The Impossible Current

Hope: a feeling of trust; trust that things will turn out okay, or just the way one imagined. The comment delivered by Nick at the end of The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, represents his feelings, and humanity’s nature towards hope. 

“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 our arms farther … And one fine morning – So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald 180). 

The enduring influence of this line is meant to reestablish Nick’s astonishment for hope; which is a strong theme that is carried on throughout the book, specifically the hopelessness with which Nick looks at hope, and his appreciation for those that hope heedlessly. For example, for the duration of the book, the reader sees Nick admiring Gatsby because of his ability to hope; as well as, by contrast, Nick’s belief that hope is pointless; and finally, Nick’s understanding that hope is a part of the human condition. 

Each of those points are significantly represented in the last remark that Nick makes. In just the beginning, ‘Gatsby believed in the green light,’ the readers see Nick’s admiration for Gatsby and his willingness to hope. This small line of narration shows the reader just how much importance and wonder Nick places on Gatsby and his belief in this ‘green light;’ which is the greatest symbol of hope to Gatsby, as it represents his connection to Daisy – his dream. In just the next line, Nick’s contempt for hope is exhibited. He believes that the future we fight so hard for ‘recedes before us’ no matter how long, or hard, we fight for it; this idea is continued when he compares dreamers to ‘boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.’ In these few words the reader comes to understand Nick’s belief that hope is hopeless. Dreamers are pictured as striving for things that are completely unimaginable and out of reach, as if their aspirations are altogether absurd. Finally, the reader discerns Nick’s acceptance of the fact that hoping is part of human nature. He claims that the elution of our dreams is ‘no matter,’ and does not keep us from ‘running faster’ or ‘[stretching] our arms out farther’ in reach of those goals. It is hard wired into our human minds and human heart to ‘beat on.’ 

Before the reader sees this realization of the necessity for hope, they see Nick’s admiration for Gatsby because he puts so much faith into the idea of hope. This is seen as early as the introduction of the novel: “It was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again” (Fitzgerald 2). Nick uses this line to describe his feelings towards Gatsby, most specifically why he carries such an admiration for Gatsby. This ‘gift for hope’ is what Nick finds to be the most ‘extraordinary’; in all things he chooses to say about Gatsby, he decides to comment on his ability to hope over and over again, despite the deficiency he’s met with. Another example of this persistence is when Gatsby still hoped for a chance with Daisy, even after it was obvious that his dream had failed. Nick observes this moment and says, “he was clutching at some last hope and I couldn’t bear to shake him free” (Fitzgerald 148). In this moment, Nick recognizes the failure of Gatsby’s dream, and the perseverance with which Gatsby looked at that dead dream. This causes him to hold some kind of mesmerization, and almost pity for Gatsby; Nick couldn’t ‘bear to shake him free’ of the hold that hope had on him. In this line, the reader begins to see Nick’s contempt towards hope in addition to his admiration for those that hope willingly. 

While Nick finds admiration in Gatby’s hope, in reality it’s merely just an interest; he’s unable to comprehend how, or why, people are able to put so much faith into their dreams. This is another way the theme of hope is tied into the novel. The reader first sees this when Jordan reveals the significance of the green light to Nick. Once Nick knew what Gatsby was wonderingly reaching towards that one night, he says “he came alive to me, delivered suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendor” (Fitzgerald 78). In this instance, Gatsby is given some kind of new purpose, and yet at the same time he is ‘delivered…from… purposeless splendor.’ The ‘splendor’ being Gatsby’s great dream of Daisy followed by Nick’s disdain towards that ‘purposeless’ dream. Another moment that the reader observes Nick’s scorn is when he expresses an idea of how Gatsby may feel once his dream of Daisy has officially collapsed. He says, “he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream. He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass…” (Fitzgerald 161). Not only does the reader understand what kind of loss Gatsby feels and what kind of faith he put into this dream, but they’re also now met with an idea of Nick’s outlook on life and hope. If Nick is able to conjure up such a ‘grotesque’ idea of life, it’s not far off to assume that he always possesses this outlook, and that this stripping of hope has finally exposed Gatsby to the true ‘rawness’ of life. It takes a special disdain for life and hope in order to look at things such as ‘roses,’ ‘leaves,’ and ‘sunlight’ as’ frightening,’ ‘grotesque,’ and ‘raw.’ This line alone tells the reader how Nick looks at life, through a dull lens rather than rose-colored; without hope or dreams to turn a rose into something beautiful or sunlight into a golden beam. Although he looks through these dull lenses, Nick is still able to understand that hope acts as those rose-colored lenses for everyone else. 

“It’s part of human nature to give so willingly to the idea of hope.”

Nick understands that it is part of human nature to give so willingly to the idea of hope. This idea is seen most significantly in the last line of the novel when Nick narrates, “so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald 180). This line alone signifies the feelings Nick holds towards the idea of hope, and the persistence of hope within human nature. Despite everything hope makes us feel – lost, worried, hopeless, insufficient – we still ‘beat on.’ We still push on in reach of those dreams that we hope for. ‘Boats against the current,’ humans against the inevitable, the inevitably of our failing dreams as Nick sees it. It is a part of the human condition to put our faith in hope, to jump so willingly into the idea that things will work out in the end. 

Just as Nick does with Gatsby, “Gatsby turned out alright in the end,” (Fitzgerald 2) he says. Even with each emotion the reader is taken through during the book, with each stab Nick takes towards hope – whether that be his admiration, contempt, or acceptance for it – the reader recognizes that this story of Gatsby leads Nick to eventually believe in hope. Hope: a feeling of trust; trust that things will turn out okay. The book and, most significantly, the comment last delivered by Nick tells the story of Nick’s relationship with hope and dreams, and perhaps the rest of mankind. We recognize its unreliability, and yet crave its promise.