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Introduction to the great gatsby essay
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The ending of chapter nine finished off with a powerful quote that hits every aspect of my own life, the society, and other literature written. The quote told by Nick says how, “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald 192). The quote focused on how the protagonist, Nick passed all the rough times in life and how no matter what happened he will never forget the past. Similarly, I myself can connect to this line. As of right now I am in my final year of high school before starting a whole new chapter in my life. The few years of my life I fought against all the downs in high school and how beat against the current in my boat. Many try to forget their four years of high school but I will embrace the four years of high school and how they changed me. I will always be carried back into my past. I will always remember the teachers who helped me get where I am today and how many of them made me work harder. I will always remember the marks I got in high school whether it’s good or bad. All the bad marks will help me “beat on, boat against current” to work harder to achieve higher marks. …show more content…
There was a quote in the beginning of The Kite Runner that is very similar to the ending quote of The Great Gatsby. “it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out” (Hosseini 1). The quote mentions how the past of one never leaves them no matter what happens in life because it will always claw its way out. It talks about how the protagonist, Amir tries to forget his past but it will always remain with him for the rest of their life. Similarly, Nick the protagonist from The Great Gatsby, goes through the similar situation as he tries to forget his past and how the story of Gatsby’s life will never be forgotten as people will be constantly taking about
Page 2 - “I sat on a park bench near a willow tree. I thought about something Rahim Khan said just before he hung up, almost as an afterthought. I looked up at those twin kites.”
“If the human race didn’t remember anything it would be perfectly happy" (44). Thus runs one of the early musings of Jack Burden, the protagonist of Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men. Throughout the story, however, as Jack gradually opens his eyes to the realities of his own nature and his world, he realizes that the human race cannot forget the past and survive. Man must not only remember, but also embrace the past, because it teaches him the truth about himself and enables him to face the future.
Gatsby is unrealistic. He believes he can relive the past and rekindle the flame he and Daisy once had. He is lost in his dream and accepts that anything can be repeated, "Can't repeat the past…Why of course you can!" (116, Fitzgerald). For Gatsby, failure to realize this resurrection of love is utterly appalling. His whole career, his conception of himself and his life is totally shattered. Gatsby's death when it comes is almost insignificant, for with the collapse of his dream, he is spiritually dead.
. . . And then one fine morning—So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald, 180). Throughout the novel, Gatsby constantly tries to resurface his past, never accepting his current situation. In a way, Gatsby ruins his future by constantly glorifying and trying to bring up the past. This is partly due to his quick transition to becoming rich [quick transition to wealth?] and his vying for goals he will never achieve. Gatsby’s changes in character led to his death because of how he tried to fit in to a new society and an idealized view of his past.
In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick’s unreliability as a narrator is blatantly evident, as his view of Gatsby’s actions seems to arbitrarily shift between disapproval and approval. Nick is an unreliable and hypocritical narrator who disputes his own background information and subjectively depicts Gatsby as a benevolent and charismatic host while ignoring his flaws and immorality from illegal activities. He refuses to seriously contemplate Gatsby’s negative attributes because of their strong mutual friendship and he is blinded by an unrealized faith in Gatsby. Furthermore, his multitude of discrepancies damage his ethos appeal and contribute to his lack of dependability. Among the first indicators of Nick’s unreliability as a narrator is his extreme misunderstanding of his father’s advice.
.We become so lost and caught up in the past that we en up letting it take over ourselves. Gatsby has an obvious desire of Daisy’s love but his dream has him living in the past. Gatsby presumably has everything anyone can ask for. He believes in the green light. He allows the green light to bring him opportunity. He thinks of the glass as half full. Sometimes Gatsby’s optimistic approach can get the best of him. We all face tough moments but we recover from them and try to move on from things from the past. Although Daisy will always have a spot in Jay Gatsby’s heart, not all dreams can be reached. Jay got as close as it gets to gain Daisy and her love, but failed. It may be tough, but unreachable dreams need to be suppressed.
As easy as it may sound, learning to forgive and forget is much harder than it seems. Throughout F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, it was clear that past experiences and decisions, no matter how simple or complex, influence decision making and mindset for the future. These times past impact how one acts in character, the way they make decisions and the actions they decide to take in the present.
