Great Gatsby (New Windmills) Book

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." These are the last words in the novel, and sum up its theme. Our minds (like moths to the light) are drawn irresistibly to the most wonderful moments we have experienced. Our mistake is then to build our future around them, not realizing that they can never be recaptured. In pursuing the past into the future, we deny ourselves the real potential of the future.

The Great Gatsby is developed in novel form around the story line of a classic Aristotlean Greek tragedy. Nick Carraway, Gatsby's neighbour, is the narrator, portraying a hypocritical, modernist view that Fitzgerald is so eager to criticise. The novel is constricted by the tragic form, even as Gatsby's future is by his immobilization by the past. If you like that sort of irony, you'll love The Great Gatsby.

Nick knows both Gatsby (his neighbour in West Egg, Long Island) and Daisy Buchanan (his cousin who lives in East Egg, Long Island). The story's literal narrative revolves around their relationship; which started before Gatsby left to fight in the Great war. Gatsby is once again trying to win Daisy's heart "reaching out to that green light at the end of the bay." This surmises the theme of the novel, trying to recapture the past will only hold back the future.

The story is set through the romantic perspective of the Roaring Twenties, which does present the issue of the lack of connection a modern reader would find. Why would someone want to read this book? Perhaps not for the empathy that the characters allow but for the majestic use of language throughout the novel. No words are wasted and each one is expressive in its own right. We see Fitzgerald manipulate what a relationship truly and see him raising questions that are still relevant today. All events in the novel can be linked to modern day happenings and perceptions. To read this is not to read a narrative it is to see a developed allegorical statement about society's flaws at it hurries towards the world of commercialism and greed that we live in today. Fitzgerald, in one sentence, gives you a clue about how to read the novel. "He didn't say any more, but we've always been unusually communicative in a reserved way, and I understood that he meant a great deal more than that."

These are not characters you will find uplifting. "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy -- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness . . . and let other people clean up the mess they had made." Why did Fitzgerald create such characters? Precisely, because he did not approve and did not want you to approve. 'Everything that glitters is not gold' is another way of summing up the lessons of this novel.

After you have read the book, I would encourage the self-examining reader to consider where in one's own life the current focus is dominated by past encounters rather than future potential. Then consider how changing that perspective could serve you and those you love better. A great and inspirational read that comes very well recommended.