Revisit: Open Prompt 1

2007 Prompt: In many works of literature, past events can affect, positively or negatively, the present activities, attitudes, or values of a character. Choose a novel or play in which a character must contend with some aspect of the past, either personal or societal. Then write an essay in which you show how the character's relationship to the past contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.

People often times wish to create a new image for themselves by completely severing ties with the past. However, Jay Gatsby’s social recreation in The Great Gatsby does not free him from his past that holds memories of precious lover Daisy. Fitzgerald uses numerous details to shape symbols pertaining to the past and vivid imagery to provide an overall nostalgic tone throughout this novel that heavily incorporates Jay Gatsby’s past in the whole plot development. 

Starting as the impoverished James Gatz, he falls in love with Daisy and lets her believe he holds the same social rank as her. They fall deeply in love, but ultimately part ways after he leaves America to serve in World War One. Daisy loses patience, and ends up marrying Tom Buchanan. Upon learning this, Gatz devotes his life to reconstructing his social status. He resorts to bootlegging in a desperate attempt to completely terminate his sad past life of squalor and poverty so that he might win Daisy back. By changing his name to Jay Gatsby, he literally creates a new name for himself while also figuratively producing a completely new person.

Eventually, Gatsby reconnects with Daisy through Nick Carraway. While the three of them are conversing, the clock on the mantle falls.Gatsby dramatically catches it, symbolically emphasizing how important this is by writing more than just a sentence or two about the occurrence. The clock falling is an emblem of the past, as Gatsby tries to rekindle the flame that was once there with Daisy. This also represents the ime that the two of them are losing, and Gatsby saving the clock demonstrates his effort to stop that escaping time.

Fitzgerald switches up the settings of his chapters, frequently jumping between the past and present.  His imagery, such as that to describe the past moment of Daisy and Gatsby together, makes the past seem like a much more pleasant setting and makes readers just as nostalgic as Gatsby. Fitzgerald evokes feelings such as sadness and loneliness in the present convincing readers how much more pleasant the past is. 

Throughout Fitzgerald’s timeless classic, his details and imagery make the readers of the novel look romantically on the past. But despite Gatsby’s recreation of himself as a wealthy upperclass gentleman, he does not successfully detach himself from his former life. His love for Daisy not only forces him to look backwards, but also serves as a constant reminder of how he is still an outcast of her social rank.