Examples Of Trying To Buy The Past In The Great Gatsby

Gatsby Trying to Buy the Past A mansion is filled with hundreds of people partying till the crack of dawn: drinking alcohol, dancing like fools, and observing the ostentatious decoration. Throwing parties this extravagant would cost thousands of dollars and would cause a detrimental effect on a bank account for an average, middle class American but to Jay Gatsby, it’s only a way of life. Gatsby is a man of wealth, glamour, and greed who would do anything or spend any amount of money to awe his past lover, Daisy Buchanan. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby is illustrated as someone who tries to use money to buy true happiness and love simply to relive the past. Wealth is defined as the value of everything a person owns.

He has thrown so many parties and seems a little bit crazy trying to relive his past. When Nick Carraway told Gatsby that he can’t relive the past Gatbsy said, “You can’t relive the past? Well of course you can!” (Fitzgerald). This quote helps one to recognize that Gatsby is the only one who believes that it is possible to live his past life again. In the book and in life, people change. People are constantly changing and growing to become a better version of themselves. No one really stays the same throughout their whole life because of the experiences they’ve had. Every person undergoes so many different things throughout a lifetime and many of these things shape that person into who they’ve become today. In The Great Gatsby, while Gatsby was at war, Daisy falls in love with Tom Buchanan and they get married. She briefly forgot about all of her best memories with Gatsby and their tremendous love for each other. When Gatsby returns from the war, all of those feelings and emotions come back to her and she is left to choose between him and Tom. Liamarie Snyder tells us that, “Gatsby buys into the ideas of money buys happiness because he yet again he thinks that he can buy Daisy’s love” (Snyder 6). Many characters in this novel are caught up in a love affair and are choosing two companions, instead of one which only complicates everything

Nick Carraway would say he was happy when Gatsby gave only him a physical invitation to his party and Daisy would say she was happy when she was with Gatsby before the war. But for Gatsby, his happiness doesn’t necessarily come from memories, but rather from materialistic items and unrealistic ideas: money, throwing parties, and Daisy leaving Tom for him. None of these things would fit the description of true happiness. Jay Gatsby has a corybantic definition of the American Dream. These various quotes about happiness tell us that true, long lasting happiness comes from the time spent having fun and shared with others: “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened” (Dr. Suess), “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony” (Mahatma Gandhi), and “Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions” (Dalai Lama XIV). Things in today’s era that make people happy are completely different than the things that make people in the Roaring Twenties happy. For instance, people in the 21st century don’t listen to Jazz Music often. It is not popular at all and very few people are interested in it to this day. But in Gatsby’s time period, jazz was huge! It was an inspiration for everyone. Race is a big difference as well. Back in the 20s, black people weren’t treated with much respect and even though it might not seem like it, the people were okay with the way