How Does The Past Affect The Great Gatsby

The past is like a fishing pole. Always casting forward, one reaches a distance at great length which one wishes they could maintain. Suddenly, a pull by some familiar force brings them back to where they once were. They bob along the water waiting to be thrown out again hoping to reach the final destination seeing the endless sea of possibility but constantly being pulled back to the past. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a novel that surrounds the past and tells the story of the relationship between the past, present, and future. In the novel, Gatsby, an affected character, is haunted by his former life which causes the evolution of his hopeful disillusionment and obsession with the returning back to the past.

At Gatsby’s extravagant

Before Gatsby’s new wealth, he and Daisy were madly in love, but his low social rank and lack of wealth, which he hid from Daisy, kept him from pursuing a life with her. But by the time he came back from the war and obtained his riches, Daisy married Tom Buchanan. Significantly, Gatsby’s mansion sits on property that overlooks the neighboring island across the bay. Nick, the point of view of which the story is told and Gatsby’s neighbor, learns of Gatsby’s past, and he finds that, “‘Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay,’” (Fitzgerald 78). Each night, the reader learns that Gatsby stares at the green light that glows from the end of Daisy’s dock which we see as a representation of Gatsby’s desire. When Gatsby and Daisy meet again and recognize their feelings, Gatsby tells her about

Gatsby’s dream of reaching his goal to repeat the past fuels the entire conflict of the book, not only with other characters, but with himself. Throughout the entire novel, the past is the source of action. Although Gatsby thinks he’s focusing on his future, it all leads back to what his past life has pushed him to do. In some ways, the reader can argue that it has affected him positively by pushing him to obtain wealth and a place in society, but the conflict most supports the negative aspects it has caused him. Addressed beforehand, Nick realizes that Gatsby feels as if he has no purpose other than loving Daisy, and the only way he can find himself is in his past. His obsession and love for her even blinds him into wanting to sacrifice his dignity and innocence for her. For example, after the murder of Myrtle Wilson, Tom Buchanan’s mistress, although it’s learned that Daisy ran over her, Gatsby assures Nick that he will take the blame, so she will not be hurt in any way (Fitzgerald 143). At the end of the novel, Nick reflects on his time with Gatsby and decides that his expectations of man do not correspond with reality just like Gatsby’s dreams were not attainable. As he lays on the grass, he compares the green freshness and possibilities of the new land that the Dutch must have seen to, “Gatsby’s wonder when he