Unrequited Love

Unrequited love is a term that means someone may love another very deeply but the feeling isn't recipricated back. Such as in the case of Gatsby and Daisy where Daisy lost feelings for Gatsby right away but he was still madly in love with her. Tom stated Daisy loves me and doesn't love you. Well the truth is she did love Gatsby but only for his extreme wealth and when things started to fall apart she came back to Tom and forgot about Gatsby. She didnt attend his funeral at all and decided to run away with Tom to who knows where.

Nick told Gatsby that they were terrible people and he's glad he had the chance to tell Gatsby what he thought of them before he was killed. Regarding the unrequited love part Gatsby would never stop loving Daisy because he always had hope in his future and happiness represented by the green light. Gatsby obsessed over Daisy and coul

dn't help it to always love her. Where as Tom cheated on Daisy and she knows it but doesn't leave him.

Poor Gatsby nev

er did any wrong to Daisy but she fell out of love with him right away. He was killed with the cuff links in his hand that Daisy had given him many years before which could have represented his never ending love and hope that things can go back to how they were in the past.

Selfish people in Gatsby

Tom is a great example of selfishness in The Great Gatsby. He is extremely selfish in the fact that he keeps a seprate girlfriend but is outraged when he fin

ds out about Daisy And Gatsby. He demonstrates his selfishness in another way as well. He hold everyone at such a high standard, he expects everyone to live moral filled lives even though he does not.

Myrtle Wilson is another example of selfishness. Mr. Wilson is very much in love with Myrtle but all Myrtle cares about is the fact that he has no money. She also cares for no one but h

erself she shows this in the fact that she gives no regard for Daisy's feelings by having an affair with Tom. She also disregards Tom's feelings when she starts screaming Daisy's name.

Gatsby is another example of selfishness in that he is never satisfied with the Daisy's love he is always saying why do you love Tom. Daisy says to Gatsby I love you both isnt that eneogh for you? Gatsby wasn't ever satisfied with himself. He believed Daisy never enjoyed his parties that he wasn't good eneogh or he had to impress her with his enormous

house. It is true she fell in love with the rich Gatsby not the poor Gatsby but either way he was selfish in some way or another.

Mafia Gangsters

In 1920 the 18th Amendment went into effect outlawing the production and sale of intoxicating alcohol; however, what most Americans did not realize was that prohibition would also promote a major increase in crime. Those promoting prohibition claimed families would be saved, health would improve and workers would perform better on the job, but the increase in organized crime and rise of gangster culture brought on by prohibition brought about more crime, corruption and immorality than members of the prohibition movement could have imagined.

The origins of organized crime are in Sicily. Sicily faced numerous invading armies, in the middle ages, and a secret organization made up of many small groups was organized to unite Sicilians against them. These groups were collectively called the Mafia and later on Cosa Nostra. Each of these groups or families had their own territory to serve, inform and protect. At some point the Mafia spread in Italy and began selling protection. The Mafia also engaged in other criminal acts but the individual groups still took care of their own.

During prohibition the demand for alcohol was at an all time high. There were more than twice the number of speakeasies than there had been saloons prior to prohibition. Underworld criminals were supplying Americans with whatever alcohol they desired. The fact that the average American tolerated organized criminal activity because it fulfilled their desire to drink benefited gangsters greatly. After all any American who was consuming or transporting alcohol was breaking the law also.

Prohibition coincided with a leadership change in one Chicago area gang. The Torrio gang. Alfonse Capone took over the operations and saw a great opportunity to earn wealth through supplying Chicago and the nation with alcohol. This brought about significant change in organized crime. Up until prohibition organized crime had been mostly a local business, Capone's operations during prohibition turned organized crime into an international industry. In addition to smuggling alcohol from other countries and his illegal brewery and distillery operations in Chicago, Capone organized the illegal production, distribution and sale of alcohol nationally and internationally. He organized his bootlegging business like a legitimate company would to distribute its product, complete with salesmen, truck drivers and security.

The Green Light

What is this green light??? What does it represent? Well in my opinion the green light that is talked of throughout the novel represents the future. Whatever the future may be grim or very optimistic.

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic 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." P. 115

This quote in the book shows us that Gatsby always looked toward the future and we as readers should never stop in trying to achieve our personal dreams and aspiratations. We may not all have such amazing futures but the hope that the green light symbolizes will always be there. When gatsby looks into the horizon at Daisy's home it describes a green light that lingered once Gatsbys heart was broken.

"I didn't call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone - he stretched out his arms towards the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward - and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock. When I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone again in the unquiet darkness." P. 16

Gatsby finally realizes he has lost Daisy and now all thats left is his unknown future. Nick seems to think Gatsby was trembling and this could represent the fear we all have regarding our unknown future.

