Curated Portfolio

Final Reflective Cover Letter 

Part 1- 

1. Paper 1 Unit 1- 

Characters vs. Society 

The Great Gatsby was a book written well before its time; its late bloom in popularity is a clear sign of this. Each character was written in such a complex and interesting way to show who they truly are. These characteristics make us feel connected to the characters since there’s always a chance someone is like one of the characters. We see how they acted and how they believed strongly in something, whether it was right or wrong. The way the social classes are explained gives us a strong grasp on where each character belongs. It shows us how the social classes acted and how they were treated. The rich were harsh on the lower classes, while the lower class worked hard and struggled to survive. These issues are still relevant to this day, and it is important to know how to stop them and learn from others to do better, which this book can hopefully accomplish.  

Jay Gatsby is the most mysterious character in the book. His character is written around the mystery of how he got his money, who he is, and why he is important. Throughout the book, you notice that people at his party, close to him, or the people he cares about don’t know who he is. At parties, everyone only knows rumors and has never seen his face; they are all attracted to the idea of who he could be. At one of Gatsby’s parties someone told Nick they thought Gatsby has killed someone before, once he mentions that to a group of girls, Lucille who was in the group corrected him saying “It’s more that he was a German spy during the war” (Fitzgerald, 1925, Ch. 3). The more Nick asked around the more he was told they have never seen him before, and like Caydenk25 said “This represents the mystery of who Gatsby was for many of the people at his parties” (annotation). No one seemed to care about the honors he gained from the military, where he came from, or just who he was in general, no one except for Nick Carraway. Nick got Gatsby to show and introduce himself at the party after they reminisced over what infantry they were in during the war. By the end of the book, we find out the truth about Gatsby, specifically in chapter eight. At the beginning of chapter eight, it tells the story of how it all began, the day Gatsby fell in love with Daisy. Gatsby is telling Nick of how he was a penniless man with nothing but his uniform, while Daisy was a girl who had everything. Gatsby says she was the first nice girl he’s ever met before in that moment, “He found her exciting, desirable” (Fitzgerald, 1925, Chapter 8). During this time, Gatsby was deployed and did extraordinary work in the military. He was a captain before he fought. But after his deployment was where everything went wrong. A conflict or miscommunication was causing him to be sent to Oxford while Daisy frantically waited for him to come home, wondering why he couldn’t. Even while Daisy had these feelings while he was gone, she met a man named Tom Buchanan, whom she felt flattered by due to his wholesome bulkiness. 

Although the love they had was strong and meaningful, Daisy chose to marry Tom and informed Gatsby through a letter while he was still in Oxford. This was the start of Gatsby’s downfall. Gatsby left Oxford with the intent to gain wealth at any cost to win back Daisy. Gatsby worked with a man named Wolfshiem, selling illegal alcohol to gain a fortune fast. We find this out when Wolfshiem mistakes Nick as a man who was looking for a partner. Once he got the fortune and met Nick, who is Daisy’s cousin, his plan to win her back seemed more possible than ever to him. He used Nick to get Daisy to come for tea together and got them to have a tour of his house. This leads to an affair between Gatsby and Daisy and the hatred Tom has for Gatsby. Once Daisy hits Myrtle with a car, Gatsby immediately says he’ll take the blame. Once he took the blame, he guaranteed his death. Mr. Wilson, Myrtle’s husband, was told it was Gatsby who killed his wife. Once he heard the news, he went and killed Gatsby at his home. Gatsby is overall a man with a dream of having love and a happy family, even if it costs him his life. 

Daisy is shown as an innocent, caring, yet shallow and ignorant character, but as you see her actions throughout the story, you see her true self. When she found out her baby was a girl, she cried and said, “I hope she’ll be a fool-” (Fitzgerald, 1925, Ch. 1) so she wouldn’t be hurt by the world around her. Portraying how she cares about the people she loves. She tells Nick, “I’m sophisticated!” (Fitzgerald, 1925, Ch. 1), trying to convince him she knows what she talks about. Nick “felt the basic insincerity” when she said she was sophisticated. When she is placed in a tough situation, we realize how she truly is. She hits myrtle while she was driving with Gatsby, Gatsby says “first she turned away from the woman toward the other car, and then she lost her nerve and turned back” (Fitzgerald, 1925, Ch. 7). Once she saw how bad Myrtle’s shape was, she drove off faster so she wouldn’t get in trouble. Gatsby then took her spot and took the blame while she was left unharmed from her actions. Chloetrippp annotated that it shows Daisy is “unpolished and violent” (annotation). I believe she is rather scared of what would happen if they found out it was her, losing her secure lifestyle within seconds because of what she did. Whether she wanted to be the person she was at the beginning or who she said she was, she left that version of her behind in that moment.   

