A Literary Analysis

of The Great Gatsby

By: Gabriela Del Valle
Love/Relationships in The Great Gatsby
The topic I chose to use to relate to the novel is love/relationships. This is relevant to the
novel because all throughout the book, you see different relationships with everyone. For
example: Tom and Daisy, Daisy and Gatsby, Nick and Daisy, Tom and Gatsby etc. It is an
important topic to consider when discussing the novel because everyone has a relationship
with one another. The relationship could be a hatred relationship, love relationship or even
a friendship. F. Scott Fitzgerald used many symbols and patterns to present what kind of
relationship everyone has with one another.
 ● “Tom and Daisy’s house was even more
elaborate than I expected, a cheerful
red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion,
overlooking the bay.” (Fitzgerald 6)
● While reading the book I noticed the color red
shows up a lot when Tom is around. This can
show that Tom is a mean/angry person and

Color that Tom is associated with the color red. The

color white is associated with Daisy because
again all throughout the book the color white
shows up the most when Daisy is around or
mentioned. This foreshadowed Tom and
Daisy’s relationship because their house is red
and white and it shows that they are opposite
and it means that they have a bad
relationship.
 ● “He smiled understanding-much more than
understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles
with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that
you may come across four or five times in life.”
(Fitzgerald 48).
● Chapter 3 was when we were introduced to
Description of Gatsby. Fitzgerald used almost a whole page to
describe Gatsby’s smile and I thought this
Gatsby’s smile helped understand how Gatsby’s and Nick
relationship was like in the rest of the book.
Nick and Gatsby had a close relationship and it
really showed at the end of the book when Nick
was there for Gatsby at his funeral.
 ● “She, Dasiy, dressed in white, and had a little white

Repetition of the roadster and she was sitting with a lieutenant I

had never seen before. His name was Jay

color white when

Gatsby….It wasn’t until then that I connected this
Gatsby with the officer in her white car”
(Fitzgerald 75,77).
Daisy is with ● In chapter 4 Jordan Baker gave more clarification
on Daisy and Gatsby. They were together with a

Gatsby white scenery and had a connection. This means

that their relationship was pure and innocent.
This shows that Daisy and Gatsby had a deep
feeling for one another and this caused tension
because she is married to someone else.
 ● “There was a change in Gatsby that was simply
confounding... It stopped raining” (Fitzgerald 89)
Chapter 5 is when Gatsby and Daisy meet for the
The weather
●
first time after 5 years. The weather is changing a
lot during the chapter. The morning of the day of

when Gatsby the meeting, it was pouring rain then it started to

cool down but there was still rain when Daisy

and Daisy meet arrives. The beginning of the meeting was very
awkward, but it finally got better and less
awkward and that is when it stopped raining. I
for the first time think Fitzgerald did this to show that the meeting
of Gatsby and Daisy was going to have a

after 5 years rocky/sad start but with the sun coming out and
the rain gone, the meeting got more comfortable
and happy.
 ● “The next day was broiling almost the last,
certainly the warmest, of the summer… Hot! said
the conductor. Some weather! Hot! Hot! Hot! Is it
hot enough for you?” (Fitzgerald 114-115).
● The weather was mentioned all throughout the
chapter and it plays a huge role in Gatsby’s and

Repetition of the Tom’s relationship. When the weather is hot it

means that something is boiling and/or is about to
explode. As I read on, Gatsby does explode and
words “Hot and gives Tom a look that looks like he murdered
someone. This can show that Tom and Gatsby’s

Heat.” relationship has a lot of tension and that is

understandable because Gatsby is trying to take
Daisy away from Tom. The author foreshadow the
fight by having the weather being hot and have it
repeated.
 ● “ Gatsby shook his head and in a moment
disappeared among the yellowing trees...The
chauffeur heard the shots.” (Fitzgerald 161)
● In chapter 8 Mr. Wilson shoots Gatsby while he is
swimming in his swimming pool. I think
The yellow leafs Fitzgerald had Mr. Wilson, a poor man, kill Gatsby
because it shows that Gatsby can’t escape his

falling into the past. Gatsby was a poor person growing up and
wanted money to get Daisy, so he did whatever he

pool and a poor

had to do to get money. Unfortunately he couldn’t
escape his past, therefore that is why a poor
person killed him. It’s also ironic because in
person killing chapter 6 he was telling Nick that the past can be
repeated and by the ending you can see that

Gatsby. Gatsby was right.

The theme of The Great Gatsby is Love and
relationships make you do crazy things.
A Final Word...

I would tell next year’s juniors that reading the Great Gatsby is hard, but once
you start to take things apart and connecting things back together it all
makes sense and it amazing that someone could make a book that has so
many patterns hidden within. It helps a lot with reading skills especially if
you take time to read and annotate things because if I didn’t annotate while I
was reading, I probably wouldn’t have understood the book that well. I would
tell the to read and try to understand the book because it truly is an amazing
and well thought out book that has mind blowing hidden secrets.