Henry Hovde Mr. Bradley English 11 5/19/24 Does The Way People Look At The Past Matter? The book “The Great Gatsby” was written many years ago in the past. The past brings many things to attention, our faults come out, we see what we had, we see what we could have had, and we get to make a choice; does the past control the future? Through “The Great Gatsby” we see how everyone lets their past control the future. We see this through the book, with characters from all walks of life. We see this first with Jordan Baker and throughout the book, we see it with all the main characters. When we first see this when Nick comes over to Tom's house Jordan and Nick have this conversation, "Do they miss me?" she cries ecstatically. The whole town is desolate. …show more content…
If Daisy had not been affected by her past troubles, Gatsby would have not been any more than a thought and an acquittance at tea. Daisy is married and if she loved her husband for more than his status and money, then she would have not caused any problems that develop with the book. Daisy would have never thought twice about Gatsby if he had not instigated her to even bring up the past. Gatsby, the man this book is written about, is a man of great class who came from a humble beginning, but that is not the past; we are going to look at his past starting when he met Dan Cody. Dan was a yacht captain who struggled with alcohol abuse and a borderline drunkard, Gatsby met his first mentor Dan Cody one fateful night when a storm blew in; it was a ship smashing wave crashing storm that could have easily sunk Dan Cody’s vessel if it was not for Gatsby. Gatsby's past was greatly affected by Mr. Cody. We see this in “A few days later he took him to Duluth and bought him a blue coat, six pairs of white duck trousers, and a yachting cap. And when the TUOLOMEE left for the West Indies and the Barbary Coast, Gatsby left too”(Fitzgerald
The novel The Great Gatsby displays deceitfulness in many of its characters. The deceit brings many of the characters to their downfall. Gatsby had the greatest downfall of them all due to the fact it took his life. In The Great Gatsby , “ Gatsby goes to spectacular lengths to try to achieve what Nick calls ‘his incorruptible dream’ to recapture the past by getting Daisy Buchannan love” (Sutton). Gatsby always had an infatuation with Daisy, Jordan Baker said,”Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (Fitzgerald 83). Gatsby and Daisy did have a past together. While Jordan was golfing, “The Officer looked at Daisy while she was speaking in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at sometime[…]His name was Jay Gatsby and I didn’t lay eyes on him for over four years-even after I’d met him in long island I didn’t realize it was the same man” (Fitzgerald 80). Daisy is now in an abusive relationship with Tom Buchannan, “Nick Carraway attends a small publicly blames Tom for the bruise on her knuckle” (Sutton). When they meet again Gatsby showers Daisy with love and affection, wanting her to leave her husband Tom, but she does not want to in their society. Tom and Gatsby get into an argument and tom tells Daisy about Gatsby’s bootlegging that brought him to his riches. Tom yelled, “He a...