Tom is the classic villain of the story who has everything but wants more. Tom is from East Egg, where old money is, and old money are the people who feel they are better than anyone since they grew up with money for generations, especially in West Egg. It is described as “condescending West Egg” (Fitzgerald, 1925, Ch. 3). Since Tom is from East Egg, he has a superiority complex over everyone, such as West Egg, Women, and poor people. But to everyone in the book, he is a respectable man, only noticeable when you see how much Mr. Wilson trusts him. Even with Mr. Wilson, you notice there is more fear than respect. Although he has everything anyone would want, he wants more. Because of where he is from, everyone seems to trust his words over anyone else’s. For example, when Mr. Wilson came to his place to find out who killed his wife, he told him it was Gatsby to stop him from harming himself or Daisy. Tom is the character who has control over the poor people and workers, but he wants as much wealth and power as he can get, no matter who he must take down and harm. 

Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are the people who represent the working and/or poor class. Mr. Wilson lives a happy life as a mechanic and married his love, Myrtle. Myrtle, on the other hand, longs for a more extravagant life, only realizing she married a poor man after the wedding. She found out he borrowed the suit he got married in. Myrtle longs for a rich lifestyle, so she has an affair with Tom. Toms says, “He thinks she goes to see her sister in New York.” (Fitzgerald, 1925, Ch. 1), implying Mr. Wilson has no clue about the affair. Mrs. Wilson can be seen as more of a selfish person, only wanting a rich man to marry so she can live an easy life. Once she had it, she couldn’t go back until she was killed. Mr. Wilson was looked down upon because of how poor he was also talked about like “He’s so dumb he doesn’t know he’s alive” (Fitzgerald, 1925, Ch. 1). He also worked hard and loved his wife and would do anything for her. Once he found out about her death, he was broken and wanted revenge. He loved Myrtle so much that he killed the man he thought was the one who killed his wife and ended his life right after. A tragic love story compared the anyone from old money.  

Nick is the narrator but also both the protagonist and antagonist throughout the book. Although the story is well said, Nick, as the narrator, is not the best option; he is extremely unreliable. At the beginning he said he’s “inclined to reserve all judgement” while judging the other throughout the book. Nick is antisemitic, looks down upon women and the poor like he is superior. Nicks superiority complex is much more subtle than Tom’s but is still visible throughout the book. When he talks explains how Wolfshiem talks he puts “oggsford” (Fitzgerald, 1925, Ch. 4) to make fun of the way he talks. He also attacks Wolfshiem based on his looks and says, “A small flat-nosed Jew raised his large head” (Fitzgerald, 1925, Ch. 4). Nick is the protagonist because he does help Gatsby meet Daisy again and have a reconnection. He always tried to help Gatsby and be a good person. Although he is the protagonist, he is also the antagonist since he caused an affair and brought Gatsby to his death through it. He also may try to avoid judgment, but he always has judged. He may do it quietly or behind people’s backs, unlike the others, but quietly judging is still judging, nonetheless.   

The most relatable characters in the book are Gatsby, Nick, and Mr. Wilson today. I say these three are because of what they believed in and how they acted. Gatsby believed in love and happy endings, hoping to one day gain it. To do so, he did whatever it took to get there, such as gaining wealth and living in solitude. Nick believes he is an amazing person, free of judgment, unknowingly doing the opposite of what he believes is right. Mr. Wilson believed solely in love, no matter how much money he had. He lived a happy life with his wife, even if he was poor, he saw the good in things people see as bad. There are many people in this world like this in all class brackets, you’ll always find someone similar. 

The characters in the book are like politicians, presidents, actors, models, middle class, lower class, and upper class, etc. The way the characters act shines a light on how much power people can hold even without being in the government. It shows the true capability people with money have over the less fortunate. A lot of people compare today’s issues to issues in books like 1986 to show how bad the outcome could be, and being able to compare characters to real people can bring comfort or realization to the readers. There’s comfort in knowing you’re not the only one struggling, and if you’re poor, you can hold power. Comfort in knowing love isn’t everything, nor is it money, but living a life where you have no regrets and happiness. Realization that it’s not too late to change the outcome in our world and a chance to live that happier life. Even though there is comfort, there are harsh realizations, such as if you’re like the character Tom. This self-realization can help you become a better person. You may not have that comfort and happiness immediately, but the opportunity to become better and help others with your power will bring more joy than anything else. If you’re like Nick and ignore who you are and avoid confrontation and better yourself, you will always be sad about how everything turned out. You will live a life full of regrets and never believe the world could get better. It is an important book to analyze and truly understand. 

The Great Gatsby has endured since 1924 because it is a relatable book that brings comfort and hope, but also teaches lessons of self-realization and realization in general. We see people like the characters in the book daily, like our friends, family, or even people on Television. As more people find these realizations and comforts through this book, the longer it will endure. Seeing families struggle to get this seemingly calmer lifestyle through hard work, while others are born into a financially burden-free life, is hard to watch. These things will change the mindset of Americans and open people’s eyes to the unfairness and inequality we live in. We see unfairness and finally feel seen in a way of working hard, something overlooked easily. The idea of knowing there is something that you can do because you know what’s causing it all is such an amazing feeling. With all these things put together, I believe that’s why The Great Gatsby has endured and will for years to come. 

