The Great Gatsby: Chapter VIII (pages 147-151)

F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby involves using many flashbacks of Gatsby's life in order to explain unknown information. Gatsby and Nick have a conversation after Gatsby gets home about his past with Daisy. After Gatsby went off to war, Daisy felt pressure to talk with other men so she began dating a large amount of men. Daisy is waiting for her life to form and finally, "That force took shape in the middle of spring with the arrival of Tom Buchanan" (Fitzgerald, 151). There are a great deal of differences between this novel and the book Dear John, but I believe in some aspects this flashback connects similar themes between these two novels. In both of these stories there is a man who has to go off to war, and the woman they are in love with feels obligated to marry another man. These stories are very unfortunate in the fact that the men's emotions and heart are shattered. I personally do not understand why Daisy could not be patient enough to wait for Gatsby if she truly loved him. Daisy was going through a confusing time in her life and desired some type of reassurance in her life, which is where the story line to Dear John does not match The Great Gatsby. This whole situation just frustrates me that Daisy married another man.