by neufer » Fri Jan 31, 2014 12:44 pm
http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/nick-tells-gatsby-you-cant-repeat-past-gatsby-396522 wrote:
<<In Chapter One of The Great Gatsby, a dreamy Jay Gatsby stares longingly at the green light at the end of Daisy Buchanan's pier. He dreams of the girl he met before he went to war, and hopes to regain her. This quest for the love of Daisy, despite her having married Tom Buchanan, is but a romantic illusion. The past that Gatsby hopes to regain is irretrievable; Daisy is not only older, but she is now a mother and wife; Gatsby himself is not the young innocent that he was when he first met Daisy. For, he has worked for Dan Cody and has made such shady connections as Meyer Wolfscheim. Nevertheless, Gatsby fashions for himself an unreality out of reality, "a promise that the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy's wing." He purchases a home on West Egg, he holds parties with hundreds of people who do not know him, he smiles and smiles, he buys shirts of every color, purchases a car of leather-bound interior and fenders like wings, he gulps down the "incomparable milk of wonder," but Daisy is offended by West Egg, "this unprecendented place that Broadway had begotten upon a Long Island fishing village.">>
http://thegreatgatsbysandm.blogspot.com/2011/05/green-light.html wrote:
<<The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock is a significant symbol within the book. To Gatsby, the green light represents his dream, which is Daisy. To attain her would be completing Gatsby’s American Dream. The first time the green light is seen in the novel is also the first time Nick sees Gatsby. Fitzgerald writes, “
…he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward – and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away…” The green light is described as ‘minute and far away’ which makes it appear impossible to reach. This will prove to be true for Gatsby. The green light also represents society’s desire and the seeming impossibility of achieving the materialistic American Dream.
At the end of the novel Nick concludes the book with these words, “
Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. And then one fine morning— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” This describes Gatsby’s inability to move on from the past. Everything he does in the novel is to try and recreate the past. In this metaphor, Gatsby tries to goes against the currents—or time—to reach the green light or his dream. And as in the quote, the green light which represents his dream, ‘recedes’ like waves year by year.>>
[quote=" http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/nick-tells-gatsby-you-cant-repeat-past-gatsby-396522"]
<<In Chapter One of The Great Gatsby, a dreamy Jay Gatsby stares longingly at the green light at the end of Daisy Buchanan's pier. He dreams of the girl he met before he went to war, and hopes to regain her. This quest for the love of Daisy, despite her having married Tom Buchanan, is but a romantic illusion. The past that Gatsby hopes to regain is irretrievable; Daisy is not only older, but she is now a mother and wife; Gatsby himself is not the young innocent that he was when he first met Daisy. For, he has worked for Dan Cody and has made such shady connections as Meyer Wolfscheim. Nevertheless, Gatsby fashions for himself an unreality out of reality, "a promise that the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy's wing." He purchases a home on West Egg, he holds parties with hundreds of people who do not know him, he smiles and smiles, he buys shirts of every color, purchases a car of leather-bound interior and fenders like wings, he gulps down the "incomparable milk of wonder," but Daisy is offended by West Egg, "this unprecendented place that Broadway had begotten upon a Long Island fishing village.">>[/quote][quote=" http://thegreatgatsbysandm.blogspot.com/2011/05/green-light.html"]
[float=right][img3=""]http://onthescreenreviews.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/tumblr_mmqxtymddy1qgqe12o1_500.gif[/img3][/float]<<The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock is a significant symbol within the book. To Gatsby, the green light represents his dream, which is Daisy. To attain her would be completing Gatsby’s American Dream. The first time the green light is seen in the novel is also the first time Nick sees Gatsby. Fitzgerald writes, “[b][color=#00FF00]…he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward – and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away…[/color][/b]” The green light is described as ‘minute and far away’ which makes it appear impossible to reach. This will prove to be true for Gatsby. The green light also represents society’s desire and the seeming impossibility of achieving the materialistic American Dream.
At the end of the novel Nick concludes the book with these words, “[b][color=#00FF00]Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. And then one fine morning— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.[/color][/b]” This describes Gatsby’s inability to move on from the past. Everything he does in the novel is to try and recreate the past. In this metaphor, Gatsby tries to goes against the currents—or time—to reach the green light or his dream. And as in the quote, the green light which represents his dream, ‘recedes’ like waves year by year.>>[/quote]