2. Paper 2 Unit 2- 

The Importance of Differences 

The differences between who we are and how we see things are so important in life, without understanding it we would be lost. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a timeless classic called The Great Gatsby following the narration of Nick Carraway who is a white male. Although it’s a magnificent book, what if it had been written from a new point of view? Nghi Vo did just that giving us the point of view of Jordan Baker, a bisexual Vietnamese American woman, and how she took all the events in The Chosen and the Beautiful with a hint of fantasy.  The compartments of these two books are quite different but suit each other so well. The Chosen and the Beautiful portrays Jay Gatsby, racism, the feeling of displacement in such different ways. The way Nick is portrayed by the readers between the two books is also drastically different. Each point of view is an important one giving us a way to understand each other whether we relate more to Nick or to Jordan in the end it can bring us together and help use know the value of finding different point of views.  

Nick carraway is a white male with no specifics on sexuality and narrates for The Great Gatsby. Nick also ends up as Gatsby’s closest friend when he was alive. We only see the good sides of Gatsby since it’s a narrator talking about the past life of a good friend. We never fully see the truth about who he truly was, we see what Gatsby always wanted to be seen as. Nick saw him as extravagant and a mystery at first, especially in the beginning when he talks to Gatsby at his party and says “I haven’t even seen the host” right to his face. It shows no one knows who Gatsby is, only the idea is of who he is. Throughout the story Nick gets closer and we learn he was from a poor family and joined the military leading to him meeting Daisy. Gatsby fell in love with Daisy instantly and so did Daisy. But time and social class was never on Gatsby’s side, while he was stuck in Oxford Daisy was worrying about a stable life and chose to marry a rich man named Tom. This is where Gatsby’s uprise and tragic downfall starts. Nick briefly goes over the bootlegging Gatsby does and the illegal crimes just to get money to marry Daisy but he in a way downplays it all. He shows Gatsby as a romantic instead of an obsessive person. 

 Although it seemed hopeless to see any other parts of Gatsby, we are finally able to thanks to Nghi Vo who wrote a new perspective of Jordan Baker who is a bisexual Asian American. Jordan can use magic as well so is well informed on how anything mythical works and knows how to tell if someone truly sold their soul to the devil. Knowing this she can tell us the truth about characters such as Gatsby, but she is still human with emotions. Jordan see’s Gatsby as a villain, a man that will do whatever it takes to get what he wants. She suspects he truly sold his soul to the devil; he had a glossy black nail on his ring finger. Typically, the meaning behind the black nail is someone with infernal dealings. Jordan also seems him more as selfish and narcissistic but knows he could get anyone whatever they wanted. She shows us the worst side of Gatsby without holding back. Although there are two points of views There’s truly no knowing what Gatsby was truly like when he was alive.  

Racism is profound in both novels, but the narrators are on different ends. Nick is one of the characters who is racist in The Great Gatsby but more internalized. His internal comments about Wolfshiem and his appearance because he was Jewish. He internally commented harshly on his nose, nose hair, and head size many things that are commons for Jewish people to be discriminated for. Nick also commented on rich African American’s who had a white chauffeur saying “anything is possible” while laughing. While Jordan on the other hand is called “Jordan Toy” since she looks like the Toy sisters who are possibly Asian as well. People call her Chinese and apologize for bringing up when they tried to forcibly keep Chinese people out of America. She was told she has the face of a Chinese, Venezuelan, Japanese, or Mexican person as well.  

Not only is Nick racist but so is Tom shown especially at the dinner with Tom, Jordan, Nick and Daisy. Tom brings up the book The Coloured Empires going on about how the full white race will go extinct with interracial marriage. In both books Tom brings it up, but the only difference is the reactions. The Great Gatsby shows only Daisy mocking him and everyone sitting quietly taking it. The Chosen and the Beautiful shows Jordan fighting back by saying “you’ve got to beat us down, of course” in retaliation. This catches Tom off guard and gives him suspicions about what she meant but Daisy busted out laughing. Tom mentions his beliefs in Nordics being superior and are to thank for science and the arts. Jordan didn’t like that comment she had “a dozen things” she could have said that “ranging in order from least cutting to downright murderous” but the phone ringing interrupted the conversation. It is important to know this because in The Great Gatsby it goes similar but reveals different things about Jordan. The explanations are the same from Tom as they are in The Chosen and the Beautiful, but Daisy is the one to respond. Daisy responds “we’ve got to beat them down” in a whisper while winking seemingly like a mocking kind of way. Jordan does mention something but Tom cuts her off and goes on about science and art going around the table saying, “we’re all Nordics, I am, you are…” until he got to Jordan he stopped at “you-”. In a way this shows Tom forgets she isn’t white and realizes he shouldn’t talk about it in front of her and slowly backs down in a way he seems embarrassed. No one directly goes against Tom until later in The Great Gatsby when Jordan finally snapped at him. Proving that the impact of someone calling the racism they hear immediately can make them rethink everything they just said instead of letting it stay in their heads believing they are always correct.  

