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The Great Gatsby
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Jealousy is a natural emotion that everyone has experienced at one time or another. This is a feeling that society frowns upon and believes to be pointless; however, without it, inventions we have today would not be here. Jealousy, such as the jealousy the Parul Sehgal described in her Ted Talk, comes in many forms and at varying amounts. Luckily for Sehgal, hers was just childish jealousy of someone being better at something than she was. This type is simple, it is “competitive jealousy” as Sehgal said, but worse types do exist. The worst type of jealousy is the kind that is linked with romantic love, like the type that is displayed in the Great Gatsby. Gatsby was a jealous man all of his life. He always wanted something he didn't have. When he was young he was ashamed of his father, and their life, he wanted to be rich and from a well to do family. When he didn't have Daisy, he wanted her. The led to the aggression he had towards Tom. It was not enough for Gatsby to have Daisy, she had to say that she never loved Tom at all. Love, like jealousy is a chemical reaction that can lead to great things or very bad things. Helen Fisher explores this in her Ted Talk about love, people in love, who have lost love, and those that have claimed to be in love for a long time, like 25 years and more. Love, obsession, and jealousy are all prevalent themes in the Great Gatsby. Gatsby is truly in love with Daisy, which sparks his obsession with her, and leads to the jealousy he feels when Tom has Daisy and he doesn't. Tom is a very jealous man, which leads to his anger and violence. He does not love Daisy. Tom is more like a toddler that likes to pitch fits when someone takes something he thinks belongs to him. For that is all Daisy will ever be to him, is a possession, just something he has that others can not have.
I understand very little about why people do what they do, and what causes them to do it. Love is one of those which I do not understand, but jealousy I know all too well. Jealousy makes us laugh, cry, get angry and even saddens us. Jealousy is crucial in society to push us to the limits of what we can do, and then some. It is also prudent for literature. Sehgal said the without jealousy, fiction may cease to exist. Jealousy is something everyone can relate to and understand, but making characters more and more like average humans is what draws us in and keeps us there. The things we dislike in ourselves are also the things we love to see in the characters of novels, it just makes us feel better about ourselves.
I understand very little about why people do what they do, and what causes them to do it. Love is one of those which I do not understand, but jealousy I know all too well. Jealousy makes us laugh, cry, get angry and even saddens us. Jealousy is crucial in society to push us to the limits of what we can do, and then some. It is also prudent for literature. Sehgal said the without jealousy, fiction may cease to exist. Jealousy is something everyone can relate to and understand, but making characters more and more like average humans is what draws us in and keeps us there. The things we dislike in ourselves are also the things we love to see in the characters of novels, it just makes us feel better about ourselves.