East Egg vs. West Egg

In The Great Gatsby there are major class distinctions which show even more so with the division of the rich West Egg and the fashionable East Egg. Gatsby is on the West Egg while Tom and Daisy are on the East Egg with Nick Carraway. Throughout the novel West eggers are newly rich and either got rich quick such as Mr. Gatsby or are those of old money such as Tom and Daisy who inherited a large sum of money.

Class distinctions are very present; while the West Eggers are depicted in the novel everything is much more proper and characters such as Daisy put off an emphasis on a thought like "I am much better than you." Mr. Gatsby invites most all to his huge illegal parties but it seems to be the East Eggers that decline and want nothing to do with the new money West Eggers such as the Sloanes who accepted "without gratitude".

When Nick, Daisy, Tom, Jordan, and Gatsby all are thinking of going into town Fitzgerald describes the women laying on the couches like trophies on display. In the movie it seemed to me as if Daisy's daughter was just a toy as she flaunted her beauty. Daisy herself is always acting a bit snobby while Tom is just a brute who is just self absorbed with himself and Daisys affairs. Tom and Gatsby really hate eachother now and East and West Egg differences just hightens the tension that is obviously present. There will always be a East and West Egg wherever you go. Whether its Chino Hills High vs. Ayala High it is always present in some way.

Prohibition

Prohibition began on January 16, 1920, when the eighteenth ammendment was first issued. Many women believed it was a treacherous drink that corrupted good men and created violence. They believed their husbands turned into monsters when they drank alcohol. Men disregarded this and continued to drink illegally in speakeasies which were also ran illegally but corruption among police made it very difficult for uncorupted officials to crack down on the speakeasies. The following excerpt enables us to see first had the serious flaw of this law when even doctors hand whiskey out. https://rowellsapushistory.wikispaces.com/file/view/prohibition.jpg/62331404/prohibition.jpg

Whiskey could be obtained by prescription from medical doctors. The labels clearly warned that it was strictly for medicinal purposes and any other uses were illegal, but even so doctors freely wrote prescriptions and drug-stores filled them without question, so the number of "patients" increased dramatically. No attempt was made to stop this practice, so many people got their booze this way. Over a million gallons were consumed per year through freely given prescriptions.

With doctors writing perscriptions and police being in on the free flow of alcohol being continued it was impossible to enforce. Police did do their best to enforce it but it is a mystery whether or not prohibition gave rise to organized crime.

Mr. Jay Gatsby was himself a bootlegger or alcohol smuggler. This was an easy quick way to achieve riches as he did. He said he achieved his money in under three years and his mysterious dealings with Mr. Wolfshien alluded us to think of some type of corruption. Daisy and Tom are old money people who recieved money respectively but Gatsby didnt.

Flappers of the time hid alcohol in their dresses and men had flasks tucked in there coats. Gatsby being a bootlegger smuggled alcohol and also manufactured it to be smuggled. Fast police chases because of smuggled alcohol became a common sight which most often ended in CRASH. Gatsby managed to stay out of trouble while making a hefty profit. As of now it is unknown to wether Gatsby has allies in the police department because he shows a simple card and can escape all trouble on the roads.

Jealousy

In chapter 5 of The Great Gatsby jelousy toward Daisy is stongly desplayed by both Tom and Mr. Gatsby. The two men always seem to become silently hostile whenever they are together with Daisy. It is clear that Tom really doesnt like Mr. Gatsby all that much and jealousy is the exact reason why. Tom hates that at the parth Daisy runs of and has so much fun with Mr. Gatsby. Tom doesn't know she and Mr. Gatsby had a past relationship and if he did he would certainly become furious.

Miss Baker and Nick are always on the lookout for Tom to make sure that he doesn't see Mr. Gatsby and Daisy together. Tom is cheating on Daisy and the same is true in that situation. Daisy is jealous of Myrtle but once Mr. Gatsby enters back into her life she is no longer sad or feeling trapped in a relationship with Tom. The future of the novel is uncertain but i predict that Mr. Gatsby and Tom will hit a point where a physical fight will break out.

Daisy couldnt be any happier with Mr. Gatsby back into her life. Tom will eventually become more and more jealous as time elapses.

jeal·ous
adj.
1. Fearful or wary of being supplanted; apprehensive of losing affection or position.
2.
a. Resentful or bitter in rivalry; envious: jealous of the success of others.
b. Inclined to suspect rivalry.
3. Having to do with or arising from feelings of envy, apprehension, or bitterness: jealous thoughts.
4. Vigilant in guarding something: We are jealous of our good name.
5. Intolerant of disloyalty or infidelity; autocratic: a jealous God.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/jealous