The Great Gatsby Pgs. 126-136

                Pages 126 to 136 of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby contain the full culmination of the plotline of the story thus far and are rapidly leading to the climax of the novel as Tom and Gatsby argue furiously over Daisy. In all honesty, though, I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated with and annoyed by Tom, Gatsby, and Daisy in this section because of their pathetic self-pity and selfishness. As the vicious argument between Tom and Gatsby charges onward, Tom surprisingly makes one or two sentimental appeals in which he claims desperately that Daisy still loves him, “and what’s more I love Daisy... once in awhile I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time” (Fitzgerald, 131). While immediately after reading this I felt a pang of sympathy for Tom, this pity was immediately extinguished by my remembrance of the fact that Tom has no actions to support his words. Even if Tom genuinely does still love Daisy, he cannot be startled by the fact that Daisy cannot reciprocate these feelings when he has blatantly cheated on her since the beginning of their marriage; until his actions correspond with his bold words, he has no right to pity himself or feel as though he has a claim on Daisy’s love. He certainly receives no pity from me, for I find him to be loathsome, haughty, and repugnant.

On the other hand, although I would much prefer Daisy to end up with Gatsby than Tom, I cannot honestly say that I am very pleased with Gatsby right now, either. I have sympathized with Gatsby since I first discovered his pining love for Daisy and his gnawing loneliness, but I do not respect Gatsby for pursuing a relationship with Daisy before she had left Tom. By attempting to steal away a woman from her husband before they were divorced makes Gatsby no more morally conscious than Tom Buchanan himself, which makes Gatsby a bit of a hypocrite. Also, I find it agitating that, just because Daisy told Gatsby she loved him, he now feels as though he has a claim on her affections and is worthy of determining all of her feelings and emotions. For example, he was bold enough to assert that Daisy never loved Tom at all and then acted mortally wounded when Tom retorted that “There’s things between Daisy and me that you’ll never know, things that neither of us can ever forget” (Fitzgerald, 132). While the thought of the woman he loves having unforgettable moments with a man as repulsive as Tom may be nauseating, I feel as though Gatsby has no right to be offended or hurt by this fact; after all, regardless of how wicked a person Tom is, he still was Daisy’s husband for a number of years. If Gatsby is going to be bold enough to have an affair with a married woman, then he has no place acting hurt and wounded at the thought that Daisy may have had feelings for her actual husband and one point or another. Lastly, I find it very irritating that both men feel as though they have the wisdom and insight to know all of Daisy’s thoughts and feelings and have the authority to claim whom she loved at what point in her life. Both men’s pride has swelled to an alarming level in this section, and they seem to be acting as though Daisy is a prize to be won by the most qualified man rather than the genuine love of their lives.

Finally, I also must say that I do not think Daisy is completely guilt-free either. She complains that she is terribly distressed by this entire situation, yet, in many ways, she put the nail in her own coffin by willingly staying in an unfaithful marriage for many years despite the fact that she no longer loved her husband and then deciding to have an affair with someone else. Additionally, I have to agree with Gatsby when he told Tom that, “She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me” (Fitzgerald, 130). If Daisy chose to be that selfish, she cannot act as though a horrible crime has been committed against her because she is now facing the consequences of her actions. Ultimately, I think all three of these hopeless characters have acted like selfish, proud idiots, and I feel as though they brought upon themselves all the troubles they pity themselves for experiencing.