Theme and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby
Jay Gatsby's Desire to Recapture the Past
Mar 23, 2009
World War I created an American climate of dramatic political, social, and individual upheaval. America was experiencing an incredible amount of economic prosperity. Social classes were redefining themselves in the light of an expanded worldview. And the individual was searching for a sense of self and human connection, when humanity had just proven itself to be full of barbarism and hate.
Drawing from the American experiences and concerns of the 1920s, Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby explores the struggle for happiness and utlilizes the backdrop of East and West Egg to portray the thematic issue of man’s desire to recapture the past.
Theme and Character Motivation
Each of Fitzgerald’s characters in some way desires to recapture his/her past experiences. Daisy wants to recapture those first true moments of love. Towards the end of the novel, Jordan wishes to try again with Nick. Nick wishes to go back to the simpler days of his youth. Tom occasionally wishes to go back to a time when his love and actions were pure.
But beyond them all, Jay Gatsby wishes to recapture the past in a way that is completely impossible. Jay is not looking to recapture a moment or relive a feeling. His desire is to continue his present life as if it was merely a next day continuation of events that happened several years past.
Recapturing the Past
Fitzgerald introduces the reader to this theme early in the novel, as Nick tells how one instance of providing directions to a fellow traveler left him with a feeling of worth and connectedness. Nick states that it was as if “life was beginning over again” (Fitzgerald, 8). And while Nick briefly indulges this feeling, it is fleeting.
Jay on the other hand is determined to not only recapture the past, but to sustain it in the present. When Jay pressures Daisy into confessing she has only loved him, he finds that she cannot admit to such feelings. Jay is disappointed, but Nick attempts to place the situation in perspective by pointing out that you cannot repeat the past, to which Jay replies, “Can’t repeat the past? . . . Why of course you can!” (116).
Jay is unable to accept the changes that have occurred over the past five years,and as a result it hinders his ability to clearly see the present.
The Great Gatsby and Reader Response
The theme of recapturing the past is central to The Great Gatsby, as Jay’s whole existence is centered upon the possibility that he and Daisy will continue their lives together (as if they had never been apart). Many readers were sure to sympathize with Jay’s predicament, as there must have been countless relationships broken or lost during the war.
And although Jay was unable to recapture his past, perhaps Fitzgerald’s readership continued to hope that they might still have an opportunity to recapture their own sense of more halcyon times.
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