A Conclusion to the Great Gatsby: Reaching into the Past

Andrew Coatsworth

American Studies

April 6, 2011

A Conclusion to The Great Gatsby: Reaching into the Past

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past”

(Fitzgerald 189).  In the above quote, F. Scott Fitzgerald appropriately concludes The Great Gatsby summing up the underlying themes of the book.  The ending is an artful resolution because it contains one of the morals to the novel, which suggests that humans are flawed by their desire to relive events from their past.  Secondly, Fitzgerald gracefully develops the character Gatsby, posthumously depicting him as a decent man.  Finally, the ending allows for the reader to interpret the moral dilemmas contained in the novel.

 Due to the fashion in which Jay Gatsby’s life ends, F. Scott Fitzgerald underscores the moral to the story; the past is not meant to repeat.  “It eluded us then. But that’s no matter- tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther” (189).  Nick Carraway, the narrator, reflects upon his experience with Gatsby in this quotation and what he learned from his time with Gatsby.  Previous experiences in life must be left in the past and one must focus on what lies ahead.  Fitzgerald provides this opinion through Nick’s reflection.  However, Fitzgerald’s writing suggests that even though people know that they must move on from the past, they will still try to regain aspects of life they had in previous years.

This quote also makes the past seem mystical because people are reaching out farther for it and run faster towards it, yet they fail to grasp it.  Fitzgerald is able to add to the power of his statement because of how Gatsby’s life ends in a complete disaster.  Each day, Gatsby stretched his arms farther into the past attempting to reproduce it.  He put more and more effort into his relationship with Daisy Buchanan and yet he never successfully rekindled their connection.  Although Daisy did not live up to Gatsby’s expectations, he continues his journey into the past, eventually resulting in his death.  Gatsby was so obsessed with Daisy, he allowed his life to spiral out of control.  Gatsby’s demise further proves Fitzgerald’s point; it is necessary to move forward from the past.  

Adding to the idea that the past should not and cannot be recreated, Fitzgerald claims that individuals are striving for the unattainable.  The past is unattainable because the ideas that one has in their head are not actually what occurred.  In a sense, the past is just a dream world of events that one creates to forget bad memories and focus on and inflate good memories.  Gatsby created a dream world in which he and Daisy live happily together.  He had over five years to develop his dream and a plan to make it real.  Over that period of time, Gatsby recreates Daisy in his dream world.  This fabricated character greatly embellishes Daisy and does not capture her true values.  However, Gatsby convinces himself that this character truly represents Daisy and nothing could keep him from her.  

Part of Gatsby’s plan to win Daisy back was to purchase a mansion on the West Egg of New York directly across from Daisy’s mansion on the East Egg.  This purchase required years of hard work for Gatsby in order to earn enough money to live a wealthy lifestyle.  Across the water, at the end of the Buchanan’s dock there is a green light that Gatsby is able to see from his house.  The light symbolizes what Gatsby is reaching for, a relationship with Daisy.  However, when Gatsby reunites with Daisy and explains the green light to her, the significance of the light disappears illustrating how Gatsby’s plan has begun to fail.  “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. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock.  His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one” (98).  After Gatsby sees the real Daisy, a shallow and materialistic person, his dream world, as represented by the green light, is ruined.  Daisy could not possibly be the same person that Gatsby created in his head.  Yet he continues to believe that he can be happy with her even though his plans to recreate his relationship with Daisy are failing.  He continues on against the current and stretches farther to rekindle his relationship with Daisy.  

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s elegant writing style shines during and after the death of Gatsby.  Even though Gatsby is surrounded by rumors of crime and is incredibly stubborn about his relationship with Daisy, Fitzgerald still concludes his character with grace and at life’s end portrays him as a decent and respectable man.  “And as I sat there, brooding on the old unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock.  He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it.  He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where dark fields of the republic rolled under the night” (189).  While Gatsby appears to have a fatal flaw, his love for Daisy, Fitzgerald is still able to conclude Gatsby’s life with grace.  From the quote above, the reader sees that Gatsby is just like any other man.  He has aspirations and while his aspirations are more extreme than necessary, Gatsby deserves respect because of how hard he worked to achieve what he desired.  While it did not turn out in Gatsby’s favor, he never gives up his dream.  Also, this quote makes the reader feel pity for Gatsby because of how close he came to achieving his dream.  The green light was so close to him, yet he failed so miserably.