James Kyd

Gatsbys Single Text Analysis

The green light at the end of Tom and Daisys dock reveals a part of Gatsbys past and the
chance of hope that hell reunite with Daisy. His dream is to win over Daisy and have things back to the
way they were before he went off to war. In order to obtain that, hell have to risk everything to fulfill
his hopes and dreams for the future. In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald utilizes the green
light to represent Gatsbys American Dream.
Gatsby has very high hopes for his future, he expects that everything will eventually become
exactly how it used to be. He dreams to be reunited with Daisy once again and all the obstacles in his
way exemplify the struggles he goes through. Nick says, Involuntarily I glanced seawardand
distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of
a dock. When I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone again in the unquiet
darkness (Fitzgerald 21). The green light at the end of Daisys dock is a very important symbol in this
book. This symbol represents Gatsbys dream of winning over Daisy and he if were to do so his dream
would be complete. The green light is described this way to show how hard a person will work in order
to achieve their own personal dream while the odds are against you. Its also described this way to show
how Gatsbys dream is almost impossible to achieve due to all the pieces that have to fall into place. In
Chapter 5, the narrator quotes, Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that
light had now vanished forever (Fitzgerald 93). The green light represents the hope of Gatsby being
with Daisy again. Now that theyre reunited, things seem like they are less magical than ever before. This
quote is comparing the distance that had separated the two before Gatsby went off to war to how he
now seems close to Daisy, almost touching her.
Gatsbys only desire is to repeat his past so he can have things back to the way they used to be.
His whole life he worked to achieve his goal, but after all it seems as if he was only wasting his time. If

James Kyd
that was true he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long
with a single dream (Fitzgerald 161). Nick is attempting to put himself into Gatsbys shoes and imagine
what its like to have to give up on your dream and have your true identity revealed. If Gatsby were to
realize that Daisy was gone forever maybe he would have been able to save himself from his tragic
death. Gatsby spent his entire life trying to recreate his past, to fulfill his dream and now that Daisy has
chosen Tom over him, all the pieces to his puzzle are gone. Nick describes Gatsbys beliefs, Gatsby
believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but
thats no matterto-morrow 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 (Fitzgerald 180). This
quote shows how Gatsby had trouble getting over his past and how he would never give up his dream of
obtaining Daisy. The metaphor in this quote explains how Gatsby tried to go against the current in order
to recreate his past and how this dream kept coming back to haunt him.
The green light focuses on the chance of hope Gatsby though he had to repeat his past in order
to change his future. All his life he worked to obtain one specific goal, and for what? Nothing, he worked
for nothing without even realizing what he was doing to himself. He never really understood what he
was putting himself through just to reunite with his dream girl.