Ideas – The Great Gatsby exploration task

The inevitability of time – time is defined as an indefinite but continuing progress of existence (of the past present and future). It is also a measurement, with this measurement, things have the opportunity to grow apart and to fix this, and grow closer, more time is needed. In relation to the text, the five years separating gatsby and daisy is a considerable amount of time and it is obvious that gatsby wants to pick up where the two of them left off and that sounds easy for gatsby because in the whole novel gatsby’s world revolves around daisy, and everything he ever did was for her, but for daisy, she had made other unique memories and arrangements during the time between them that she can’t just forget about as gatsby is asking of her. This is evident when Nick and Gatsby are talking “You can’t repeat the past,” Gatsby replies, “Why of course you can.”  he honestly believes that he and Daisy can be like they once were and he can’t accept the fact that the time separating has made an impact on Daisy’s life which means that more time is needed for her to forget and grow away from them. Another factor regarding time is that it can’t be stopped or reversed no matter what happens, it will inevitably carry on forever and no one can do anything about it. This means that gatsby cannot get what he wants because gatsby wants to repeat the past with daisy which, as we know, can’t happen because we can’t time travel. This leaves Gatsby’s dream of being with Daisy growing more distant as time goes on because he can’t accept that she has had a relatively good life in the five years she had spent without him . “oh, you want too much!” she cried to Gatsby. “I love you now – isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past.” She began to sob helplessly.”I did love him once – but I loved you too.” this quote proves the fact that Daisy has made some good memories over the five years and that she doesn’t want to go with Gatsby if it means that she will have to pretend that they never happened. I think that Fitzgerald is using the factor correctly regarding the real world we live in because it is true that however much we may try and want time to just stand still, that is an idea that, in our time will never be attainable.

The myth of the american dream – fitzgerald’s novel of the great gatsby is filled with little hints of the american dream and how – in reality – the dream was not as amazing as it sounded, for example, when gatsby is in pursuit of his later life of money and a title, he goes through so many struggles and when he finally makes a place for himself in high society, he realises that many of the same struggles are still there. This is where Fitzgerald gives the reader the idea that ‘the american dream’ is much like gatsby and daisy being together, because as much as this dream may be chased, it can never be caught this is because it is nonexistent and just an illusion that will forever trick people into pursuing, which occurred to Gatsby and he is oblivious to it. “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.” He doesn’t know that wherever he may go, the will always be some sort of struggle, big or small and this is relatable to present day because no matter how wealthy you are or what status you hold, it is in our nature as humans to make every thing to our liking, so therefore there will always be something more distasteful in your life than everything else.

One Reply to “Ideas – The Great Gatsby exploration task”

  1. Phoebe,

    You make some very strong points regarding time and have understood how it connects to the characters of Gatsby and Daisy. I also really like the connection between the American Dream and Gatsby/Daisy’s relationship.

    Your next step is to ensure you have included at least two pieces of evidence (quotations) from the text in each paragraph. You need to start using examples from the text to support the points you are making in order to show how you drew the conclusions that you did about these ideas.

    For example, when you say that ‘for daisy, she had made other unique memories and arrangements during the time between them that she can’t just forget about as gatsby is asking of her.’ is there a moment in the book that really helped you see this? What was that moment? Is there a quote that you can pull from the text and add to your writing to show your readers how you came to this conclusion?

    Remember to explain how the quote supports the point you are making.

    Well done!

    Mrs. P

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