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What Does The Clock Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

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In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby’s repeated interactions with the elements of time represents his nebulous view of the passage of time. Gatsby’s first interaction with a literal symbol of time is when he is awkwardly standing against the mantle in Nick’s home. He leans back and then “... the clock took this moment to tilt dangerously at the pressure of his head, whereupon he turned and caught it with trembling fingers…” (Fitzgerald 91). The clock represents time more specifically the passage of time that Gatsby is utterly unaware of because of how absorbed in the idea of how Daisy was when he first met her. Before this altercation while Gatsby and Nick were waiting for Daisy to show up Gatsby begins to panic with no real

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