F. Scott Fitzgerald's book, The Great Gatsby, illustrates the carelessness of many high-class people in the 1920's. Gatsby dedicated his life to a woman whose shallowness made it impossible for her to measure up to his ideals.
             Gatsby's illusion of his feelings for Daisy was the result of many years of absence after their initial love affair. Gatsby was obviously in love with Daisy in the beginning, but he seems to be oblivious to the fact that people change over time. He expects that Daisy will be the same girl he fell in love with many years before. Whether or not the feelings were reciprocal depends on how you interpret her actions. In the beginning they were mutual feelings, but those feelings began fading fast, on Daisy's part, after her wedding. When Gatsby returned from the war, he found that Daisy had married Tom. Tom's wealth was no match for Gatsby and he knew that he could not return to Daisy with nothing to offer. How he earned his money is irrelevant to why he earned it. His elaborate lifestyle, complete with extravagant parties filled with the wealthy and famous, was a selfless act of love. His feelings for Daisy were the key component in the outcome of his life.
             After Gatsby had established himself in high society, he began his endeavor to win back the woman that he loved. The first time Nick sees Gatsby, he is standing in his backyard staring across the bay at the light on the end of Daisy's dock. It seems he has placed her on a pedestal and watches her from afar because he feels inferior to the girl from his past that has become and infatuation to him. He waits for the appropriate time to finally meet her again, hoping that over the years she has missed him as much as he had her. When they finally meet, Daisy is caught up in Gatsby's lavish lifestyle. However the new love affair tragically ends when Daisy chooses the security of Tom's old money over any f...