“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but thats no matter- tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our farther…. And one fine morning- So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (180).
Jay Gatsby wants nothing more than to relive infatuation with the one and only Daisy. With his mind set on his dream life he hoped to once live, Gatsby tries to press on into the future yet is offset by the effects of his past. The Great Gatz hides from his past, his means and his truth in order to win back Daisy’s love.
“‘Can’t repeat the past?’ he cried incredulously. ‘Why of course you can!’” (110). Time and time again, Gatsby is reminded of
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Alcohol is passed around freely and dancing thrives as time goes on and people who aren’t even invited show up. Jay himself does not even know of some of these partygoers, who eat and drink to excess and impose of the contributions he makes. “‘Someone told me they thought he killed a man once’... ‘...it couldn’t be that, because he was in the American army during the war’... ‘You look at him sometimes when he thinks nobody’s looking at him. I’ll bet he killed a man’” (44). Gatsby seemingly killed a man at some point and time amid the war. The partiers are so deviant that it shows how so far removed his “breathtaking” lifestyle is. His main focus is not necessarily to please those who come and go. The real reason he throws big, flashy parties is to capture Daisy’s attention; either across the way over the water catching a glimpse of the bright lights or hearing about it orally. Daisy is Gatsby’s motivation and it is all to show her what he can …show more content…
The partygoers are content to be able to take advantage of his wealthy assets but all know that something is not quite right. Nick Carraway, Gatsby’s next door neighbor, seems to be one of the few who completely understand him. “Old sport” struck him as fake (48). The mysterious phone calls were illusive. He saw the flaws within the woven lies. Nick’s impression of Gatsby is ironic for it is not Gatsby’s wealth and social status that fascinates him but instead his foolish emotion of love. Through his secret, most likely illegal scandals, he pretends to belong to the same social class as Tom Buchanan and his wife Daisy, Gatsby’s one love. If he wants a girl like Daisy Buchanan, he knows he could not be the broke farmer from Minnesota he once was. His poverty stricken prior life holds no value for him and his dream. His penniless past fueled his entry into the army. Being “James” Gatsby he could never win his biggest obsession. He wanted more than what life was going to give him spontaneously so he worked to make himself more than he already was: a self-made millionaire. He wants the girl so as a result he hides what he came from and how he became who he