Nick plays an important role in both books within The Great Gatsby, him being the narrator and the best friend of the protagonist and The Chosen and the Beautiful, with him not being him. In The Great Gatsby Nick’s role as the narrator is extremely important because without his knowledge of Gatsby or the life, he had lived there would be no story to tell. Everything is from his point of view showing his side of everything and his thoughts. The book is based on his judgement of the people he had met even if he says he will refrain from judgement. In The Chosen and the Beautiful, he is important in another way, he is a paper doll. His heart can be pulled out and shows what is important to him in life. In a way this brings a connection between Nick and Jordan since only Asian’s have been shown to be able to make paper dolls like that with magic. This shows Nick could possibly have died in war and his family member missed him so much and made a doll of him. This also leads to a tragic end of Jordan and Nick’s love story with Jordan removing herself from his heart and leaving a kiss mark on it. Because of Nick Jordan was able to grow and know when something won’t work since she was going to Asia.  

Jordan felt out of place throughout The Chosen and the Beautiful especially after high school. She says a lot of her friends never set her up with their brothers or friends and stopped being there for her. She never truly seemed happy throughout the story. There’s are many points where it is shown subtly such as when Nick calls her careless for the way she acted. Jordan try’s to defends herself saying he’s jealous of her money and freedom but she acts careless to find a place where she feels she belongs. In a way you can compare the way she went out to meet people was a way to find someone like her, so she doesn’t feel alone in the world. She does this until she goes to a speakeasy that is full of Asians, she finally feels recognized and like she belons somewhere by the way they treated her. They understood the struggles she faced and understood magic. Because of this she finally feels the need to connect with her heritage and to visit Vietnam again. She finally realized she never truly fit in with Daisy and Tom after seeing their morals when Myrtle died. She finally let’s go of her past struggles and decides to move forward and find herself.  

Without these differences we don’t get the full picture, we only see one side of everything. Without seeing the others’ points of view, struggles, identities we never get the full picture. For example, in The Gret Gatsby we see Jordan as a dishonest partier who loves to be flashy and seen. But in reality, she’s just lost and confused with life. She’s trying to find out who she really is and where she belongs in the world while having no one around to help, she feels isolated since she does not know any other Asian Americans. Nick is also someone you can say is misunderstood. He tries to be a better person in The Great Gatsby, but he still falls into old habits of judging based on status, education, and race. We can see who he truly is through the book since it is his point of view. In The Chosen and the Beautiful, we see Jordans point of view, Nick is a very loving and caring partner. He is very confused about who he is and who he loves until the end when he admits to loving Gatsby. If we didn’t have the original book with him as narrator, we would have thought he was one of the kindest and most caring people, someone who loves deeply no matter what. 

The difference between the narrators is one of the most important things and knowing more than one point of view changes our mindsets on situations. Because of that the differences between people are extremely important so we understand the struggles we all go through. It shows we aren’t alone. We see the racism, sexism, and homophobia what happens in people’s life’s that we tend to ignore or just stay quiet about when we witness it. The remake of The Chosen and the Beautiful is an amazing book to show this exact issue since Jordan is a bisexual Asian American. She’s also in love with Nick so we see the softer side of him and the harsher side of Gatsby. Without this remake we would only have one idea of who the characters are and never truly know who they are, it shows how important the differences we have are to truly understand a story or person. It is something we look over all the time, we ignore the other sides of things often even when it is important to know every point of view of a person or situation before you judge them. 

3. Paper 3 Unit 3- 

Psychoanalysis of Jay Gatsby 

Thesis- Did Gatsby truly love Daisy or was he only obsessed with the idea of what it could have been? Obsession is an interesting concept; it’s any idea or thought of something that alters your brain in different ways. Obsession can be easily confused with real love but to me the love they had in the past may have been pure but if we look deeper both were superficial. It seemed to be working perfectly for Gatsby; he can escape his old life of having no status or recognizable ancestors. However, once he was away for war everything changed for the worse for Gatsby, Daisy’s true superficial side showed with her marrying Tom for his money and status. Most believe that what Gatsby did with bootlegging and other illegal activities to gain money shows how much he loves her. His throwing lavish parties, getting a house across the bay, and staring across the bay at the green light could be considered romantic.  True love is when you have mutual respect, trust, care and support for each other while obsessive love is often more possessive, controlling, and has a lack of boundaries. The love Gatsby has for Daisy is shown as more of an obsession masked as a fated true love since he truly believes he loves her. But all of these are signs of obsession, the beginning of love alone neurologically changes you in the same way OCD affects you. OCD may seem different in hindsight but when you look deeper, they both affect serotonin levels, the feeling of completeness, and many more things.  

