Unfinished In The Great Gatsby

Gatsby cannot accept the truth that Daisy has married somebody else, and he wants to go back to the time when Daisy and he were together. Gatsby cannot move on with his life. Through knowing about Gatsby's past and how he escapes from it, Nick learns that one must live in the present and that the attempt to get back to the past is futile, hopeless, and impossible.

Before the world war had started, Gatsby was already in the period of time where he was courting Daisy. However after the war, Gatsby extends his period over time in order to obtain a socially acceptable rank in order to marry Daisy. It was during this period of extending time that Daisy fell under the pressure of her family to marry Tom Buchanan. When Gatsby returns to the United States, he realizes that he had lost Daisy and then proceeds to further increase his social status through bootlegging in the guise of drugstores. It is then during this period that Gatsby wants to erase the five years of time during which he was gone, from not only his life, but also Daisy’s. When Nick retorts to Gatsby’s idea, he exclaims to him “‘Can’t repeat the past?’ he cried incredulously. ‘Why of course you can!’”(Fitzgerald, 110). Near the end of the novel, Gatsby is invited along with Nick to the Buchanon’s for lunch, there, Gatsby sees Daisy and Tom’s child for the first time and Nick describes it as genuine surprise and that he believes that Gatsby “never believed in its existence before” (Fitzgerald, 117). The introduction of Daisy’s daughter

All in all, as presented through this work, Gatsby was indeed in love with Daisy for the most part, in the beginning of their relationship, but it all change when Gatsby lost Daisy and so he let himself believed that his past was the one to blame for this circumstances. It is after this, that Gatsby became rather obsessed with the idea of Daisy and having a lovely future with her, because having her meant having it all: stability, confidence, love, happiness and so on. Also, it meant that he had succeeded in life as a whole. “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . And then one fine morning— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” (Chapter 9) All his life, Gatsby intended to escape

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.

When Gatsby reveals to about his relationship with Daisy, Nick’s relationship with Gatsby takes a full u-turn as it rapidly advances their association from simple acquaintances to close friends. Nick’s outlook of Gatsby undergoes a similar transformation. When Nick learns of the previous relationship between Gatsby and Daisy, Gatsby’s actions make sense to Nick. The mansion, the extravagant parties, and the green light were all in the efforts for making Daisy notice him. Gatsby lives his life for the past life that he lived. He spends his life seeking the attention of his love, Daisy, and as Nick explains, “He wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was…” (Fitzgerald 110). Gatsby sought out the American dream in order to win over the love of Daisy which creates a different perception of himself to Nick. Nick, now knowing Gatsby’s intentions worries about Gatsby’s possible rejection, and then warns him that, “[he] wouldn’t ask too much of her, you can’t repeat the past.” (Fitzgerald 110) But Gatsby, blinded by love, strives to win Nick’s married cousin’s heart. Nick perceives Gatsby as a man dwelling on the past

A major internal conflict in this novel is between Gatsby and his past. Gatsby’s desire and purpose to return the past time when he and Daisy might had a future together. Gatsby strongly believes that he can reiterate the past and when Nick is trying to explain him that he cannot do this he refuses to believe that he cannot repeat the past.

62) Gatsby even asked Nick for his help to put him and Daisy in the same room together earlier in the novel. Nick agrees and eventually an affair ensues between Gatsby and married Daisy. This alone depicts exactly what Nick means when he speaks about how close Gatsby was to his dream and how it was almost impossible for him not to achieve it. He somewhat has won Daisy over by throwing his wealth in her face every chance he had. However, Daisy was already used to the lifestyle that Gatsby just newly acquired. This realization speaks through the next portion of the passage. “He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city” (pg. 180). His dream of winning Daisy back is trapped in the past because she is now married to Tom. Gatsby fails to accept the fact that times change and so do people. Daisy was not the same person he knew all those years ago. I’ve been everywhere and seen everything and done everything” (pg. 22). Living lavishly was not new for Daisy like it was for Daisy. She had traveled the world and done everything she wanted to do so nothing really excited her anymore. Despite her love for Gatsby, Daisy decides to stay with tom when Gatsby demands she tell her husband she never loved him. Her decision shows that Gatsby’s dream of winning Daisy’s love back was indeed in the past. The icing is put on the cake when Tom exposes Gatsby for

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.

As Gatsby reached out to the green light across the harbor, he mistakenly thought there was still hope of getting back into a relationship with a married woman, Daisy. He regretted his actions that occurred five years ago, and did everything in his power to regain Daisy’s respect. Gatsby used his wealth to summon Nick, Daisy’s cousin, under his “spell” as his first step to fulfill his path to the love of his life. Gatsby’s fixation to getting back with Daisy makes his judgment unclear since he cannot think distinctly. His craziness for her is seen at, “Yes,” he said after a moment, “but of course I’ll say I was” (Fitzgerald 143). At this scene, Gatsby takes the fall for what Daisy had done. When he does this, he was not thinking about the consequences that might follow which included the revenge of the dead woman’s husband. Gatsby was clearly not thinking straight because his obsession to be with Daisy overcame his intelligence. His dream of being with her slowly became into a nightmare. If he had not done some of his actions, he would not have been in this mess in the first place. If he had let go of her and let her be happy by marrying Tom, this whole situation would not have happened.

