How Does The Past Affect Gatsby's Life

This is noticeable when he is talking to Nick. He thinks he can fix everything which we see when he is talking to Nick, “ ‘ I’m going to fix everything just the way it was before,’ Gatsby said, and nodding determinedly. ‘She’ll see.’ ”(110). At this point in the novel Gatsby sees how close his goal is, but he feels that the only way to get Daisy is to repeat the past and ignore the present, so she can feel the way she did about Gatsby before she met Tom. All the characters in this book will do anything to repeat the past, and do not see all the opportunities in front of them. Yet they are living in the roaring twenties, when everyone was trying to move forward with there lives. This idea from society is ironic to the characters in the book, because society is taking advantage of these opportunities of being wealthy, getting jobs, and living in the moment. Ironically Daisy, Gatsby, and Tom are living in the past, trying to take advantage of of opportunities that have already ended, specifically with Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship.

Gatsby is determined to win back the love of his life. He concludes that if he amasses a substantial wealth, he will be able to manipulate time, erasing Daisy’s marriage and fixing her future with him. Perhaps, this is why so many people are able to resonate with Gatsby, he invokes the sentiment of a common man. So many others have believed that if they simply change one aspect of their life and imagine it to be a particular way, the future will fall right into their hands.

Gatsby had not achieved his goal and dream to win Daisy’s heart and have her fall for him again, in order to “fix everything just the way it was before” (The Great Gatsby, p.110), despite the fact that he had won Daisy’s heart back, it wasn’t the Daisy that Gatsby wanted. Gatsby had worked all his life to impress Daisy and meet her standard for wealth, not because he is tremendously attracted towards Daisy, but more because of the idea of having Daisy.

Daisy and Tom were not interested in his parties. When Daisy’s cousin, Nick, moves to the home next to Gatsby, it opens up a whole new door. Gatsby gets the help of Nick to make them cross paths again. Their first reunion in five years changed Gatsby, “he literally glowed; without a word or gesture of exultation a new well-being radiated from him and filled the room (Fitzgerald, 94).” But his goal would never be fulfilled. Upon asking Daisy to proclaim her love to him in front of Tom but she can’t. Diasy loves Tom and she loved Gatsby but that’s just the point, the past is the past and can’t be relived. Gatsby never got another chance to winning Daisy over. After everything cooled down Gatsby began waiting for Daisy to call him, but that would never happen. He was shot a killed at is mansion before he ever got to talk to Daisy

When an individual does not come to the realization that the loved one from the past has changed, they continue to overlook the loved one’s flaws. For example, Gatsby had ideas of Daisy from the past, but he had not realized that she had changed, so he attempts to turn back time to relive a perfect life with her. The moment Gatsby kissed her, his heart had been married to her; however, the idea of a promising future with Daisy had been long gone. To begin with, Gatsby did not consider Daisy as a regular human being, but he thought of her as an ideal woman without any flaws, only thinking about her favourable qualities. However, this perspective of her did not correspond with the real-life Daisy. In reality, Daisy was no longer single like she used to be. More importantly, she was a married woman and had been married to Tom Buchanan for five years. In addition to that, she was a mother of a three-year-old daughter. In short, Gatsby had overlooked all those contradictions when he was thinking about living a perfect life with Daisy.

“He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you’ ” (Fitzgerald Chapter 6). This is when it is very clear what Gatsby is trying to accomplish, his goal is to get Daisy to abolish all the experiences she’s had with Tom. Gatsby wants Daisy to follow his ideals and to try and spark their past together. Although Daisy is stuck between choosing Tom and Gatsby, she realizes that the past cannot be relieved, because she has experienced too much with Tom, and that Tom also has a major influence in her

Many times the past can affect the future for the bad of good. For example, if you studied for an exam on the day of the exam you will know everything because you studied. This has to do with the past because you did something good that will benefit in the future. Another example from the book is the great gatsby. Gatsby had always loved daisy that he made parties so he could see daisy in the parties, but she only went to one party. Gatsby and daisy had something in the past that affected their future. Because of the love gatsby had for daisy caused him his death. This affected his future because he died for daisy's love. He took all the fault because he loved daisy and he wanted to protect her. If in the past gatsby wouldn't have nothing with