Gatsby is only obsessed with the idea of the what if with Daisy and having the girl everybody wants.  It states, “It excited him, too, that many men had already loved Daisy- it increased her value in his eyes” (Fitzgerald. Chapter 8).  Before we dive into the topic you need to know what obsession is. According to the Oxford Dictionary obsession is “an idea, image or influence that troubles the mind, a compulsive interest or preoccupation”. Another definition is “A recurrent, intrusive, inappropriate thought, impulse, or image causing significant distress or disturbance to social or occupational functioning.” The neurological effects of falling in love are extremely like the symptoms of OCD. Symptoms that relate are the feeling of being incomplete which drives us to find a partner, people with OCD are the same way the incomplete feeling causes their actions of doing repetitive actions, also known as compulsions. Of course, you need to switch off or tone down the feelings with love before they become obsessive, once they are obsessive they can have negative effects on your mental health. Similarly, people with OCD must control their compulsions or they experience the same negativeness on their mental health. A reliable marker for OCD is how the platelet serotonin (5-HT) transporters density levels change with the binding of Paroxetine. When they look at the binding of the two within someone in love and someone with OCD you find they both have 5-HT with lower densities, showing falling in love and OCD has the same effects neurobiologically. The only difference is how long they stay lower, falling in love will only stay lower for at most 12-18 months. There is one specific kind of OCD I want to focus on for this paper, love precipitated OCD. This form of OCD only shows when someone is in love. A test on a law student whose symmetry and contamination OCD symptoms worsened when he fell in love at 18 years old. Strangely his symptoms became dormant when that relationship ended, until they fell in love again a year later. One of worst symptoms for this type of OCD is sensory phenomena (ex. Felling incomplete). 

Counter Argument 1- Some say the love Gatsby has for Daisy is a beautiful and real thing with a tragic ending. All the work he has done to win her back and the outcome of her still choosing Tom over Gatsby shows she doesn’t deserve him. Gatsby did anything in his power to gain wealth and power to win her back. He has a strong love for her causing a lot of tensions between him and Tom. He is a hero to Daisy because of all he has done for her like take the blame for myrtles death. Isabel Paterson says you can’t call him an imposter but more of an artist, he molded himself. He was longing for this idea of himself, the idea of what he believed to be his “true reality” but once he got to it that very reality destroyed him. I don’t agree with this, James Gatz and Daisy had a beautiful love, Jay Gatsby was only obsessed. Gatz and Daisy fell in love even with a gap in class. They truly cared for each other and seemed like they were going to have that happily ever after. Until Gatz left for war, that is where his uprise, but downfall began. He finally crumbles down when he watches reality, he longed to be destroyed in front of him. 

Gatsby living in the past is a clear sign of obsession leading to him losing his chance at any happy endings. Donna Lynn Moder states the reason Gatsby was robbed of a happy ending was because of the final point of his rude exposure to reality being the obsession of having Daisy or as Moder calls her “the forbidden fruit”. “It wasn’t his sins he paid for, but his aspirations” (Moder. Pg. 31) his obsessions and living in the past controlled his whole life’s outcome. These inserts show that he is obsessed with the past, he can’t let go of the what if’s he had in life. The idea of Daisy being his wife and mother to his children, the lavish life they could have had is what motivated him to gain his wealth. He chose something he could never have again to make a new life. The saying “if you travel with the same bricks, you will only build the same house” can explain this situation extremely well. Gatsby is building his new life based on his life or “old bricks” leaving only one outcome, him losing the love of his life to Tom.  Although these things can be seen as a sign of a strong love, there is a thin line between it and being obsessed and acting like a stalker. Gatsby has crossed this line once he starts to stare at her dock, into her windows waiting for the arguments, longing for her to come back to him. Yes, Daisy doesn’t deserve him, but Gatsby also doesn’t deserve her. Their love was meant to die and be left in the past. They both could have the lifestyle they longed for and had their own happy endings. Gatsby didn’t like the idea, the thought of her with another pushed him to the edge and worsened his obsession ultimately leading to his death. 

Counter Argument 2- Others will call it a partial fantasy love story based on Gatsby side of the story. He truly believes in the love between him, and Daisy is still alive. He lives in a fantasy world where he will win her back from Tom and they’ll live happily ever after shown best when he is in an argument with Tom in the hotel. Gatsby is arguing back “she never loved you, do you hear? She only married you because I was poor” (Fitzgerald. Ch.7). Showing he truly believes it was only because he had nothing, and he could win her bac with the money he had made. That everything illegal he has done will be forgotten and forgiven that breaking apart Daisy’s family to win her back is the only option he has. He truly lives in a world where he finally is happy. I do agree with him that he does live in a fantasy, none of this is true. It is a fantasy story he tells in hopes of it becoming reality. Everyone around him knows it’s a fantasy like how Nick doesn’t agree with him doing this he only admires his will strength to go for it. The only one that won’t accept reality is Gatsby. Nick says “His dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know it was already behind him”(Fitzgerald. Ch.9) putting the idea Nick has realized Gatsby truly has lost his mind to the idea of love that has been long gone.  