It would appear that if only a few small things were to change, Gatsby would end up as the winner. Regrettably, Gatsby was set up to fail from the start. Daisy is a wicked person, her and Tom simply hurt others and retreats back to their money for security. After she left Gatsby for Tom, not only did she refuse to resolve the issue with Gatsby, she refused to even attend his funeral. When Nick calls Daisy to inform her about the funeral, their butler answers. Their conversation went like, “Left no address?” “No.” “Say when they’d be back?” “No.” “Any idea where they are? How I could reach them?” “I don’t know. Can’t say.” (Daisy was Gatsby’s goal, his life. She knew Gatsby did everything for her, yet she would not even show up at his funeral. When daisy cried at Gatsby’s mansion it becomes obvious that she only felt that she missed an opportunity. That she could have been with Gatsby who who was more exciting than Tom but equally as rich. Daisy would have used Gatsby up and thrown him away as fast as she let him in. Gatsby changed his life for Daisy, but she wasn 't the right one to change his life for. Even if Gatsby earned his money earned properly, his goal would prevent him from
To explain the basis behind their relationship; Gatsby first met daisy at a party at her house that her parents were hosting for young army men in hopes that their daughter would find that could be a suitable husband. Soon after they became so close and fell madly in love. Daisy came from old money and gatsby had no money at all which made their relationship come to a halt when Gatsby asked to marry Daisy. With a breaking heart Daisy had to turn him down because she couldn’t marry someone that couldn’t provide what she needed...fabulous wealth. Many years past as Gatsby went to war, came back to war, and got a job helping Dan Cody on his voyages. After Gatsby7 was denied the money that Dan Cody wanted to inherit to him he got into the business of bootlegging which made him filthy rich. Everything he did over the course of the years was for Daisy so he could finally get to be with her. Sadly Gatsby later found out that Daisy had gotten married to a man named Tom Buchanan leaving Gatsby torn that Daisy did not wait for him to get rich. All gatsby had now was hope and a love so strong for Daisy that it made his heart ache. Tom narrates, “But his heart was in a constant, turbulent riot. The most grotesque and fantastic
Think about being separated from the one you love. You thought this person would be in your life forever and always. You may have spent days and weeks thinking and planning your future together, but then one day they disappear from your life. That person has moved on, and chose to live a life that no longer including you. It would be assumed in most cases that the love of your life is no longer the person they were before, so should you stick around and try to win them back? In the case of Gatsby and Daisy, Gatsby did not realize Daisy would be different, and although he still thinks he is in love with Daisy, is he in love with her for who she is now, or the idea of everything she used to be the answer may shock you, and this is all due to the unreal expectations he has for her to fill. Because Gatsby is not in love with who she is at the time they are reunited. Instead, he is caught up in the idea of who she used to be. The actions of Gatsby, how he talks about her, and the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy once they are back together again show who Gatsby is really in love with, and that is the old Daisy.
Many individuals believe that history repeats itself and is on a never ending loop doomed to be repeated once again. However, the past cannot be recreated. The past is the past and while some characters in the novel The Great Gatsby realize this others simply do not. Gatsby has spent the better part of five years trying to recreate the time when him and Daisy were together. Furthermore, Gatsby fails to realize that things have changed and are no long the same as five years ago. The uncertainties of times before are not grounds to repair a current situation in an individual’s life. Reality now is not the same as once before. The old days should be left in former times and when an individual attempts to reconcile these events then corruption
For five years, Gatsby was denied the one thing that he desired more than anything in the world: Daisy. While she was willing to wait for him until after the war, he did not want to return to her a poor man who would, in his eyes, be unworthy of her love. Gatsby did not want to force Daisy to choose between the comfortable lifestyle she was used to and his love. Before he would return to her, he was determined to make something of himself so that Daisy would not lose the affluence that she was accustomed to possessing. His desire for Daisy made Gatsby willing to do whatever was necessary to earn the money that would in turn lead to Daisy’s love, even if it meant participating in actions...
Daisy is not pure and perfect like Gatsby thought she was in the past. From Gatsby's illusions of the past preoccupying all his thoughts, he forgets about the key dimension he exists in which is the present. Although Gatsby was persistent on reliving the past, Gatsby vaguely lived for the present. This is apparent when he cancels his biology by leaving home, changing his name, and leaving his heritage behind which was not done by following the past.
