Trapped in the past
The past is nothing more than a story we tell ourselves and time is an idea that can be described in different periods and aspects, either philosophical, psychological, or physical. In the novel, “The Great Gatsby” time flows irregularly for Gatsby. Dwelling on the past is a common occurrence for numerous people at some point in their lives, but some people are more prone to ruminating about the past than others. The characters of Jay Gatsby and Harold Krebs however, are trapped in the past. It is not merely deep thoughts these characters have about the events their past, but the need to go back to it. Most people who live in the present plan their future dreams and aspirations. However, Jay Gatsby, the main character in …show more content…
It is evident when he says “I’m going to fix everything just the way it was before; she’ll see” that he is someone who has not realized that she cannot completely be with him in the way that he has longed for (Fitzgerald, 110). This is a worrying statement for Gatsby to make because he makes obvious his obsession with the way he wants the present with Daisy to go back to how he once remembered it in the past. Gatsby wants the impossible, he wants the Daisy from five years ago, but as Nick and most sensible people may know, Daisy has obligations as a mother and a wife that ties her to a life outside of Gatsby. Gatsby believes that if Daisy were to leave her husband Tom and go away with him, they would rekindle their unfulfilled romance from before he went off to war. He is completely caught up in his past memories of Daisy it is as if he does not see what is right in front of him, her unattainability. For Gatsby, time has stopped and he is trapped in the past, “luckily the clock took this moment to tilt dangerously at the pressure of his head, whereupon he turned and caught it with trembling fingers and set it back into place” (Fitzgerald, …show more content…
The short story emphasized the alienation and apathy of Krebs as he is unable to communicate the trauma he had faced in World War I because no one would listen to what he had to say. He had recently returned home in the summer of 1919 to a small town in the Midwest after being dispatched in the war, “by the time Krebs returned to his hometown in Oklahoma the greetings of heroes was over” (Hemingway, 71). Hemingway uses setting in order to portray the alienation this character felt upon returning home from war. In “Soldier’s Home” Krebs suffers from the alienation of his family and peers. This is so damaging to Krebs that he resorts to lying about his experiences so that someone would listen to him, “Krebs found that to be listened to at all he had to lie, and after he had done this twice, he too, had a reaction against the war and against talking about it” (Hemingway, 71). Even his family shut him out from speaking about his experiences, his mother was unsympathetic and his father “was non-committal” (Hemingway,
The past is nothing more than a story we tell ourselves and time is an idea that can be described in different periods and aspects, either philosophical, psychological, or physical. In the novel, “The Great Gatsby” time flows irregularly for Gatsby. Dwelling on the past is a common occurrence for numerous people at some point in their lives, but some people are more prone to ruminating about the past than others. The characters of Jay Gatsby and Harold Krebs however, are trapped in the past. It is not merely deep thoughts these characters have about the events their past, but the need to go back to it. Most people who live in the present plan their future dreams and aspirations. However, Jay Gatsby, the main character in …show more content…
It is evident when he says “I’m going to fix everything just the way it was before; she’ll see” that he is someone who has not realized that she cannot completely be with him in the way that he has longed for (Fitzgerald, 110). This is a worrying statement for Gatsby to make because he makes obvious his obsession with the way he wants the present with Daisy to go back to how he once remembered it in the past. Gatsby wants the impossible, he wants the Daisy from five years ago, but as Nick and most sensible people may know, Daisy has obligations as a mother and a wife that ties her to a life outside of Gatsby. Gatsby believes that if Daisy were to leave her husband Tom and go away with him, they would rekindle their unfulfilled romance from before he went off to war. He is completely caught up in his past memories of Daisy it is as if he does not see what is right in front of him, her unattainability. For Gatsby, time has stopped and he is trapped in the past, “luckily the clock took this moment to tilt dangerously at the pressure of his head, whereupon he turned and caught it with trembling fingers and set it back into place” (Fitzgerald, …show more content…
The short story emphasized the alienation and apathy of Krebs as he is unable to communicate the trauma he had faced in World War I because no one would listen to what he had to say. He had recently returned home in the summer of 1919 to a small town in the Midwest after being dispatched in the war, “by the time Krebs returned to his hometown in Oklahoma the greetings of heroes was over” (Hemingway, 71). Hemingway uses setting in order to portray the alienation this character felt upon returning home from war. In “Soldier’s Home” Krebs suffers from the alienation of his family and peers. This is so damaging to Krebs that he resorts to lying about his experiences so that someone would listen to him, “Krebs found that to be listened to at all he had to lie, and after he had done this twice, he too, had a reaction against the war and against talking about it” (Hemingway, 71). Even his family shut him out from speaking about his experiences, his mother was unsympathetic and his father “was non-committal” (Hemingway,