Significance Of The Past In The Great Gatsby

It is human nature to hold onto reminisce and hold onto fond memories, yet it is of dire importance to recognize the detriments of holding onto the past. The main character in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is obsessed with Daisy Buchannan, a girl from his past. Unfortunately, 5 years have passed since they last met and she is now married and has a daughter; the child is a constant reminder to Gatsby and the readers that the past can not be repeated. A prevalent theme in The Great Gatsby is the preoccupation with the past. Jay Gatsby’s epic rise and fall in the novel represent how the baggage of the past prevents people from flourishing in their future, viewing history in an overly romanticized way and spending energy on the past which

Gatsby gave up 5 years of his life to try to get Daisy and imagined her as the perfect girl who would solve all his problems. "Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay."(63). Fitzgerald intentionally uses the phrase “so that Daisy would be just across” to re-enforce the idea of Gatsby’s life revolving around Daisy. Gatsby could have chosen better locations and made a better life for himself, however, he is ultra-focused and sets his life goals on it. He tried everything in his power to indirectly cause their paths to cross and actively goes into the bootlegging and scamming business to create immense wealth and luxury. "He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths--so he could 'come over' some afternoon to a stranger's garden"(63). The phrase “dispensed starlight” is a metaphor for his extravagant use of his wealth and parties; it represents the carelessness of his actions. The metaphor illustrates how he is wasting something so valuable and hard to obtain. He used up a lot of his hard-earned wealth to hope that one day Daisy would accidentally wander into his party. Gatsby could have spent this time building a family or helping people but instead spent his wealth to no end. The past is never as good as it seems and thinking

Gatsby did not try to build a better future but instead attempted to recreate the past, even though it is impossible. “'Can't repeat the past?' he cried incredulously. 'Why, of course, you can! 'He looked around him wildly, as if the past were lurking here in the shadow of his house, just out of reach of his hand. 'I'm going to fix everything just the way it was before,' he said, nodding determinedly. 'She'll see.'"(87). Gatsby mentions how it is “as if the past were lurking here in the shadow of his house ” for him, Fitzgerald uses personification to make it more tangible and the desperation ever more visible. It is easy to let the past overwhelm you, but it is of the highest importance to remember that life goes on, and things change. He does not worry at all about how he can build a legacy for himself and improve from where he is now. When he finally realized it would not come to fruition, he gave up all ambition in life. After the collision that killed Myrtle, Gatsby knew people wanted to find him but he did not want to leave until Daisy explicitly told him otherwise. “I have an idea that Gatsby himself did not believe it would come, and perhaps he no longer cared. If that is to be true he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world and paid a high price for living too long with a