Foreshadowing In The Great Gatsby

From the surface, F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic, The Great Gatsby, avowed as the Great American Novel, presents itself as a story of hindered love, much like a Jazz Age Romeo and Juliet. While some components of the story revolve around love, at its core, the novel encapsulates an unquenchable yearning for the past and a poignant exploration of the American Dream's transience. The novel’s conclusion delves far back into the past; beyond the towers of Gatsby’s mansion he built to catch Daisy’s attention and beyond the red, white, and blue of the American flag, a “fresh, green breast of the new world” (180) awaits exploration. The land that “flowered once for Dutch sailors’ eyes” is the pinnacle of the American dream, with limitless potential and boundless echoes of success.

Returning to present-day twentieth century New York, Fitzgerald’s commentary on the idyllic island’s “vanished trees” conveys the irreversible changes made to nature to pave the way for the disillusioned dreamer that is Jay Gatsby. The juxtaposition of the once-whispering trees and Gatsby’s ostentatious house symbolizes the collision between the natural world and artificiality of the elite class and their desires for material success. Nick suggests that the discovery of the New World is the “last time in history” where humans experienced something expansive enough to match their “capacity for wonder.” Therefore, even before the country’s formation, the foundation for the American dream was already solidified. Nick draws a parallel between the unattainable nature of the American Dream and Gatsby's undying love for Daisy. On the final pages of the novel, Nick narrates the five years Gatsby devoted in anticipation of a future with Daisy, only to see this envisioned future constantly slipping from the cracks of his hands. Gatsby's aspirations for the future are elusive because it is not the future he hopes