Gatsby’s head is a complete mess. Nick says of him “Each night he added to the pattern of his fancies [...] these reveries provided an outlet for his imagination; they were a satisfactory hint of the unreality of reality” (100). Gatsby is always dreaming of changing to the point of letting years go by stuck on the same illusions.

Hopes and dreams are not always centered on a future belief. Some, like Gatsby, set their hopes and dreams based on events in the past. Gatsby’s pursuit for happiness was driven (centered) by the past and the relationship that Daisy and him had. He was so caught up in winning Daisy’s heart that he lost the sight of how the real world worked. When told “You can’t repeat the past” by Nick, Gatsby replied with “Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can!” Gatsby’s hopes and dreams couldn’t be centered in the future because the relationship that he longed for with Daisy was stuck in the past. No matter how hard he tried, Daisy would never leave her husband for him. Daisy was caught up in the moment and lost control of herself. She wasn’t getting the attention she desired and wanted something more- the only one that gave her the attention she wanted was the one she didn't look at the same anymore. Daisy was married now with a child, she had moved on and knew her and Gatsby was in the past. She had created a future for herself that was centered on a future belief, and it didn’t involve Gatsby.

When it came to Gatsby, he was interested in Nick’s simplicity but he was also intrigued at Nick’s relation to Daisy, his long-lost lover. In the novel it states, “had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way. No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart.” (Fitzgerald, 97). This quote shows how Gatsby had reconnected with Daisy through Nick and how Nick admired Gatsby’s passion when he finally meet up with Daisy once again. Lastly, the tragic death of Gatsby opens up a new realm of things for Nick. In the novel, it states, “After Gatsby’s death the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes’ power of correction.” (Fitzgerald, 176). He now reflected on how Gatsby’s passion and drive to live allowed Nick to view life in the real world differently. Nick, who was directly inspired by Gatsby, now was left confused as he wanted to learn all that one needs for success, though the death made it impossible. The last page of the novel, it ends with, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eludes us then, but that’s no matter - to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arm farther.” (Fitzgerald, 180). This quote shows how much of a deep impact Gatsby’s death had on Nick. Now

James Gatsby is constantly trying to change time. In the book the word time is mentioned hundreds of time showing its definite importance. James Gatsby continued to dwell on the past with his relationship with Daisy which blatantly ruined and future chance she had with him. Gatsby felt as if something was missing from his life and F. Scott Fitzgerald makes the reader conclude that the “thing” is in fact Daisy. He wanted her so much that he wanted to erase the last five years that he didn't spend with her. Assumptions could be made that Gatsby's whole reason in living the life he did was to for lack of a better word impress Daisy. His whole purpose for living was to be with Daisy and that didn't work out his whole life was a waste. He died for the thing he was living for. Gatsby is a pathological control freak, and the one thing he couldn't control with his money, alcohol, a manipulation was time. A clock is a symbol for consistency and and control because it never changes, 12 hours, 60 minutes, 60 seconds, it never changes. So when the clock in the scene with Daisy, Nick, and Gatsby falls and breaks Gatsby begins to feel uncertain about what he is doing and believes that everything was a mistake. Everybody seems to have an obsession with time. People are always looking for a way to travel in time, or change what happened previously in time. Jay Gatsby, in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby", is one of these people. The whole novel is centered on the idea of the past,

Firstly, Gatsby is trapped in his dream where Gatsby and Daisy were once in a relationship. Gatsby wishes every night that his dream that consists of Daisy coming back in to his life, gives him the chance to live the past. Gatsby

When a person’s greatest hope does not come true, it can not only leave them stuck and unsure what to do with their lives, but cause emotional damage as well. Putting all the eggs in one basket means that if the person loses the basket, he or she loses everything they essentially live for as well. Obviously, this leaves him or her in the lowest depths of despair. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald once again uses the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy, this time to demonstrate how much hurt a broken dream can cause. Within the first hours of being reunited with his former love, Gatsby begins to suspect that the situation will not fall perfectly into place the way he imagined. Nick, after attending this awkward reunion, reflects, “There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams -- not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything... No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart” (103). Although Daisy still appears as beautiful and charming as ever, Gatsby’s false image of her after several lonely years expands so much larger than life that the real Daisy plainly disappoints Gatsby. Fitzgerald strongly warns against the pitfalls of hope - once a person fixates on an idea, such as Gatsby did, reality cannot compete with the power the idea has over the person, leading to a delusional and unsatisfactory life in actuality.