More on The Great Gatsby
The novel deals with communal error. Gatsby cannot put his youthful romance with the now-married Daisy Buchannan behind him and pursues her in a stalker-esque way. But other characters contribute to his fate; there is complicity, and Daisy’s husband is vain, jealous, and vengeful. From the middle of the text when Gatsby and Daisy first reunite on his Long Island estate:
“Gatsby got himself into a shadow and , while Daisy and I talked, looked conscientously from one to the other of us with tense unhappy eyes. However, as calmness wasn’t an end in itself, I made an excuse at the first possible moment. Gatsby: ‘where are you going?’ Carraway: ‘I’ll be back.’ Gatsby: ‘I’ve got to speak to you about something before you go… This is a terrible mistake.’ Carraway: ‘You’re just embarrassed, that’s all. Daisy’s embarrassed too.'”
The driving error of the novel is Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy, but almost all the characters contribute to the tragedy at the end of the story. I think this is why the novel is considered one of the best in the U.S. It is true to life. Almost everyone has “blood on their hands,” and the ones who don’t are often idiots.