The closing lines of the novel encompass both Fitzgerald's purpose and Butler's notion precisely -- we are all "boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past," and therefore suffer ceaselessly from this intrinsic tug-of-war (Fitzgerald 193). We are bounded inescapably to our past, no matter how hard we attempt to row away from it. Fitzgerald suggests that as we reach out to the future, we are pulled back by some intangible twine -- whether it be our heritage, past transgressions, or even a loving memory that haunts our very existence. Whatever it may be, this suffering should not destroy our will to go on -- to be Great. Modernism shows through tragic means that hope and desire are fleeting in our world, and that even though we may suffer from it, we can never give up our dreams for the future -- our aspirations to become greater than who we already are.
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And one fine morning--"...it is up top us to decide what Fitzgerald may have been implying in these final lines, just like it is up to us to decide what becomes of our
And one fine morning--"...it is up top us to decide what Fitzgerald may have been implying in these final lines, just like it is up to us to decide what becomes of our