Nostalgia In The Great Gatsby

THE GREAT GATSBY PASSAGE ANALYSIS ESSAY
Aparimita Tiwari
period-4 prompt #2

The night before Nick left West egg, he looked over Gatsby’s house and its surrounding(comma rule 2A). He spoke of Gatsby’s deserted house and the stairs on which an obscene word was inscribed. The grass on Gatsby’s lawn was as long as the grass on his own. Nick wandered down to the beach and lay on the sand. It was late night and there were barely any lights, except for the shadow of a ferryboat. Nick looked over the water and thought of the Dutch travellers. Later he wondered what Gatsby might have thought when he picked the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He spoke of staying in New York on Saturday nights. He did this because Gatsby’s

parties were with him so vivaciously that he could hear the laughter from Gatsby’s lawn and cars going up his drive. The passage has a different meaning connotatively.

The narrator believed in reserving judgements about people; however, by the end of the book his tone was commiserating and insightful. He emphasised on social instability. Nick used a simile(paragraph1-line1) in which he compared Gatsby's lawn to his own. While Gatsby was alive, his lawn was maintained and the grass was trimmed regularly. Now the condition of his lawn was similar or perhaps even worse than that of Nick’s lawn. This shows his wealth no longer had any significance. He now had the same social status as a middle class man or even lower. While innumerable guests came to his house before, now only a person came .Nick inferred he was oblivious that the party was over. Nick called Gatsby’s house a huge incoherent failure(paragraph three-line1) .He felt the house stood out from other houses in the neighbourhood. This indicates that Gatsby failed trying to be like the other affluent people around. Figurative language was utilized to strengthen the tone of the passage.

The narrator's tone was cynical and humanistic as well. He used symbolism(paragraph2-line1). The green light which, was at the end of Daisy’s dock, represented Gatsby’s ambition. His ambition was like the American dream which collapsed in the 1920’s. The Dutch settlers had seen the lush green land from a distance like the green light that Gatsby saw at the other end of the water. The narrator wrote about how Dutch men cut trees so they could have roofs above their heads. He shone a light on the selfish nature of humans. These types of individuals exploit resources and many a times even misuse each other. Tom and Daisy fell under this category.They were materialistic and self centered. Gatsby was only one of the several victims of their self indulgence. The narrator threw light on the American dream with the help of his tone.

Nostalgia was one of the many themes in the story and played a vital role in Gatsby’s life.

In the last paragraph, the narrator used a metaphor. People were compared to boats. These boats were deterred from reaching the shore by ocean currents(time). This related to Gatsby’s case. The currents represented the memories which kept pulling him back into the past. He was unable to let go of his past memories and wanted to relive them. The narrator elucidated the inescapable power of the past. The use of connotations helps us gain understanding of the narrator’s feelings.

In the end, Nick decided to leave New York. He lamented Gatsby, but he learned a lot from what happened to him(comma rule1). He learned that people of the opulent society were self serving. They didn’t care about how much damage they caused. He also realized that Gatsby’s dream was like the American dream which collapsed. The American dream stands for the independence of a man in making something with his own perseverance. Gatsby made a lot of money. Nevertheless, this didn’t change the fact that he was born into a poor household. Nick also observed how after Gatsby’s death, his wealth was insignificant. People only loved his money, not him. The events that occured in Gatsby’s life transformed Nick from a non judgmental person to a discerning

one.