"But with every word she was drawing further and further into herself, so he gave that up, and only the dead dream fought on that afternoon slipped away, trying to touch what was no longer tangible, struggling unhappily, undespairingly, toward that lost voice across the room." pg 134
"But it was all going by too fast how for his blurred eyes and he knew that he had lost part of it, the freshest and the best part forever." pg 153
"He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night." pg 180
Read the epighographs below for chapters 7,8 & 9 to understand the developing conflict in the last chapters and how they prove the thesis.
Like Craig from the last exhibit, Gatsby cannot realize that his ideals will never be achieved, and therefore ends up dissatisfied with his current luxurious lifestyle. Although, Gatsby is special, for unlike Craig, he actively chases his ideals while Craig just sits and dreams. Throughout chapters one and two Gatsby, a wealthy and charismatic man, appears to physically have the American dream. “At least once a fortnight a corps of caterers came down with several hundred feet of canvas and enough colored lights to make a Christmas tree of Gatsby’s enormous garden,” yet this life is still not enough for Gatsby (Fitzgerald 40). The parties he holds each week represent his desire for excitement that he experienced in the war. This feeling was common of WW1 veterans in the 1920’s, and yet Gatsby’s success and wealth are still unable to compensate. The ideal he chases is an old lover named Daisy, but she is in the past.
Gatsby’s dissatisfaction with the past is forbidding Gatsby to live happily in the present. Gatsby’s last hope is Daisy, who he believes can cure him of his misery. Gatsby has “the strength to force the moment to its crises,” and (Eliot 80). T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” portrays a man conflicted by his self worth, as he has lost hope in life. Like Gatsby, Prufrock is unsatisfied, as he says “For I have known them all ready, known them all” (Eliot 50). He is full of self-doubt and finds himself contemplating on the past and measuring the value of his life, and does nothing about it. Gatsby, a man of riches, faces this same problem due to the absence of love in his life. Unlike Prufrock, Gatsby activly chases his dream. His ideals will never match the new reality he has made with Daisy, leaving him feeling empty once again.
The Great Gatsby
The Museum would like you to look at the American Experience through F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby to exemplify the conflict of the "past vs. the present." In the last exhibit dissatisfaction appeared due to realizing the truth. Instead, Dissatisfaction arises from denying it. The truth is "you cannot repeat the past". Gatsby challenges this as an outsider,but ironically he turns out all right.
Gatsby's dream of daisy is established as impossible, even with Gatsby's great efforts. Although Gatsby is still "trying to touch what was no longer tangible", in which Gatsby still has a sliver of hope.
"Gatsby turns out all Right"
An essay is a piece of literature that begins with an idea and develops it into a new one by the end. Each chapter in The Great Gatsby adds greater depth to what prays on Gatsby and provides a new look into Gatsby’s tragic flaw. Throughout the first 4 chapters, Gatsby has transformed from a powerful giant into a more complex and tragic character. In chapter 5 the “new view” of Gatsby is that he is an uncertain, almost powerless man willing to do anything to fill his dissatisfaction. This is introduced through his conflict with Nick and himself through the chapter. The scenes described in the novel were written in order to add insight to the “essay’s” thesis, "Gatsby turns out all right" and help define an aspect of the American Experience. This aspect is the "past vs. the present." By the end of the novel, the reader should be able to identify what exactly prayed on Gatsby and why he was fine, dead, at the end using the developed idea. The exmples below prove this thesis and will develop your insight of the struggle of the "past vs. the present" as an extention of the conflict of "society vs. the indiviudal."
Gatsby now knows that his relationship with Daisy in the past will never live up to his current relationship with her because he lost the "freshest and the best part forever."
Gatsby, after realizing that he could never attain his ideals with Daisy, fails to recongnize that his surviving hope is "false." Gatsby is "dreamer" and dies thinking that Daisy will call back and he can be atleast close to the "past." He is therefore alright, although in reality he lost everything.
A heart that's full up like a landfill
A job that slowly kills you
Bruises that won't heal
You look so tired and unhappy
Bring down the government
They don't, they don't speak for us
I'll take a quiet life
A handshake of carbon monoxide
No alarms and no surprises
No alarms and no surprises
No alarms and no surprises
Silent, silent
This is my final fit, my final bellyache with
No alarms and no surprises
No alarms and no surprises
No alarms and no surprises please
Such a pretty house, such a pretty garden
No alarms and no surprises (let me out of here)
No alarms and no surprises (let me out of here)
No alarms and no surprises please (let me out of here)
The song lyrics below deomontrate Gatsby's dellusion.
Gatsby's past as a WWI soldier and an "outsider" affects his present self and makes him want to relive the past.
Gatsby does not want to realize the "truth" that he cannot repeat the past, and it comes as an alarm to him when he finds that he lost his true love with Daisy to the past.
Gatsby, unhappy with his rich material life, knows that the people at his party are not his true friends. After trying to get himself killed in WWI, he returns home in dullusion, thinking he can finally attain the "American Dream."
This conflcit of the past and the present is in reality a conflict of perception. The way you percieve the world changes as you grow older. In Gatsby's case, his perception of the past and present bacame distorted. Learn more about our changing view on the American experience in the next gallery.
