Cages In The Great Gatsby

It was a perfect dream that, in reality, was nothing more than a perfect illusion. Gatsby had high hopes, but he trapped himself in a cage that ruined it all. He had “an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness” (Fitzgerald 2), but the reality was that his hope came from being tied to his past and that led Gatsby on a endless run to catch what has already left him. He was always trying to take back his dream- represented by the green light- but it was always too far out of reach. Francis Scott Fitzgerald wove Gatsby’s cage using his unattainable dream, his distance from Daisy, and his elusive past. In doing so, Fitzgerald combines the images of distance and the green light to show Gatsby’s desire for the past, and his inability to

Gatsby has been yearning for Daisy and their old love since he left her. However, he cannot have her because their love has become history. Gatsby had a dream, but once Daisy was in his reach again, the dream disappeared. “Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it has seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was once again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one” (Fitzgerald 93). Gatsby does not have to reach out so far to have Daisy now, but he did not consider Daisy or how she changed. Without the dream of Daisy, Gatsby has nothing. Even though he is so close, Daisy was still as far away as the green light on her dock. Then, when Nick tells Gatsby that he can’t repeat the past, he just insists that he can (110). It is impossible to recreate the past as exactly how it was, but Gatsby is determined to. His determination to bring back something that is gone and so far away from him now shows that he is really dreaming and almost delusional. It has been five years since Gatsby has been with Daisy