Great Gatsby Close Reading
America is known as the land of opportunities and achieving dreams. People have been migrating to America ever since it was discovered, however, the major wave of immigration occurred from the 1880s to 1920. The American dream is the belief that if someone tries hard enough, then they can reach their dream and attain their own version of success in society, it is achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking and hard work. However, this is not always the case. In 1925 the famous American author F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the novel the great Gatsby, which illustrates the corruption of the American Dream. Jay Gatsby is the protagonist of the story and he is holding on to an unattainable dream. Throughout the book, Fitzgerald
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The last line is one of the most popular lines in literature, it is written in iambic form because Fitzgerald wants the reader to think carefully about every single word. In the line that concludes the novel, Fitzgerald is returning to the theme of human beings struggle to achieve their goals by re-creating the past. In the metaphoric language used here, “boats against the current” shows that the current draws them backward as they row forward toward the green light. People try to move forward, but they are pushed “ceaselessly into the past” unable to move beyond that one happy point. Fitzgerald's writing reveals the eagerness of the people that are trying to transform their dreams into reality. They are never losing hope, “tomorrow we will run faster,” expending all of their energy trying to pursue a goal that keeps on moving farther and farther. By using metaphor, Fitzgerald characterizes both Gatsby’s struggle and the American dream itself. Another poetic effect Fitzgerald uses in the last line is the alliteration of the “B” sound. The point of alliteration is to make the reader focus on a particular text. The “B” sound indicates the existence of a conflict or struggle since there is a collision of forces between the boat and the