Gatsby, on the other hand, has an extraordinary quality of hope to see if Gatsby is able to start up things again with Daisy. The author supported this by saying, “Can’t repeat the past?” Gatsby cried, “Why of course you can!” (Fitzgerald, 116) illustrates how Gatsby is an anxious guy who’s in love. Anyone who is in love can get distracted with the things that are happening to them in the present and get selfish enough to fight for what is called a “special” person. This creates an imaginative thought and connection how Gatsby is ironic for the love for Daisy. The author presented, “It excited him, too, that many men had already loved Daisy - it increased her value in his eyes.” (Fitzgerald, 149). With a connection to that, many people in society are immoral and greedy for deep affection. On the opposite hand, Gatsby is opposing and urging for love. Gatsby couldn’t resist the love for Daisy since the memories kept on coming back, which keeps the love alive. Conveniently, how Gatsby purchases a house right across the bay from Daisy’s mansion, which makes the setting very ironic to the readers. Therefore, Gatsby’s flawed love for Daisy Buchanan continues on.

Five years later, Gatsby believes that he will be able to recreate his past with Daisy even though she is married and has a child, “‘ I’m going to fix everything just the way it was before,’ he said, nodding determinedly. ‘She’ll see.’... He talked a lot about the past and I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy” (Fitzgerald 117). Gatsby is determined that he can relive his past, and he plans on doing so. Gatsby puts a lot of thought in anything related to Daisy, for the past five years he has put together a scrapbook of every picture he sees of Daisy, every newspaper clipping where her name is mentioned, anything that has to do with Daisy is in the scrapbook.

From the moment he met Daisy, everything he did was for her. Gatsby had high ambitions but he would ask himself, “What was the use of doing great things if I could have a better time telling her what I was going to do?”(157). He did not expect to fall in love, but once he realized he loved her, there was nothing else he wanted more. Gatsby could get himself to wrap his head around the idea of the past being over and done with. He acted “as if the past were lurking here in the shadow of his house, just out of reach of his hand” (117).

And for Gatsby, he still believed that he has change the past and Daisy is belong to him. Even at the final moment, he still refuse to accept the fact that he cannot change the past. In modern world, many people are obsessed with the past and refuse to leave past behind.

John F. Kennedy once said, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” When we as humans incompetently reject the relentless progression of our lives, we stop ourselves from making opportunities of the future. For Gatsby, reincarnation of the past was viable and even necessary, in order to regain his happiness with Daisy. “Can’t repeat the past?”

At this point Gatsby had seen his ultimate goal so close that he believed he could reach out to it when he says those words. This was close to the climax of the Great Gatsby and from this words,we can insinuate that Gatsby could no longer bear to keep the love of Daisy from Tom. This shows that Gatsby really believes that Daisy still loves him after five years of not seeing a man who she mostly new as a poor man. At this very point he tries to make the past present once again,Gatsby is trying to change reality to what its not,he is trying to do the impossible .He is so caught up in emotions from the past that that he has failed to see the truth,he has failed to leave the past as what can not be recaptured. If a man works very hard he would archive his goal.

The past of a character can affect their life throughout the story in a positive way or in a negative way. Their way of thinking of their past may change their present or maybe even affect their future in such way. A perfect example is Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald makes Gatsby lie about his past in order to look good in front of people, and this led to major events.

Gatsby dedicates his entire life to Daisy. Without hesitation he devotes his own self towards her. When Gatsby realizes Daisy wanted money he immediately made as much as he could and flaunted his wealth to attract her attention. All of his actions are executed specifically for Daisy, and after all of that dedication Gatsby expects for Daisy to recuperate this unyielding love. The issue is that Daisy is married, she is not the perfect person Gatsby has imagined her to be, she has faults and over the years she’s changed. Gatsby is baffled at Daisy’s inability to “understand,” he wants her to be the same girl she was five years ago, and cannot comprehend that Daisy has changed (109). Nick persuades Gatsby “not to ask too much of her,” Gatsby disregards this claiming that she can always become who she once was (110). Gatsby choses to ignore the real world for the romantic fantasy he has of Daisy and in the end this drives her away. This internal conflict drives Gatsby throughout his life, and after five years of devotion towards Daisy he creates an unrealistic, romantic world he expects Daisy to fit in. The issue is that she is no longer the girl she once was, and now Gatsby must learn how to battle the internal conflict between his dream of Daisy and her