Good take. It's been a while since I read the book. (Probably haven't re-read it in your lifetime!) But I think Gatsby loved her in a semi-selfish way back when they were younger, because of the way she made him feel. Now he's rich and he thinks that if he can get Daisy, he can recapture that feeling.

Tom of course doesn't really love Daisy. She's just one of the things he has, part of the visible display of his wealth.

Good take on the book. I have always thought it’s place as the “Great American Novel” is justified because the characters vainly pursue and support the notion of American excess - that somehow, if only we had “more”, things will be better and it will make us happy. Maybe, these days, that’s wearing off some? Maybe not…Oh, it’s Myrtle Wilson that Daisy kills with Gatsby’s car.

I think you nailed it. Disguised as a romantic tale, but in reality much more a tale of “old money” vs. “new money” and the things money (especially ‘new’ money) can’t buy.

Gatsby literally supplied them with alcohol and parties, but was still looked down on by those who never had to work.

Gatsby didn’t just want daisy, he wanted daisy to specifically tell Tom that she is choosing Gatsby over him. That’s not love.

It’s narcissism. And chasing after impossible things and feelings because they require the admiration of others, not because they desire the goal itself.

Gatsby disguised his success as a motivated romantic journey from rags to riches, much like this book disguised itself as a romantic novel.

I re-read Gatsby recently and you have a really great take on the story. If you are interested in more context, I recommend reading about the author F Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda. Zelda was a wealthy socialite and inspired elements of the character Daisy (it's up for debate how much Zelda contributed to the novel) All the best and keep reading away :)

Gatsby was killed because he was trying to protect the woman he supposedly loved.

You have a lot of good thoughts. I read this novel for the first time when I was around 17 and disliked it. I read it again in college, and I fell in love with it. It's still my favorite to this day.

I agree that, for most of the novel, Daisy is a blank canvas that the men in the novel can project their desires onto. Tom wants all that Daisy represents in terms of an old-money trophy wife while Gatsby wants her for a whole host of reasons that have nothing to do with who Daisy really is as a person. However, one line that breaks this characterization of Daisy as a flat, undeveloped character is when Daisy makes a comment about her wishes for her daughter: "I hope she'll be a fool—that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool." This is a rare moment when we get to see Daisy as a human versus Tom's shiny wife, an old-money socialite, or Gatsby's misguided paramour. When she considers her daughter, she voices a painfully real recognition that the world is a bad place, especially for women, and that being beautiful (thus, valuable to men and more well-regarded in society) but ignorant to the world's cruelties is all that a woman could possibly hope for. That's the BEST-CASE scenario. Oof. That's a gut punch.

And I would also agree that the novel does a beautiful job emphasizing how the rich escape the consequences of their own actions while the poor do not. Poor Myrtle Wilson is killed by Daisy, and Gatsby is killed by her grief-ridden husband. Tom and Daisy (and Nick himself!) escape these fates-- death, imprisonment, violence-- even though they were integral to what happened. Gatsby's new money persona couldn't save him from the careless destruction of the elite. It's a devastating, elegant representation of the fallacy of the American Dream. I would argue this is the "Great American novel" for just that reason, although that debate is totally subjective.

Anyway, I'm rambling now, but I wanted to validate your thoughts and also give you some extra points to consider. Kudos for finishing the novel and coming up with a solid analysis at only 14!

I read it at uni when I was 32 and was discovered by it. Nothing wrong with the book, it's well written and very worthy. It was presented to me as THE American Novel and I felt it was lacking in that respect. Your perspective is really good.

I love the Great Gatsby. It’s actually a novel I sit and take the time to re-read every year.

I taught it to my freshman last year. I think it’s a great novel about ’first love’ and how things can get distorted with time. Gatsby and Daisy might have loved each other once upon a time five years ago. But Gatsby is very changed by his experiences (in the new 2012 movie there’s a scene that looks like he’s experiencing a ptsd moment while Daisy is in his house) and Daisy has become colder and harder living with Tom.

The real question for me is, how well did Gatsby and Daisy know each other before? Did Daisy have a personality before or was it simply enough that she could coast on her looks/wealth and never bothered to develop one beyond that? How did Gatsby present himself to Daisy and did he really consider the fact that he’d have to lie to her everyday if they got together? Are either of them actually in love when the meet again, 5 years later, or is Daisy just using Gatsby to get back at Tom while he uses her as an objective goal that he’s “made it big”? I think both of them realize this thing they have over the summer is unsustainable. I even think deep down, Gatsby realized that no, you can’t repeat the past and Daisy isn’t how she used to be. But typical for him/humans-he buries himself in denial and tries to pretend everything is fine.

Great interpretation. I also finished it yesterday. I did doubt the authenticity of Gatsby’s ‘love’ for Daisy, but I never thought about his inconsideration about Mrs Wilson’s death. Very good points!

I think you have a good analysis of the book and characters but I don't know how you missed the part about daisy being one of the most disdainful villains in literature. I don't see her as a passive character that has zero agency. Yes, the male characters project essentially on a blank canvas as some other commenter noted. I don't think she's as innocent and passive as people see her as.

She strung Gatsby along since they were younger knowing he was poor and there was no realistic future for the both of them. This is what drives Gatbsy to become wealthy but his wealth is ill-gotten and the old money families will never mingle with nouveau riche people on any significant way. Parties yes, marriage or dating no. Her and Tom in my opinion mirror each other in how they use people from "lower classes" to their own ends. >!Which essentially leads Gatsby taking the blame for Myrtle's death and his own demise.!<

This is why I don't believe she's a passive character, she's just as bad as Tom. It's worse because she's also a big hypocrite. The novel is supposed to be one of the first representations of class warfare and how the rich are amoral and reckless and their status and wealth protect them from the consequences of their disgusting actions. >!Myrtle, Gatsby and Myrtle's husband are just casualties of Tom and Daisy's game. !<

Your punctuation and writing is so terrible that I can't take you seriously.