying that Nick believes in the American Dream. Nick shows moral decadence that the Marxists warned about in the capitalist's economy. 'Nick doesn't want to be reminded that Gatsby's glittering world rests on corruption because he wants that kind of hopeful world for himself. He is in collusion with Gatsby's desire, and his narrative can lead readers into collusion with that desire as well.' (Tyson 75). The evidence that shows Nick's firm stance rests in his efforts to give Gatsby a fair funeral send-off by informing his friends. However, none came to the funeral wake. Nick narrates; 'When the butler brought back Wolfshiem's answer I began to have a feeling of defiance, of scornful solidarity between Gatsby and me against them all.' (Fitzgerald 221). Fitzgerald uses Nick to say that he wants to continue the ideology of the American Dream. Nick is at solidarity with Gatsby because he still believes in the American Dream. Nick is a victim of the ideology. Nick confirms his belief when he narrates; 'Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter-tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning---- So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.' (Fitzgerald 242). Tyson explains Gatsby's desire for Daisy. He says; 'For a psychoanalytic reading, however, the interest created by the romance between Gatsby and Daisy lies not in its apparent uniqueness but in the ways in which it mirrors all of the less appealing romantic relationships portrayed in the novel - those between Tom and Daisy, Tom ad Myrtle, Myrtle and George, and Nick and Jordan - and thereby reveals a pattern of psychological behavior responsible for a good deal of the narrative progression.' (Tyson 34). Tyson thinks that the characters have a fear of intimacy. Tom fears intimacy with his wife because of his proud ego. He desires ego gratification and seeks it in lower class women that he buys with his money. (Tyson 35). He desires Daisy as a wife to show off as a trophy and he will not relinquish his prize. Gatsby's desire for Daisy only fans Tom's fire for revenge against him. Gatsby has his experience of being thwarted in his desire during his first bid for Daisy. His desire refuses to diminish and he waits five years before he has the money to re-pursue his goal again. Gatsby's desire is hindered by his fear of failure as shown by the amount of trouble he takes to arrange an initial casual meeting with Daisy. Tyson says that the individual desires are responsible for the dysfunctional love relationships in the novel The Great Gatsby. (Tyson 34).Daisy, the object of desire, is herself desiring of love. Jordan describes Daisy; 'I'd never seen a girl so mad about her husband. If he left the room for a minute she'd look around uneasily and say "Where's Tom gone" and wear the most abstracted expression until she saw him coming in the door. She used to sit on the sand with his head in her lap by the hour, rubbing her fingers over his eyes and looking at him with unfathomable delight.' (Fitzgerald 101). Daisy's desire for Tom remains constant right up to the end of the novel. The Great Gatsby is a novel on desires. Fitzgerald employs excellent use of language to manipulate the reader's thoughts on the ideologies and pitfalls of the desires in the American Dream in The Great Gatsby. The end. Works Cited. Project Gutenberg. The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Project Gutenberg EBook Of The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. 2000. Project Gutenberg. 20 Apr. 2007. < http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200041.txt >. Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly GuideBy Lois Tyson. UK: Routledge, 1999. Read More