Argument 1- Gatsby has always lived in the past trying to get what he believes he had with Daisy, true love. He knew deep down once he accepted that everything was over between him and Daisy, he would have to feel all the pain, sorrow, incompleteness and heartbreak. Instead, he decided to change everything about him. He decided to do anything to become wealthy, and a well-known man like he always wanted to be. While doing so he created a new persona, Jay Gatsby. Gatsby was everything James Gatz dreamed of being but for all the wrong reasons and in the worst way possible. The way he became the way he is was through his “wish material potency and narcissism he exhibits” (Moder. Pg.6) in a way that he turns to illegal activities. Even after he became this new persona, he still had this feeling he was incomplete no matter how much he had. Gatsby never cared about someone fully since Daisy, all he cared about was getting what he believed he needed to win Daisy’s love back. He became materialistic and had a hunger for power and wealth, the one part of the new him he never truly wanted. Within this new persona he never looked at reality, he only saw what had happened or what he wished would happen. The obsession of having the one he could not have, the one everybody wanted, most importantly he was obsessed with making her want him after she made him feel unworthy of love. In a way he was obsessed with the idea of making her regret not choosing him, regret leaving him behind before his “true potential” was formed. To put this more into perspective Nick explains this situation when he talks about the green light when he says “His dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know it was already behind him.” (Fitzgerald Ch.9) showing he never truly believed the past is the past. Another point is when he always looked at Daisy’s child with a surprise showing he never truly believed she truly existed. When he sees how Daisy and Tom are able to get along and that they have a family together, reality finally starts to hit him slowly. You can see him slowly crumble with the rush or emotions, the desperation in the way he talked, the way he tried anything and everything to get her back including just having an affair when Gatsby tells Tom “She never loved you” (Fitzgerald. Chapter 7) and “going on for five years-and you didn’t know” (Fitzgerald. Chapter 7). Even when the affair seemed in Gatsby’s favor Daisy ultimately chose Tom over Gatsby no matter what he did to win her back. This will lead to the persona Jay Gatsby to be destroyed slowly. All that’s left of him is his true self, a broken man who finally realized he became a monster while obsessing over the past. 

Argument 3/ comparison- If we look at the last two paragraphs we see there is a correlation between them. Gatsby fell in love with Dasy, he felt like he needed her to feel complete in a way. Once he lost this love, he became obsessed with the idea of what it could have been. He started to feel empty and hurt so he became obsessed with winning her to get back what he lost and have the life he could have had with her by gaining wealth and power. In his mind he never fell out of love, everything was true to him. If precipitated-love OCD can cause strong symptoms, then it can cause you to feel the obsession to get back what made you feel complete when you live in the past and never let go. If they obsess over something the possibility of a new persona is there and if that new persona only lives in the past and ignores reality like Gatsby, then it is possible for the OCD to continue to give him symptoms. The symptoms of lower serotonin could be the cause of him striving to become a wealthy and powerful man to get his love back. Obsession can also change your decision making completely which is shown through Gatsby, a man who once was a good man with a pure heart who turns soulless in people’s eyes and a monster in others. Every decision he has made in this story shows he’s not in love; he’s obsessed with the idea of what the love story could have been. 

Conclusion- The Great Gatsby was based in the 1920’s showing this possibly could have been an issue back then. In the 21^st century we still see the same issues, people falling in love and turning into something else. Without knowing these signs of obsession, without knowing that you have subtly created a new person you can cause so much harm to your own life and to the people around you. This is why The Great Gatsby is so important in the 21^st century. It has so many issues that are still present to this day, you must do a little bit of research to get the point of it all. It is always better to learn from another’s mistakes than to make it yourself even if it’s a fictional character. After reading this paper you will realize Gatsby was in love in the beginning and it was a beautiful one. But it ended as a tragedy. You learn how obsession and creating a new persona both relate to love through the life of Jay Gatsby. How Gatsby’s story started as an obsession with the past causing him to ignore reality. We watch him crumble and fall into despair when he comes back to reality and realizes who he became and how he will never win Daisy’s love back. Doing so we learn the importance of letting go when we must. Especially when someone gives up on you and leaves you behind. You must make the hard decision to move on before you make the same decisions as Gatsby. 

Multimodal Argument Project- 

The garment I designed for Gatsby is inspired by kintsugi, an art style that uses gold to fix broken ceramics. The suit is oversized, and the drapes on his body fit modern fashion. Instead of gold it will be bronze with oxidized parts turning green. This shows he never truly fixed himself. It will be a white blazer and white pants to show he wants to be seen as pure. His vest is grey showing the perspective of people around him who see him as not so pure. The black shirt represents his true self deep down, as a more monstrous person. 

Reflective Cover Letter:

Part 1- 

1. My cover letters have changed a little bit over this semester. The way it’s formatted and the way it describes the process has all changed. There are some of the same struggles of where to start but no matter what I was able to figure out a way to do it. The process of key words being a huge part of my papers developed more and more throughout each paper. I always had the same ideas of showing people why I believe the topics are important and use it as a way to educate the readers. Each paper the cover letters have gotten longer and I was able to explain m process a lot better. My writing seemed to have gotten a lot better like it used to be in the past. The use of Prelims, Key terms, free writes, conferences, etc. Have helped me discover my love for research and writing again. It shows how much I was able to develop a style of writing I like again and how much the papers flow. My development for writing has increased a lot more since the beginning of the semester through all the little assignments like hypothes.is, Key terms, and bibliographies since it forced me to look deeper into the text which I struggled with in the past. Thanks to this I’m able to see the difference in how much easier it is to write a paper than I thought in past composition classes I have taken.  