Two of the most prominent themes in the Great Gatsby are ambition and nostalgia, which are represented throughout the book by the actions and behaviors of the characters. The book uses the two qualities often to gauge the characters on a scale of characters like Tom Buchanan, who are stuck in the past, to Gatsby, who is never satisfied with his current position. To me, the “scale” is also used to a certain degree to determine the quality of a character, at least in Nick’s eyes. Gatsby in particular is unique in that he embodies both ambition and nostalgia, and almost does not fit on the scale. Gatsby never stopped trying to rise higher in social standing until the very end of his life, making him possibly the most ambitious character in the
This is evident when Gatsby states, “Can 't repeat the past?...Why of course you can”(cite). Gatsby implies here that the past can be repeated, in this case with Daisy. Gatsby does not realize, however, that she is now married and has a child. Thus the past cannot be repeated and he is being way too overambitious. .....This is evident when Nick and Gatsby state, “Was Daisy Driving?....Yes...but of course, I 'll say I was”(cite). Gatsby implies here that he is taking the blame for the car accident, even though Daisy was driving. This was overambitious of him and led him to his tragic downfall, as
In many stories a reader sides with one or two characters for the whole story. In this book you may have sided with Daisy at the beginning but towards the end you despise her. Even with Nick Carraway the narrator of the story. The reader usually takes sides with the narrator of the story. Yet, at some points during the story I felt that Nick should have stopped Gatsby from using him. It was Nick’s own fault that he got caught up in Gatsby’s drama. Gatsby at first was a character a reader did not know much about. F. Scott Fitzgerald did so to keep Gatsby as a secret prize for later. It kept us readers wanting to keep reading and to learn more about Gatsby. Daisy’s character was very dynamic. At first, we see an innocent girl just exploring her love between two men. By the end of the story she turned into a coward and left the town as soon as she could. “Good writing” does not let a reader know what is to be expected. With the characters of this story a reader at many times struggled with who was right and wrong. The changing of the character’s emotions and personality contribute to the making of a great
Dwelling on the past will make the future fall short. When longing for the past one often fails to realize that what one remembers is not in actuality how it happened. These flashbulb memories create a seemingly perfect point in time. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s modernist novel the Great Gatsby, the ill-fated Jay Gatsby wastes the present attempting to return back to that “perfect” time in past. Acknowledging the power of the imagination, Nick states that, “No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart” (Fitzgerald 101). Nick realizes that because the past is irretrievable, Gatsby’s struggle, though heroic, is foolish. Gatsby’s great expectations of Daisy leads to great disappointments. Through Gatsby, Fitzgerald tries to instill his
After Gatsby left for the war he knew that he must be rich upon his return if he were to marry Daisy. So Gatsby dedicated his life to making a fortune through unlawful ways in order to buy Daisy’s love. She has been dealing with her husband’s continuous infidelity, which is always lingering at the back of her mind. After five years, Daisy and Gatsby reconnect at Nick’s tea party, which proves to be very awkward in the beginning, but by the end, the two are talking as if they had never been apart. After meeting Daisy at the tea party, Nick states, “there was a change in Gatsby that was simply confounding.
The relationship between Gatsby and Daisy is one of constant lies, and deceit. Gatsby falls in love with Daisy before he goes to the Army as a young man, and Daisy fell in love with him too. Yet Daisy is very materialistic and Tom, a very rich man came into place and Daisy married him instead of waiting for Gatsby like she had promised. Gatsby waited for Daisy but she did not wait for him, and instead married Tom just for his money. This shows how there relationship has been riddled with lies since the very beginning of the story.
Jay Gatsby’s mind believes in a world of idealism that circled around Daisy Buchanan, who he felt was a super woman. Gatsby is adamant that Daisy Buchanan is the same woman he envisioned in his dreams. Nick Carraway suggests that, “There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams--not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way” (Gatsby 95). Nick is quick to realize that although Gatsby won’t admit he’s wrong, and Daisy could not ever live up to the hype. All Gatsby sees is an astounding and beautiful woman who is perfect. Gatsby’s love and desire for Daisy is a gamble he can’t win, he’s setting himself up for failure if he furthers this comportment. Although Daisy was his past he still feels that they could reconcile regardless of her social status and marriage. His idealistic mind runs the world the way he wants to. Gatsby had felt his return can usurp the marriage of the Buchanan’s. Ironically, Gatsby idealistically wanted Daisy to admit she loved him. In fact,
If Gatsby was not so caught up in winning Daisy over and realized that in the end she would only act to protect herself, perhaps the outcome of the story would be completely different.