GATSBY’S DESIRE AND THE UNATTAINABLE NATURE OF ‘OBJET PETIT A’

Abstract

Having survived almost a century, The Great Gatsby is still read and taught enthusiastically. Different researchers explored Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby through different lenses, such as the Marxist lens, feminist lens, psychoanalytic lens, etc. though explaining the reason behind Gatsby’s quest for unobtainable love is often neglected. This study discusses Gatsby’s ‘Objet Petit a’ as unobtainable love in the novel The Great Gatsby. Since the novel revolves around Gatsby and his struggle to achieve his lost love, it is important to critically examine his love and struggle under the guidance of Lacan’s concept of the ‘object of desire’. Analyzing Gatsby, the character, in the context of Lacan’s ‘Objet Petit a’ helps in understanding his quest for unobtainable love. Objet Petit a, also known as ‘object of desire’, can be a person, goal, or anything that one believes, by achieving, fulfills the ‘inherent lack’ in a person, but it cannot fulfill the desire and lack. The study examines Gatsby’s association of a person to objet petit a and also explores the unattainability of the objet petit a.