Part 2- 

1. Advice I would give myself is to try to figure out a schedule ahead of time for my last months of school when I became really busy with shows.  

2. I would go back and do better with time management and when to work on my work.  

3. What resonated with me was having a professor who was understanding and help when you needed it. It was a nice change ti have a professor who understands that life outside of class can affect how we are able to work on our class work and homework. 

4. In my opinion the way the class is works amazingly, it’s not too easy but not too hard. 

5. I discovered I’m able to write about what I’m thinking more and that I can learn from what I’m writing about. 

6. I discovered that I’m more capable than I thought I was when it came to academics 

7. I realized I like to have an idea of what im writing and do research but my initial idea of what I will write about can always change depending on what I’m reading and finding. 

8. Everything I have learned in class is something I can use in the future, and I don’t see myself leaving any of it behind. It was an amazing class to take. 

Final Bibliography- 

1. McLauchlan, James, Thompson M, Emma, Ferraro A., Ygor, Miguel C., Euripedes, Albertella, Lucy, Marazziti, Donatella, Fontenelle F., Leonardo. “The Price of Love: An Investigation into the Relationship between Romantic Love and the Expression of Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder: CNS Spectrums.” Cambridge Core, Cambridge University Press, 27 May 2021, www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cns-spectrums/article/abs/price-of-love-an-investigation-into-the-relationship-between-romantic-love-and-the-expression-of-obsessivecompulsive-disorder/89DB58C10F6CFBB22F077EF1BE68F44C. Accessed 16 Apr. 2025. 

• This Journal investigates the influence of a relationship on the expression of Obsessive Compulsion Disorders. The early stages of love specifically. 

• Key terms- Obsession compulsion disorders, Romantic Love, Love-precipitated OCD, Sensory Phenomena 

• Analysis- some people say Gatsby has OCD shown through the obsession he has with Daisy. It goes over how love-precipitated OCD is any different than non-love precipitated OCD. It dives into the way Love can cause OCD symptoms to form or to show up more. It goes over how love and OCD symptoms can be similar in ways of feelings such as missing something. The conclusion was people with love-precipitated OCD had moderate-severe to severe symptoms of all six OCD dimensions. having less 5-HT (serotonin) Transporter levels through the binding paroxetine are shown in both people in love and OCD.  

• Evaluation-  

1. It puts into perspective of OCD (an obsessive disorder) can be heightened when falling in love.  

2. It goes over love and obsession. My other sources go over either how Gatsby loves Daisy and what obsession is.  

3. I can use it to go over how Gatsby had OCD, and it heightened his symptoms when he fell in love. Gatsby never fell out of love, so he kept clinging onto it, worsening his obsession.  

4. Yes and no I can with how it is never proven Gatsby has OCD, but he shows some symptoms. 

5. I didn’t think about how OCD can be a source of his obsession and how it can be worsened when falling in love. 

2. Faculty of Letters. “Upit.” The Ministry of Education, Research and Youth, Pitesti University Press, 2008, www.upit.ro/_document/9672/eli_no_4-_2008_vol.2.pdf. Accessed 17 Apr. 2025. 

• Summary-  

• Key Terms-  

• Analysis-  

• Evaluation-   

3. Zhue, Jie, Peng, Liran. Gao, Yuexin. An Analysis of Gatsby’s and Daisy’s Hierarchical Needs in The Great Gatsby with Maslow’s Theory, Hebei University, Aug. 2023, www.scirj.org/papers-0823/scirj-P0823957.pdf. Accessed 17 Apr. 2025. 

• Summary-  

• Key Terms-  

• Analysis-  

• Evaluation-  

4. Ilie, Oana. “Jat Gatsby. Romantic and Tragic Embodiment of Eternal Love Seek” (Pg. 62 of Journal), https://www.upit.ro/_document/9672/eli_no_4-_2008_vol.2.pdf#page=62 

• Summary- The author goes deeper into the idea of Gatsby’s desire to have love. He wants the one thing he doesn’t have. This causes tension between Gatsby and Tom, Daisy’s husband. Daisy doesn’t deserve Gatsby’s love. His desire for love was the cause of his death. Ilie Oana starts with asking if you know anyone whose desire for love cost them their life. If the flaws or mistakes they made overcome them. 

