Theme Of Haze In The Great Gatsby

Jay Gatsby, the protagonist in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, is trapped in a romantic haze where he is unable to see the events happening around realistically. This haze prevents Gatsby from making true connections with the objects and people that surround him. Gatsby 's wanting to recreate the past, his unrealistic dreams of Daisy, his need to connect with nature, and his desire to be rich demonstrate his being a romantic dreamer, thereby restraining him from making realistic connections with others.

Gatsby’s being a romantic character is illustrated through his great desire to recreate the past. When Gatsby and Nick are talking, Nick says, “‘You can 't repeat the past.’ ‘Can 't repeat the past?’ [Gatsby] cried incredulously. ‘Why of course you can!’” (p. 112) Gatsby is shocked that Nick

When describing the romantic readiness of Gatsby’s heart, Fitzgerald writes, “The moon soaked with wet light his tangled clothes upon the floor.” (p. 101) The light of the moon, when viewed by a realistic individual, has no real symbolism or meaning. In contrast, Gatsby sees the moon as a tool to make the appearance of his clothing hazy. This blurriness allows Gatsby to envision his clothing in whatever manner he pleases, therefore enabling Gatsby to see his clothing as colors that wealthy people would own, instead of their true colors. This change in color is important to Gatsby because he uses his clothing to portray himself to other people as a wealthy man when, in reality, he does not have an important lineage or a wealthy background. With clothing that looks rich, Gatsby is able to portray himself to be someone he is not, leading him to make connections with people solely because they think he is wealthy. These fake connections due to the unrealistic colors of Gatsby’s shirts, lead him to be a romantic