How Does The Past Change Throughout The Great Gatsby

Gatsby’s driving force throughout the novel is his pursuit of Daisy, whom he was in love with before the war, however she married Tom Buchanan for financial security. His pursuit is best shown when he states “I’m going to fix everything just the way it was before, he said, nodding determinedly, she’ll see”(Fitzgerald 85). Fitzgerald shows the reader how determined Gatsby is to win back Daisy’s love. Gatsby refuses to move on and is still stuck with a relationship that ended 5 years earlier.

The Persona of James Gatsby James Gats is a man who has had a difficult life, as a kid he has had to work hard for what he had, and his life was very often boring, feeling directionless. This was all before James met Dan Cody and Daisy, who gave him inspiration for a better life and a goal to work towards in this life. Almost like a rewrite of his personal character. And so, James Gats changes into Jay Gatsby, as he makes his way in the world and acquires considerable wealth, but in making this fake persona, he also molds a fake reality for himself, a bubble in which he holds his dreams, which he builds on the possibilities of like writing a book. Gatspy’s early life was difficult, he was born to an unsuccessful farming couple and disliked

The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a young man named Nick Carraway went to New York looking for a new job to start his american dream. Along the way he met Jay Gatsby, a man in pursuit of his own American dream which was trying to get back his one and only love. However the pursuit came with a lot of problems. In the novel many people were impacted by each other’s actions, however Gatsby was impacted the most, but not just his actions but others as well. Gatsby life changed throughout the novel.

Jay Gatsby mistakes his desire for Daisy Buchanan’s high social status and old money for love, so he uses materialistic desires in expectation that it will rekindle the love he believes he once had with Daisy. Throughout the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby represents himself as a man who values perception. He is so obsessed with how other people view him, it caused him to redesign his life in favor of others. This action is then reflected onto Daisy Buchanan when Gatsby feeds himself an illusion that he is in love with Daisy. However, Gatsby barely knows Daisy as he hasn’t spoken to her in five years.

Gatsby made almost every decision with her in mind from then on out. Him and Daisy were desperately in love, but things got tough when he went off to war. He was poor and she couldn’t wait forever for him to come back and make something of himself, so she ended up marrying Tom Buchanan (Fitzgerald 76). Daisy is described as being extremely selfish and weak, and you can clearly see both of these characteristics at this point. Although she never truly stops loving Jay, she is so concerned about having a life filled with wealth and comfort that she completely disregards her feelings for him and marries the unfaithful and abusive Tom.

In many novels, the experiences of someone’s past affect how they act in the present time. Jay Gatsby in, “The Great Gatsby” is an example of a person who was negatively affected by the past. The background of Gatsby’s character is the theme of this novel. For instance, Gatsby’s family died, which made him feel loneliness. Throughout Gatsby's parties, Gatsby is isolated from all of his guests.

When Gatsby reveals to about his relationship with Daisy, Nick’s relationship with Gatsby takes a full u-turn as it rapidly advances their association from simple acquaintances to close friends. Nick’s outlook of Gatsby undergoes a similar transformation. When Nick learns of the previous relationship between Gatsby and Daisy, Gatsby’s actions make sense to Nick. The mansion, the extravagant parties, and the green light were all in the efforts for making Daisy notice him. Gatsby lives his life for the past life that he lived. He spends his life seeking the attention of his love, Daisy, and as Nick explains, “He wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was…” (Fitzgerald 110). Gatsby sought out the American dream in order to win over the love of Daisy which creates a different perception of himself to Nick. Nick, now knowing Gatsby’s intentions worries about Gatsby’s possible rejection, and then warns him that, “[he] wouldn’t ask too much of her, you can’t repeat the past.” (Fitzgerald 110) But Gatsby, blinded by love, strives to win Nick’s married cousin’s heart. Nick perceives Gatsby as a man dwelling on the past

“Can’t repeat the past?... Why of course you can!” Jay Gatsby, a man of wealth, charm, grace, and mystery stated this in The Great Gatsby. All things considered, it seems like Gatsby had it all but like most people, Jay was a dreamer. Jay Gatsby was in search of love until he met Daisy, but Daisy didn’t want to marry Jay because at the time he was very poor, so Gatsby made it his mission to become rich to be accepted by the woman of his dreams.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is arguable one of the greatest and most iconic novels of the 1920s. Joshua Zeitz review in F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Age of Excess, exposes the true nature of the nation’s most prosperous decade. A tale of betrayal and love told the story of a poor boy who rises up to become one of the most love and admired man, which is all based on a lie. During the 1920s there were numerous nationwide dynamic changes, shift in social classes, and the embrace of the Jazz Age.

In the novel The Great Gatsby, Gatsby's past is very important to everyone in the novel. Everyone wants to know where he came from and how he got his money. Gatsby's past impacted his present in both positive and negative ways. Gatsby's past impacted his present in a positive way because of when he was poor.

F. Scott Fitzgerald describes Jay Gatsby’s character as overwhelmingly aware of the youth and mysterious and preserved. But Gatsby mixes that all up in the novel, he believes that simply spending a month with Daisy that it can complete the lost years and that spending time together will be better than all the experiences she has had with her husband Tom.

Over time, people change, new things come, and the world continues to spin. We all make choices and most likely we will regret them but there is nothing we can do to change them once they’ve been made. We unfortunately are not able to turn back the clock or restore things back to the way they once were. I definitely agree with Nick's opinion because even if you are a different person than you were when a decision was made, you cannot change the decision and you can’t take back the things that were done or said. I think Nick makes perfect sense when he says “I wouldn’t ask too much of her…

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby”, the character and behavior of Gatsby shows the evolving nature of the American dream, and proves its ability to adapt and change to suit the current societal social structures. Through Gatsby’s pursuit of wealth and status in the 1920’s, Fitzgerald illustrates how the American dream can transform to align with Gatsby’s persistent and constant quest for wealth; the novel sheds light on the power of the American dream to transform people. It inspires all people - rich and poor alike - to strive further for upward mobility and prosperity, regardless of their circumstances. The first thing that the reader will likely notice about Gatsby is how he acts, and about what chasing wealth for a woman

    The setting of a story is one of the most important components of the entire plot as it sets the tone for how the story is going to end and also how certain characters are going to act. In the novel “The Great Gatsby” the protagonist, Nick Caraway is an ambitious individual who is the neighbour of Jay Gatsby. Nick is very inspired by the way Gatsby lives and how he takes care of himself, but Nick never really attempts to make any type of interactions with him in the beginning of the story. Nick’s character changes entirely when he is invited to one of Mr. Gatsby parties and agrees to help him meet up with Daisy Buchanan after five long years of separation. Nick’s character changes in terms of behaviour, attitude, and relationships when he meets Gatsby and is ambitious to help him and act more like him. Nick’s character does not change immediately when he meets Gatsby, but throughout the course of the story the reader is able to recognize the significant changes.

Time remains a universal continuation of the past into the present and bears a strong hold on the future. The destruction of satisfaction in history withholds the contentment of the future with an impeding sense of unalterable guilt. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates “the past is forever in the present” through numerous literary and narrative techniques, suggesting that memories serve as crucial components in the development of individuals.