The Great Gatsby

Using The Great Gatsby as a channel, Fitzgerald presents his views on America and the prosperity she experienced in the 1920s. His hopeless reflection through the narrator Nick on the last page of the book analyzes the American mindset about the past and the future. He suggests that though we try valiantly to move forward and modernize our world, we can never out do the wonder that nature provided originally. The future may seem bright and accessible, but all we can do is let destiny run its coarse.



The Old World descriptions illuminate the reader's imagination with images of youth and joy. When the narrator lost himself in the island, the man-made structures faded away leaving the memory of the old island. Fitzgerald alluded to the landing of Dutch sailors in America, the first foreigners to do so. The beauty of this new land inspired them, filling them with dreams, desire, "wonder." The "fresh, green" land stood untouched by humans for them and "flowered" by only the graces of nature. The diction of the passage makes readers feel they can see the glorious land that could be captured in a breathless "enchanted moment" and hear the personified trees speaking softly.



In contrast, when Nick returns to his modern island, he sees "inessential houses," "dark fields" of struggles, and the ghosts of the glory of the past. He acknowledges how humans strive toward that "orgastic future" but can never quite get there. That imaginary ideal eludes us every time, and we strive ever harder to catch up. In his intentional fragment in the second to last paragraph, Fitzgerald builds up the excitement and hope for the success of the future. Then, it suddenly stops. The fragment brings us back to Earth where we can never achieve as much glory as we desire. Fitzgerald compares humans to boats who can try ceaselessly to row against the current but always find themselves pushed back, maybe even farther back than where they started.



The 1920s were filled with extravagance and wealth, and this is demonstrated in The Great Gatsby. Throughout the book, however, Fitzgerald uses his characters to bring that high-life mentality back down to Earth. He reminds us that success and development do not always mean happiness. He reminds us that excessive spending or partying does not always make us friends. He also reminds us of the beauty of the natural world, a world that we did not touch.