I didn’t understand the metaphor/symbolism of the characters until I saw this.
Daisy is the American dream, she’s wealthy, beautiful, she has a family, a car; she has everything she wants on a silver platter and this includes Gatsby in the novel.
Gatsby also represents the American Dream because he came from nothing and became something. Through hard work and luck he made a name for himself, everyone comes to his parties, he is also wealthier than I will ever be and all the while he is pining after daisy like a poor man pining after the American dream because he hasn’t quite reached it until he has Daisy and Daisy leaves Tom.
Tom’s affair also can be viewed as the corruption in the banks because he is the one who earns all of the money in his family yet you never hear of him going to work, all the reader knows is he plays polo, he has a wife and kid, he is rich. Without his affair and corruption Myrtle wouldn’t have died and that very first stock market drop that was a precursor to the great depression would never have happened.
Now because Daisy is rich and married, obviously there is drama which leads to the downfall of Gatsby and in turn this symbolizes the fall of America. It was prophetic because this is exactly what happened to The US economy. Rich people played with it and it crumbled, but there was a small-scale crash beforehand that warned everyone of what was to come. In the novel, first Myrtle is killed by Daisy (symbolizing rich people and that first crash) and then Gatsby is which symbolizes the Great Depression.
I liked the book before I saw this post because it was a good read but I didn’t think it was particularly stunning until I made this connection.
(Source: chloeguinan)