The Risk of Not Letting Go
The longer F. Fitzgerald's last few sentences of his book, The Great Gatsby are looked at, the deeper the meaning behind his words become. There are many ways to interpret the last passage of this book, although most revolve around the past. Daisy and Gatsby and Nick are all so focused on the past that they have no idea what to look for in the future. By dwelling on what went wrong they didn't know what to look for that was right. Gatsby only thought about his life with Daisy, he thought about all of the good times they had. Gatsby believed that if he was ever going to be happy again, he would have to recreate what first made him happy. Nick was fascinated by Gatsby, while he was living he would spend his time wondering …show more content…
The book ends with the famous last line “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.” (180) They will now be living life to its fullest, with knowledge that they will never see someone else's or their own death coming. “Ceaselessly” means without stopping, or never ending. When someone dies, everyone expects their life to change dramatically although what this line is telling is that life goes on, it will take a moment for everything to get back to normal but death is an inevitable fate. It means life won't stop for the dead, it will instead move on for the living. The word “borne” typically means to be transported or carried. Using it in the line “borne back ceaselessly into the past” states that the characters are so bent on recreating the past that they do not have time to enjoy the present as Gatsby does with Daisy. Gatsby was transported to the past every time he saw daisy. Since the first time Gatsby met Daisy everything he does is to rekindle their relationship, but he never gets the chance to see that he cannot recreate the
The longer F. Fitzgerald's last few sentences of his book, The Great Gatsby are looked at, the deeper the meaning behind his words become. There are many ways to interpret the last passage of this book, although most revolve around the past. Daisy and Gatsby and Nick are all so focused on the past that they have no idea what to look for in the future. By dwelling on what went wrong they didn't know what to look for that was right. Gatsby only thought about his life with Daisy, he thought about all of the good times they had. Gatsby believed that if he was ever going to be happy again, he would have to recreate what first made him happy. Nick was fascinated by Gatsby, while he was living he would spend his time wondering …show more content…
The book ends with the famous last line “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.” (180) They will now be living life to its fullest, with knowledge that they will never see someone else's or their own death coming. “Ceaselessly” means without stopping, or never ending. When someone dies, everyone expects their life to change dramatically although what this line is telling is that life goes on, it will take a moment for everything to get back to normal but death is an inevitable fate. It means life won't stop for the dead, it will instead move on for the living. The word “borne” typically means to be transported or carried. Using it in the line “borne back ceaselessly into the past” states that the characters are so bent on recreating the past that they do not have time to enjoy the present as Gatsby does with Daisy. Gatsby was transported to the past every time he saw daisy. Since the first time Gatsby met Daisy everything he does is to rekindle their relationship, but he never gets the chance to see that he cannot recreate the