The average number of copies sold for a novel published by major publishers is around ten thousand in its lifetime. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitgerald sold around twenty five million since its publication in 1925. Of course there are many other books that have outsold The Great Gatsby, for example the Harry Potter series. However, that is like comparing Jay Gatsby from that novel to someone at that time like John. D Rockefeller. With that being put into perspective, Gatsby lives in a gilded world where money and power is what people dream about, and so does Gatsby.
After witnessing the dramatic downfall of Gatsby, Nick reflects on Gatsby’s way of living and forms his conclusion: “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s not matter– tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… and one fine morning– so we beat on, boats against the current borne back ceaselessly into our past” (Fitzgerald 180). This is Nick’s final mark in the novel. This self-conflicting conclusion of Gatsby, states what Nick appreciates about Gatsby, and the reason that caused Gatsby’s downfall. The green light is Gatsby’s hope and future. Nick respects Gatsby’s strong hope of a better future, and his belief in the American dream. Gatsby is willing to “run faster” and “stretch out” his arms farther to reach that dream in this materialistic world. On the other side, Nick realizes Gatsby’s obsession with his past. The past holds him down and is what caused this tragedy. No matter how hard Gatsby runs towards the green light, the past is the river separating them; sends Gatsby “ceaselessly into the past”. It is the tension between Gatsby’s future and past that shaped him as a conflicting character. To move forward, he has to forget about the past, but his idealistic future is his past.
” It is the tension between Gatsby’s future and past that shaped him as a conflicting character. To move forward, he has to forget about the past, but his idealistic future is his past”
Gatsby’s strong hope in himself and the American dream is what motivates him to get to where he was. Jay Gatsby, being one of the “new money”, believes that anything is possible in this land of opportunity. When young Gatsby saw Dan Cody’s yacht as a money hungry kid with a big ambition, “Too young Gatz, resting on his oars and looking up at the railed deck, that yacht represented all the beauty and glamour in the world” (Fitzgerald 100). This moment when Gatsby sees the yacht is eye opening for him. He was being introduced to the world that runs on money and power, and he dreams that he could possess them. Dan Cody is a symbol of the American dream to Gatsby. Dan Cody made a fortune by himself, doing the mining business. Gatsby saw the success a man with hope can achieve, and started believing that one day he will stand as tall as Dan Cody. Not only does Gatsby think he is going to be successful from the beginning, he also believes that Daisy will fall in love with him and leave Tom. When Nick suggests Gatsby to leave Long Island for a while and come back when the whole thing is settled, Gatsby “wouldn’t consider it. He couldn’t possibly leave Daisy until he knew what she was going to do. He was clutching at some last hope and I couldn’t bear to shake him free” (Fitzgerald 148). This is an example of the downside of being so egoistic. Believing oneself is important, but what Gatsby is doing is that his hope of getting back together with Daisy is so strong that it blinded him. When everything falls apart, Gatsby still believes in Daisy. Nick realizes that and fails to “shake him free”. Despite being a double edge sword, Nick thinks Gatsby’s dreams are part of him, he dreams big and fights for it, that is just who Gatsby is.
Although Gatsby reaches towards his ideal future that he so firmly believes in, the past is catching up with him faster than ever. Nick thinks the reason why Gatsby’s plan did not work out is because he was trying to repeat the past. After the party that Gatsby invites Daisy to in his house, Nick tried to convince Gatsby that he can not repeat the past, but Gatsby said: “I’m going to fix everything just the way it was before… She’ll see” (Fitzgerald 110). Gatsby has the ambition that very few people have, but at this point, Gatsby is drowning in his own fantasy that he would not take in any advice against it. His actions caused by this unforgettable past often turns out to be sad and unfortunate. The first thing Gatsby did when he came back from Oxford is looking for Daisy. “He stretched out his hand desperately as if to snatch only wisp of air, to save a fragment of the spot that she had made lovely for him. But it was all going by too fast now for his blurred eyes and he knew that he had lost that part of it, the freshest and the best, forever” (Fitzgerald 153). Gatsby went to Paris in desperate to find Daisy. It is hard to leave because He had so many good memories with Daisy there. The memories were trapping Gatsby because he looks back and can not turn back around and walk forward. Just like Nick stated, Gatsby blurred his eyes and did not realize that he had already lost hte “freshest and the best, forever”. All this strivivng just to repeat the past, is it only making the realization harder and harder to accept. Just before Gatsby’s death, when the telephone call he has been desperately waiting for still has not rang, Nick thinks “that Gatsby himself didn’t believe it would come, and perhaps he no longer cared. If that was true he must have felt that he had lost hte old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream” (Fitzgerald 161). The old warm world of Gatsby is not Daisy, but the dream where he is together with Daisy, the past. This moment, Nick thinks that Gatsby finally realized that “What’s happened, happened”, and he can not repeat the past. Waking up from a five year dream, Gatsby has indeed, “paid a high price for living too long with a single dream”.
Gatsby is an ambitious man that is willing to strive for his future, a perfect representation of the American dream. He also can not escape his past, Daisy, the love of his life. The future and past are the two forces that push Gatsby to opposite sides, eventually leaving Gatsby as the conflicting character that Nick thinks he is at the end of the book. Gatsby’s past with Daisy is his Achilles heel. With that in mind, Nick still thinks Gatsby is great because of Gatsby’s vision for himself.
“Read one improving book or magazine per week
Save $5.00 [crossed out] $3.00 per week
Be better to parents”. (Fitzgerald 173).
I liked The Great Gatsby, so did I like writing about it. I talked about how Gatsby struggles between the past and future, however, I think I can describe it more clear and hopefully not confusing. Using a quote at the end made the essay a bit messy, but I wanted to leave it so people can see the future Gatsby had for himself, showing his ambition.