Written by Nemanja Stanković, English language and literature teacher
In spite of being written almost a century ago, Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s novel remains not only an undisputed classic of American literature, but a pinnacle of modernist literature. Set in the “roaring twenties” The Great Gatsby provides us with a unique insight and a decadent portrait of the age of jazz, booze, affluence, and the inexorable allure and disillusionment with the American dream. Through the first-person account of Nick Carraway – the novel’s narrator – we are introduced to the novel’s eponymous character. Jay Gatsby, Nick’s neighbour and a local philanthropist, is at first glance the apotheosis of the American gentleman. He lives in an opulent mansion and throws lavish parties which serve as a necessary tonic for the dreariness of everyday life for his guests. Like moths to a flame, myriad number of musicians, actors, and all the superficially glittering elite take turns and with unbridled alacrity accept the hospitality of their host about whom they know scarcely more than the idle gossip heard through the grapevine. The festivities, on the other hand, seem to provide little more than ephemeral contentment for Gatsby who appears to long only for the green dock light he stretches his hand towards when our narrator first sees him. It is this light that Nick hearkens back to in the final lines of the novel when he says:
“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then but that’s no matter – tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… And one fine morning –
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
It takes a writer such as Francis Scott Fitzgerald to be able to articulate so much by ostensibly saying so little. As endings go, the novel’s final lines may appear to be lacklustre and the ending itself therefore empty and pointless especially after all the effort Gatsby had put into, but therein lies Fitzgerald’s genius.
To begin with, the colour green symbolizes money, greed, materialism, and jealousy which are all recurring themes in the story. Throughout the novel, Jay Gatsby spends almost every evening looking out across the bay to Daisy’s home, where a green light shines from her dock. The Great Gatsby is a love story, of course, but love is here fashioned and shaped by other desires governed by materialism and placed within a consumerist environment. Daisy’s love for Gatsby is conditioned by her fascination with his wealth, as evidenced by her comments when she first tours Gatsby’s home. By the same token. Gatsby has fashioned his life of material excess in hopes of winning her back, yet no matter how hard he beats against the current, he will only be “borne back ceaselessly into the past”. Just like Gatsby, we likewise propel ourselves forward, while the current pushes us back suggesting that this is a universal struggle, a struggle that most of us can relate to whether we have pursued success, wealth or love. It is small wonder then that the final line, therefore, sets up a dejected and despondent tone.
Gatsby pursued the American dream, its promise of opulence, success, prosperity, and love in order to finally win Daisy’s heart. He persevered, like a boat against the current, but his efforts to win the heart of a woman who placed material wealth above all else proved to be beyond his reach, just like the green dock light across the bay.
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