Lily Wiggle

6-1-16
Gatsby Timed Essay
Dreams, ideas so enormous, so stunning, so paradisiacal, that
you cant help but want to achieve them and thats certainly the case
for the characters in the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
In this novel, set in the summer of 1922 in a time when (for the
wealthy) life was an endless party full of glitz and glamour, the rest of
the world was trying to reach the seemingly attainable American
Dream of success and prosperity that was starting to deteriorate.
While most of the characters in this novel had reached success and
prosperity, many had other goals they wanted to achieve too. For
example, one of the main plot lines of this book is Gatsbys goal of
being with Daisy again. This dream, backed up by a vast amount of
symbolism, is one that Jay Gatsby had been working towards for many,
many years. On the final page of the book, Fitzgerald writes, "Gatsby
believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year
recedes before us. It eluded us then, but thats no matter to-morrow
we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.And one fine morning
leaving the second last sentence unfinished (180). By Fitzgerald
leaving this sentence of the book unfinished, he is telling the audience
that no matter how hard we work, our dreams are sometimes
unattainable, even though we believe we can achieve them, as Nick
believes we can.
The infamous green light at the end of Daisys dock, and all of its
symbolism, is a reoccurring theme in this novel. Even from the very
first moment we are introduced to Gatsby, we see his infatuation with
the light when Nick notes that he is stretching out his arms toward the
dark water in a curious way, seemingly reaching towards the light
(20). At this point in the novel, as a reader we arent exactly sure what
any of this means, but we can tell by Fitzgeralds use of foreshadowing,
that this light is going to be important. As the novel continues, we start
to see that this green light actually represents an unattainable dream

and the hazy future. As the novel progresses, the picture starts to
become clearer. We see that Gatsby had spent his whole adult life
doing whatever he could to be with Daisy. The thought of having her
controlled everything he did. Since he knows that Daisy is all about the
status and money, he worked hard to become rich and throws his
money away by buying houses and throwing huge parties. We find this
out when Jordan notes Gatsby bought [his] house so that Daisy would
be just across the bay (78) and that he throws his big elaborate
parties for her, expecting her to wander into one of his parties, some
night (79). It is obvious that Gatsby does not throw these parties for
his enjoyment seeming as he keeps to himself while they go on and
doesnt drink. He also doesnt make any friends throwing these parties
and always ends up lonely in his huge house when everyone goes
home. Nick notes after one of his parties that A sudden emptiness
seemed to flow now from the windows and the great doors, endowing
with complete isolation the figure of the host, who stood on the porch,
his hand up in a formal gesture of farewell (55). On the last page of
the novel, Nick points out that [Gatsbys] dream must have seemed
so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it He did not know that it
was already behind him (180). This line of the book embodies both
Gatsbys unfeasible dream, and the blurred future.
Another common theme in this novel is Fitzgeralds allusions to
the American Dream. Not only does Nick saying, [Gatsbys] dream
must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it He
did not know that it was already behind him show Gatsbys
unattainable dream, but it also represents the deterioration of the
American Dream (180). The 1920s were known as a time of moral
decay because of acts such as illegal drinking due to prohibition, the
wearing of clothes thought to be risky or inappropriate and the
throwing of elaborate parties. Since the American Dream was a very
wholesome and family friendly idea, the roaring twenties really

destroyed that illusion. This deterioration of the American Dream is

represented in The Great Gatsby because of the way Gatsbys illusion
of being with Daisy is shattered. Nick notes on page 93 of the novel
that Gatsby looks distracted, saying: Possibly it had occurred to him
that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever.
Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it
had seemed very near to her, almost touching her Now it was again
a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished
by one. This relates back to the unfinished sentence at the end of the
book because one fine morning maybe we will reach our dream, but
it wont be what we expected (180).
In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of the
main themes is illusions and dreams being shattered and the last page
reflects that. Although we as readers can interpret the end of the book
a different way, from the perspective of the fairly optimistic narrator,
Nick, one might say that the unfinished line, And one fine morning-,
could imply that one day, after much hard work, we will all reach our
goals and if we look at that sentence from the perspective of Fitzgerald
we can see that he believes we will not attain our dreams (180). Just as
beauty is in the eye of the beholder, the way we look at achieving
our goals and dreams is up to us.