How Does Daisy Repeat The Past In The Great Gatsby

Erin Giang
English 4AP
Bourne Back Ceaselessly Into the Past: Gatsby’s Fight Against Time Set in the 1920’s, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book, The Great Gatsby, tells the story of social classes and a wealthy man who lost the love of his life. This man, Jay Gatsby, is born poor, but he works his way into becoming rich, and thus being the symbol of new money. Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby’s lover, is born as old money and lives in East Egg with her husband Tom Buchanan, and is a glamorous person. Gatsby always loves Daisy, but was unable to marry her because he was poor and Daisy loves rich men, so Tom marries her. Gatsby attempts to stop time and “repeat the past” because he has lost the girl of his dreams. Fitzgerald
Shadow represents the past and it portrays Gatsby’s dream of trying to repeat the past and change what he has done. It was another time of the day for a party at Gatsby’s house. The party is filled with adoring and glamorous people that Daisy finds lovely. It is nighttime, and Nick finds Gatsby, and he thinks Daisy does not like the party. Out of nowhere, Nick tells Gatsby that “‘you can’t repeat the past’” (116), and replies back with, “‘Why of course you can!’”(116), and looks around, “as if the past were lurking around here in the shadow of his house, just out reach of his hand” (116-117). Gatsby refuse to think that repeating the past is not possible. He thinks it is possible to change what he has done. However, there was a “past lurking” somewhere in the “shadow of his house.” It seems that Gatsby, in this scene can’t get a hold of the past. The “shadow” obscures his vision of the past, making it impossible for him to “repeat the past.” Gatsby keeps trying to go back, and “fix everything just the way it was before”(117). But since the “past” is lurking in the “shadow,” Gatsby cannot see the past, therefore making him unable to fix things the way he wanted it to
Nick, standing on the beach thinks back to earlier times in history, where the island is “flowered once for Dutch sailors’ eyes— a fresh, green breast of the new world”(189). The Dutch sailors’ believe that they can accomplish anything when they arrive on the American lands. Gatsby relates to the Dutch sailors’ because he thinks he can accomplish anything because he has work his way into being new money. However, he did not accomplish everything because he fails to fix his relationship with Daisy. The way Gatsby fixes everything, is if he fights “against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past”(189). The current represents time, and Gatsby tries to fight the current to go back in time. Going back in time makes him unable to catch up with the future, and loses hope in the future. The future is where new dreams happen and old ones leave. Gatsby’s mind is always one dream— his relationship between him and Daisy. He is trying to fight the current because he thinks he can fix it. Lingering in the past makes him unable to catch up to the future, and causes his