Effects Of The Past In The Great Gatsby

Words: 418

Pages: 2

Open Document

The past is always going to be effecting the present, but sometimes the past can be effecting the present to much. Gatsby is almost constantly driven by the past, and is always trying to recreate it, which leads to a very strong message warning you to not live in the past. Everything that Gatsby has done, has been to try and get Daisy back. He is driven by Daisy, who is a part of the past. When trying to pursue Daisy, Gatsby ended up killing two people and ruining a marriage because he is so blindly chasing after what he cannot have. The book warns the reader to not do what Gatsby did.
Gatsby was one of the richest men in America, but he didn’t even enjoy his money, he just worked hard to get rich to aid his chase after Daisy, who should of stayed in the past. On page 78, it reads, “The modesty of the demand shook me. He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual months-so that he could ‘come over’ some afternoon to a stranger's garden.” In this quote, Nick realizes that everything Gatsby has done for the last five years has lead to being with Daisy again. Gatsby is essentially wasting his life for something that is almost impossible to obtain, for Daisy has married and Gatsby knows it. …show more content…
On page 62 it says, ”It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw Wilson’s body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete.” This quote shows the worst damage dealt by Gatsby’s conflict with the past. Wilson killed Gatsby and himself, after Gatsby was partly responsible for Myrtle's death. All of this happened because Gatsby was not thinking about his actions, but was thinking about Daisy. He was trying so hard to recreate the past with her, something that would never happen, he stop caring about anything else that

The Great Gatsby Past Research Paper

Echoes of the Past? In human existence, where past and present are intertwined like threads in a tapestry, lies tales of love, ambition, and the inescapable echoes of the past. Every action has a nuanced cause and effect relationship, where even the tiniest effect can create waves of change and reveal the hidden connections that mold our reality. The Law of Causation emphasizes that there is a relationship between causes and effects. For example, acts and their effects can be correlated with this…

Words 3760 - Pages 16

Essay about English Task 1

Introduction In the Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald, it is evident how the past cannot be escaped and how it influences ideas about the present and future. However in the Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning at first it seems so, but once we get to the final sonnet it is evident that has overcome her past and welcomes love into her life. The notion of the statement above regarding the pas, can be explained through the central themes of love/relationship, materialism, The American…

Words 1224 - Pages 5

Similarities Between The Jazz Age And The Great Gatsby

The Jazz Age and The Great Gatsby The Roaring Twenties, also known as The Jazz Age took place during Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. In the twenties, many events took place. These include parties, the beginning of jazz music, many performers in music, and a big era for American history. In this time period, one important aspect was that prohibition went into effect, which made the sale, transport, and manufacture of alcohol illegal. The speakeasies became popular places where people went to…

Words 615 - Pages 3

Gatsby Paper

Mr. Jahnke English 10 4A 28 May 2014 The Great Gatsby Paper There Was a Time “You can’t put your arms around a memory, you can’t put your arms around a memory, you can’t put your arms around a memory; don’t try, don’t try.” are the lyrics of You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory by Johnny Thunders. That statement is like a warning towards Gatsby, telling him not to try to do something he can not. The Great Gatsby takes place in the 1920’s, a time when a lot of corruption and criminal activity…

Words 1286 - Pages 6

How Are Daisy And Jay Gatsby Alike

Gatsby and Daisy dated when they were younger. When Gatsby went to war, he and Daisy broke up. While Gatsby was away, Daisy got married to a man named Tom. They have a daughter and live in the West Egg. Gatsby wants to get Daisy back and start dating her again. Even if Gatsby gets Daisy back, it will not be that same as it once was. The past cannot be re-lived, can not start again and be the exact same as it once was. There are many reasons that the past cannot be re-lived. For the past to be…

Words 609 - Pages 3

Great Gatsby Outline

The title, The Great Gatsby, is significant as it is reflective of the major pattern in the novel of illusions vs. reality. Gatsby, from an outsider perspective, looks as though he has everything together. He has an excessive amount of wealth, can afford to throw parties every weekend for hundreds of visitors, and appears to be the complete picture of a wealthy, upper-class man living in Long Island. However, under the surface, Gatsby’s life is not so “great.” His life is lacking Daisy, the one…

Words 420 - Pages 2

Symbols of Great Gatsby Essay

The Great Gatsby, written in 1922 has gone on to become one of the most famous, top selling novels of all time, having been remade into a cinematic feature for a third time this year. The books success has panned out from the time it was written, not initially well accepted by its audience. Later after F. Scott Fitzgerald had passed away the book went on to become one of the most analyzed and studied books by scholars and young students for its rich symbolism. The heavy exposure to students for…

Words 896 - Pages 4

the great gatsby student draft coursework Essay

Discuss Fitzgerald’s use of symbolism, themes and language to develop characterisation and setting in ‘The Great Gatsby’. How did your reading of ‘A Handful Of Dust’ illuminate my understanding of these features in ‘The Great Gatsby’? ‘The great Gatsby’, by Scott Fitzgerald, is set in what was known as ‘The Roaring Twenties’ ; during the decade when the American economy boomed rapidly, it became more prosperous and dominated Europe’s markets as their industries had shattered due to first World…

Words 1769 - Pages 8

Compare And Contrast The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby was a very prominent novel during the 20th century, and over 50 years after it was published, the first movie was released in 1974. 1974 is not when F. Scott Fitzgerald’s fame ended though, because in 2013 a second movie was released, and it was number one in the box office for months after its release in America. Although the first and second movie of The Great Gatsby are based on the same book, the 1974 version portrays the book better because it has accurate music to the time…

Words 501 - Pages 3

F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby A Tragic Hero

Greed is a curse and is not for cowards. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, the character Jay Gatsby is neither a tragic hero nor a hero at all. He barely exists as a character. Jay Gatsby is not a tragic hero because of his outlandish behaviors and actions that was done throughout the book that contradicts the role and characteristic of a hero. According to the AP Language on Tragedy and Tragic Flaw/Hero, a tragic hero is a hero “who may bring about his or her own downfall because…

Words 909 - Pages 4