In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald shows Gatsby’s struggle to relive the past. Gatsby, unable to accept that time always moves forwards struggles to People often try to relive the past for personal satisfaction. However, living only in the past can lead to tragedy. The past is unchangeable and can shape and mould a person into anyone, for better or for worse.
In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald enhances the theme that obsession with the past can blind one to reality and lead to misfortune through Gatsby’s personal relationship with the past.
Gatsby’s relationship with Daisy is not as pure as the reader might think. At first glance, it may seem like love, however, Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy is far from it. When Nick states …show more content…
Gatsby’s blindness to reality can be further attributed to Daisy’s metaphorical gleaming and her overwhelmingly material lifestyle. When Gatsby is recalling the first time he met Daisy, the author's use of visual imagery shows how Gatsby was blinded by Daisy’s radiance and material wealth. Gatsby saw, “...Daisy, gleaming like silver…”(150) and kissed her, “...shining hair…’(150). By comparing Daisy to a gleaming piece of silver, Fitzgerald illustrates Gatsby’s partially blinded view of Daisy. He thought he saw her as a love interest, but instead, he subconsciously saw her as a commodity, a glittering investment. Gatsby was unable to see past his desire for material wealth and mistook that desire for love. Daisy’s shining hair acted as a blinding light that Gatsby could not look away from. The light bleached out Gatsby’s previous views about Daisy and left him looking at her through corrupted eyes. As Gatsby continued to be corrupted by Daisy, “Through this twilight universe Daisy began to move again…”(151). Unlike Gatsby, Daisy was able to move through time, unphased by the obsessions and limitations that Gatsby was bound by. She did not share the same obsessive mannerism that Gatsby had. The glittering and shining commodities she had been surrounded by since birth did not overwhelm her, while Gatsby was still stuck in the …show more content…
The recurring motif of eyes throughout the story reinforces that idea. In the beginning of the story, during Gatsby’s house party, Nick notices a man, “...with enormous owl-eyed spectacles…”(45) in the library. Fitzgerald’s use of the words, “owl-eyed spectacles” establishes a wise and all-knowing aura around the man and shows how Nick has reduced the man to simply a pair of eyes. By recognizing and referring to the man by his eyes, Nick is recognizing the wisdom of the man that is so sparse in other characters. The man then goes on to exclaim that the books in Gatsby’s library are uncut, showing how Owl Eyes was able to see past Gatsby’s rich facade. Owl Eyes knew that Gatsby was lying about his original social class, but did not reveal his deductions to anyone outside of Nick and Jordan. Instead of showing the people at Gatsby’s party the truth, he decided to allow them to stay blinded and unseeing becuase he is wise enough to know that the other guests were blinded in a simliar way to Gatsby. Instead of being blinded by their past, they Later in the story, in the Valley of Ashes after Myrtle’s death, Wilson states that, “‘God knows what you‘ve been doing, everything you‘ve been doing’…he was looking at the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg, which had just emerged, pale and enormous, from the dissolving night” (159-160). Wilson’s comparison
In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald enhances the theme that obsession with the past can blind one to reality and lead to misfortune through Gatsby’s personal relationship with the past.
Gatsby’s relationship with Daisy is not as pure as the reader might think. At first glance, it may seem like love, however, Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy is far from it. When Nick states …show more content…
Gatsby’s blindness to reality can be further attributed to Daisy’s metaphorical gleaming and her overwhelmingly material lifestyle. When Gatsby is recalling the first time he met Daisy, the author's use of visual imagery shows how Gatsby was blinded by Daisy’s radiance and material wealth. Gatsby saw, “...Daisy, gleaming like silver…”(150) and kissed her, “...shining hair…’(150). By comparing Daisy to a gleaming piece of silver, Fitzgerald illustrates Gatsby’s partially blinded view of Daisy. He thought he saw her as a love interest, but instead, he subconsciously saw her as a commodity, a glittering investment. Gatsby was unable to see past his desire for material wealth and mistook that desire for love. Daisy’s shining hair acted as a blinding light that Gatsby could not look away from. The light bleached out Gatsby’s previous views about Daisy and left him looking at her through corrupted eyes. As Gatsby continued to be corrupted by Daisy, “Through this twilight universe Daisy began to move again…”(151). Unlike Gatsby, Daisy was able to move through time, unphased by the obsessions and limitations that Gatsby was bound by. She did not share the same obsessive mannerism that Gatsby had. The glittering and shining commodities she had been surrounded by since birth did not overwhelm her, while Gatsby was still stuck in the …show more content…
The recurring motif of eyes throughout the story reinforces that idea. In the beginning of the story, during Gatsby’s house party, Nick notices a man, “...with enormous owl-eyed spectacles…”(45) in the library. Fitzgerald’s use of the words, “owl-eyed spectacles” establishes a wise and all-knowing aura around the man and shows how Nick has reduced the man to simply a pair of eyes. By recognizing and referring to the man by his eyes, Nick is recognizing the wisdom of the man that is so sparse in other characters. The man then goes on to exclaim that the books in Gatsby’s library are uncut, showing how Owl Eyes was able to see past Gatsby’s rich facade. Owl Eyes knew that Gatsby was lying about his original social class, but did not reveal his deductions to anyone outside of Nick and Jordan. Instead of showing the people at Gatsby’s party the truth, he decided to allow them to stay blinded and unseeing becuase he is wise enough to know that the other guests were blinded in a simliar way to Gatsby. Instead of being blinded by their past, they Later in the story, in the Valley of Ashes after Myrtle’s death, Wilson states that, “‘God knows what you‘ve been doing, everything you‘ve been doing’…he was looking at the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg, which had just emerged, pale and enormous, from the dissolving night” (159-160). Wilson’s comparison