Betrayal, redemption, and forgiveness are all major themes in The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini. The novel also focuses around the theme of a broken relationship between father and son as well as facing difficult situations from ones past. Amir and Hassan are best friends with two completely different personalities. Each character in the novel faces their own hardships and eventually learns to overcome those difficulties. Beginning with betrayal then the characters have to make their way to gaining redemption and forgiveness from others, as well as their self, is carried on throughout the novel. It is a continuous story of the relationships between Amir and his father Baba and facing their challenges from the past every day of their present.
He was stuck in the past like Willy, still trying to gain back the love they had once shared. "Can 't repeat the past?" he cried incredulously. "Why of course you can" (Fitzgerald 116).
In the book Gatsby says, “Can’t repeat the past? He cried incredulously. Why of course you can!” (110). This quote explains one of mistakes leading to his downfall by stating that he does believe that you can repeat the pass when you can’t. In the book Gatsby tries his hardest to repeat his past relationship with Daisy and it leads him to trouble. He tries different tactics to gain her attention, like throwing the extravagant parties at his house. He hoped one night that Daisy would wonder in so he could see her again. The scene in the book where Gatsby, Nick, Tom, Daisy, and Jordan were in the apartment you can see how Gatsby’s actions had a toll on the other characters. Daisy specifically showed this when she said, “Oh, you want too much! She cried to Gatsby” (132). When Daisy said this it clarified that Gatsby was asking too much of her and that ultimately lead to his
In the novel, “The Great Gatsby” Gatsby uttered this line of dialogue after Nick had told him that people can’t repeat the past, “‘Can’t repeat the past?’ he cried incredulously. ‘Why of course you can!’”. Another quote Gatsby stated in the novel that validates the theme of Gatsby being stuck in the past is when he says, “‘I’m going to fix everything just the way it was before,’ he said nodding determinedly. ‘She’ll see’”. These two quotes assisted in helping prove the theme not wanting change in their lives since Gatsby thinks the past can repeat itself and have him and Daisy spend the rest of their days together. Gatsby does not consider that when he and Daisy first met they were still young and careless. Gatsby does not take into account the time lapse from the last time they gazed at each other and how people's feelings change over time. Another example of this is a quote from the poem by Eric Carmen named “Boats against the Current”. “Reasons are changing, But the story isn’t ending, So we find ourselves pretending one more day, While the years keep slipping away”. The quote is about how the narrator and his ex-lover had differences in the past, but how eventually they will come back together. The narrator wants his ex-lover so much in his life that he would rather have both of them “pretending one more day” that both of are in love than just moving on to find a person who could be better for them. These characters do not want their lives to change but would rather wait an eternity for their loves to come back to them and without them, they struggle with
Gatsby has many issues of repeating his past instead of living in the present. A common example of this would be his ultimate goal to win Daisy back. He keeps thinking about her and how she seems perfect for him, but he remembers her as she was before she was married to Tom. He has not thought about the fact that she has a daughter, and has been married to Tom for four years, and the history there is between them. The reader cannot be sure of Gatsby trying to recreate the past until the reunion between him and Daisy. This becomes evident when Nick talks to Gatsby about how he is living in the past, specifically when Nick discusses Daisy with him. “‘I wouldn’t ask too much of her,’ Gatsby ventured. ‘you can’t repeat the past.’ I said. ‘Can’t repeat the past?’ he cried incredulously. ‘Why of course you can!’” (110). This excerpt shows how Gatsby still has not learned that eventually he will have to just accept the past and move forward with his life. If he keeps obsessing about Daisy, and trying to fix the past, more of his life will be wasted on this impossible goal. Througho...
This quote fits well with the path the protagonists take in The Kite Runner and Atonement. Both the literary pieces showcase the psychological and moral growth of the protagonists from youth to adulthood, a genre known as Bildungsroman, as they seek a path to redemption. This is evident when Amir starts to have flashbacks about his past as he says Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for
Just like Ajay, many men in society at first, think that personal rebirth is possible, but when met with failure they give up. In The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald, the main character, Jay Gatsby, spends most of his life believing in possibility of personal rebirth. Gatsby believes that in order to achieve his dream of having a life with Daisy he needs to be "someone"/wealthy which causes him to withhold from the reality. (leading to his destruction).
...nable to let go off the past because the past is safe. This is true for Gatsby because he cannot let go of his past because his dream of Daisy is safe there. He tries very hard to repeat it and wants to even try to erase the past and change it so that he will end up with Daisy at the end. “’Can’t repeat the past?…’why of course you can!”(page 116). And all he wants is for daisy to be with him and leave Tom but he is of dirty new money. “ He wanted nothing less of Daisy then that she should go to tom and say: ‘I never loved you,’”(page 116).