Bewley tells the audience of the truths of this novel. “These possibilities were intrinsically related to such romantic components limited and distorted his dream, and finally left it helpless in the face of the Buchanans, but it did not corrupt it.”(97)  The novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, amplifies the glamour and fantasy of the 1920s. Throughout the book, we get an overview of how the rich as well as the poor live. This helps the audience understand better just how social classes in the 1920s worked. The main character, Jay Gatsby, is a person who is distorted by the era he is living in and strives for power. From the start, it is easy to see that Gatsby’s vision of him and Daisy being together is very distorted. Gatsby thinks that he can win Daisy just because of all of his wealth that he has acquired. Gatsby isn't in love with Daisy, he is in love with the idea of being with her more than Daisy as a person. He is an immature man who doesn't see her flaws, he doesn't actually know if he is in love with daisy or not. In the book The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald, the audience can see that  symbolism plays one of the biggest roles in the book. Symbols like Daisy’s voice and green light, as well as others are used throughout the book. One of the biggest symbols in the book The Great Gatsby is Daisy herself. To Gatsby, she is a prize more than a person. In Gatsby's eyes, she was a trophy of all of the power and achievements that he had ever gained. Clearly Gatsby isn't all too great because he’s too immature to realize his own faults.

Gatsby is seduced by Daisy’s own voice. Nick notes that the attraction of Daisy’s voice was caused by money.  “ ‘She’s got an indiscreet voice,’ I remarked. ‘It’s full of-’ I hesitated. ‘Her voice is full of money,’ he said suddenly,” (Fitzgerald, 120). Whenever Gatsby hears Daisy speak, he subconsciously hears his dream. Daisy is used as motivation to get what he really wants. Ever since he was a young boy, Gatsby desired to be rich. Now that he has someone who can complete his dream, Gatsby of course has to go for her. “That was it. I’d never understood before. It was full of money-that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song of it...High in a white place the king’s daughter, the golden girl…” (Fitzgerald, 120). This is the moment where Nick realizes what makes Daisy so desirable. Daisy can make a man invincible. This is why Gatsby is in love with her. “When his dream of love is destroyed, he is nothing but his extravagant props-he is ready for George Wilson’s bullet” (Birkerts, 90).  Birkerts states the facts by saying that without “love”, Gatsby isn't anything. This is why Gatsby keeps ahold of all the symbols of Daisy. Without Daisy, Gatsby would just be the shell of a man.

One major symbol in The Great Gatsby is the “green light”. To him, the green light is a symbol of hope to win back Daisy. What Gatsby doesn’t realize is that he is trying to get back the “old” version of Daisy which is perfect in his mind. Over the past five years, Gatsby has used the image of Daisy to acquire power and to gain wealth., Over this time he has been thinking of the old Daisy unfortunately. Nobody will ever stay the exact same after five years go by. ”Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic 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.” (Fitzgerald, 180). Nick tells the audience this passage at the end of the The Great Gatsby, years after Gatsby has passed. Nick believes that Gatsby had no idea of a future with daisy but instead he had an idea of the past. Gatsby is in love with an idea, not a person . An idea of what might have been. “In short, the novel embodies and expresses the simple, basic human desire and yearning, universal in nature, to snatch something precious from the ceaseless flux and flow of days and years and preserve it outside the ravage of time,” (Miller, 86). The author was right when he describes the feel of the novel. The Great Gatsby brings out the glamour of the 1920s, but  yet it also amplifies basic human emotions. The green light ties Gatsby to a notion in the past. 

In The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald, corruption plays a key role in the progression of the plot.  I wasn't aware that people could trick themselves into “loving” another person. Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship wasn't like anything that i could imagine. This contributes to the argument that Gatsby isn't all that great. Gatsby overflows himself with thoughts of the past. In the novel The Great Gatsby, it teaches us that corruption can destroy people, even of the most diverse social classes. Gatsby’s weakness happened to come from his only way he could find happiness. It’s sad to think that the “great” Gatsby was ruined by a simple idea. Gatsby had never been in love with Daisy in the book, he held on to symbols of the past, such as the Daisy’s melodic voice and the green light. Throughout the book, we can see why gatsby isn’t all that great.