• Key Words- Sacrifice, Illusion, Romanticism, Human Nature, Dream 

• Analysis- Nick reserves judgement and doesn’t agree with Gatsby’s vulgarity but respects his strength and the unselfishness of his idealism. “Gatsby is a romantic dreamer who wishes to fulfill his ideal by gaining wealth in hopes of impressing and eventually winning the heart the heart of the materialistic and superficial Daisy. She is, however, completely undeserving of his worship. Gatsby is overwhelmed by the one thing he does not possess: love. His one personality flaw”. “He lives in non-reality and creates illusions, leads to his demise” “Gatsby’s love for Daisy is real and strong” “The only reasonable solution is death, because a life without Daisy’s love is no life at all” “He changed his name to Jay Gatsby. It was almost as if he reincarnated into the man he always wanted to be.” “Jay Gatsby can be a romantic person. Still, it may also be possible that he is fearful of letting go.” “He carries on living in the past mainly because it is simple for him.” “It is difficult for Gatsby to get Daisy out of his mind because he knows that if he did, he would end up being miserable in the long run.” “His dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know it was already behind him.” (189. TGG, Fitzgerald). “Her voice is full of money” (120, TGG, Fitzgerald) “Afterward he kept looking at the child with surprise. I don’t think he ever believed in its existence before” (Fitzgerald 117) 

• Evaluation- 

5. Oxford Dictionary, Obsession Definition, https://www.oed.com/dictionary/obsession_n?tab=meaning_and_use#34134708 

• Summary-The control, actuation, or tormenting of a person from without by an evil spirit; the fact of being so controlled or affected; an instance of this 

• An idea, image, or influence which continually fills or troubles the mind; a compulsive interest or preoccupation; the fact or state of being troubled or preoccupied in this way. 

• Psychology. A recurrent, intrusive, inappropriate thought, impulse, or image causing significant distress or disturbance to social or occupational functioning; (also) the condition characterized by having such thoughts, impulses, or images. 

• Key Words- Obsession, Psychology 

• Analysis- 

• Evaluation-  

1. Compare Gatsby’s actions and reasonings behind them with the definition of obsession, especially psychology 

6. A Psychoanalytic Study of Form in The Great Gatsby/ Donna Lynn Moder/ Dr. Norman Rosenblood (supervisor)/ https://macsphere.mcmaster.ca/bitstream/11375/9585/1/fulltext.pdf  

• Summary-  

• Key Terms- Psychoanalytic, Nick and Gatsby, Cowering, Anti-romance, realism, fantasy, detective 

• Analysis- uses Freudian Theory to do a psychoanalytic deep dive into the forms in The Great Gatsby. It goes over the dichotomy in the story between the fairytale love story of Gatsby and Daisy and the detective story of Nick. It focuses on Nick being the true protagonist but cowering away from it behind the fantasy story of Gatsby. It brings up quotes about The Great Gatsby is an anti-romance and people saying, “it’s an expression of literary realism function toward the exposure of romance illusion”. 

• Evaluation- 

1. It goes with my idea of The Great Gatsby not truly being a love story but more a fantasy Gatsby has. 

2. The information will have its own use and not fully go with other sources as of right now. 

3. It gives a new insight into what type of store The Great Gatsby is. An anti-romance, fantasy, and detective story instead of a fictional love tragic love story as people view it. 

4. It can possibly be used for a counterargument as it mentions the story being about love as well. 

5. It showed me a new way of seeing Nick and how two different types of stories are in one. It has not changed my viewpoint on the obsession Gatsby has. 

7. Violence and Obsession: The Shift of Identity in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby/ Meziane Belaid/ Mrs. Dakhmouche (supervisor)/ https://bucket.theses-algerie.com/files/repositories-dz/8479458275042718.pdf 

• Summary- 

• Key Words- The Great Gatsby, Psychoanalysis, Shift of identity, Obsession, Violence 

• Analysis-  

• Evaluation- 

8. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. “The Great Gatsby,” Charles Scribner Sons. 1925 

Summary- Scott F. Fitzgerald’s Book

Key terms- Obsession, Love, American dream, Corruption, Strive, Wishing, Swimming/ pool, Despair, Grief

Analysis- About the life of Jay Gatsby and the adventures of his love but from the point of view of Nick Carraway.

Evaluation-

• The author is saying the American dream is dead. It can support my “I say” because

It goes over Gatsby’s actions. Gatsby’s actions seem obsessive

• This source is what my other sources are based on
• I can use this to frame and contextualize my argument since it is what all other sources

are based on

A counterargument I can make with this is how Gatsby is in love

• because of how he describes her at some points and it can show

affection throughout the book

• This book made me realize Gatsby only has an obsession after reading it again. His

actions show more stalker like qualities over someone

who is truly in love.

9. Vo, Nghi. Chosen and the Beautiful, S.L., Torcom, 2022 

Summary- A 21st Century rewrite of the Great Gatsby.

Key terms- Careless, Asian-American, Love, Wonder, Magic, Racism, Inequality, Sexism, Confusion,

Alienation, Misfit, Estrangement

Analysis- It is written in the point of view of a Asian-American.

Evaluation-

• This book helps me with my “they say’ for my paper 2 on differences. It shows the difference

between a white males POV and an Asian-Americans POV of the 1920s life

• It is significantly different POV’s compared the “The Great Gatsby”
• It frames my argument well with how Jordan was treated and how she truly felt. It gave

us another POV of who Gatsby was.

• A countersrgumnt can be made for how Nick treated her in C&B even when he

was a white male still

• It gave me a new idea of who Gatsby was and the actual racis that was overlooked
• in The Great Gatsby