Dialectical Journal For The Great Gatsby

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I am reading The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It follows the story of Nick Caraway, the narrator, as he spends his summer with his wealthy neighbor Jay Gatsby, his cousin Daisy Buchanan, and her husband Tom Buchanan. The summer is adequate with affairs, party, and a plethora of liquor. In this journal I will be analyzing the significance of an object, and evaluating the meaning behind the ending of the novel. G Buchanan’s dock Y Green light = hopes and dreams R reaches out to it R all he had to connect R represents appearance of impossibility Y represents impossibility R always thinking about the past R try to go back to that time R the past kills him G the another put lots of meaning behind the green light The …show more content…

The book ended with a pessimistic finality. Jay Gatsby failed in the end as he lost Daisy to Tom. Tom forced their family to leave East Egg and move far away. Jay does not know this though, and is waiting for a phone call from Daisy to tell him she wants to run away with him. While waiting for this call, a distraught man comes in a shoots Gatsby as he’s exiting his pool. This happens because in a panic Daisy and Jay drive back from the city and run down a woman who ends up dead. When her husband questions the culprit, Tom volunteers information about the seen car that killed her. He alerts the poor man that Jay Gatsby is responsible for his wife’s death. The ending represents the flaws in the characters. Gatsby, forever chasing the past, obviously hindered. He was chasing an impossible goal, and wouldn’t give in till he achieved it or died trying. The latter became the reality. Nick becomes to tied into the affairs of his friends that he feels empty at the end. His cousin left, his best friend is dead, and with their absenteeism, his high spirit and happiness is also vacant. Daisy ends up with the man she does not love because of a ascending guilt inside her. She feels responsible for all the horrific happenings. Yet it ends on an more optimistic final note. “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald 180). Nick says this after