"Why does the past always seem safer?" Just like Chris Rice questions in his song "8th Grade," so does F. Scott Fitzgerald express throughout his masterpiece the struggles of leaving the past behind and coping with the present--this expression is shown, while in many characters like Tom and his big football game and Daisy and her romance-ridden youth, most predominately through the character of Jay Gatsby.
"'You can't repeat the past,'" Nick tries to convince Gatsby (pg. 116), but Gatsby's biggest character development is letting his unreality suppress reality (pg. 105), including his absorption with crystallizing the moments he had with Daisy.
Wistful of the beautiful past in light of the pain-stoked present, Gatsby barely has the ability to exist in the present--even when he is finally with Daisy, he feels hollow, as if he will never be able to relive their beautiful memories, never be able to regress to the safety of the past (pg. 98).
"Why does the past always seem safer? Maybe because at least we know we made it."
No comments:
Post a Comment