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The Great Gatsby Future Analysis

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In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Nick Caraway discusses/argues the difference between the “orgastic future” and “the future” as it’s commonly understood in real life. According to Nick, these are two significantly different concepts. The future that Gatsby wanted to create opposed his pre-destined “future” –it was his man-made fate. After analyzing Nick’s thoughts and views of the past and the future, it can be concluded that the fact that “the future” is the pre-destined destiny makes it nothing but “the past”. As said by the Author John Steinbrink, “The past is our future. We have come to the end of possibility.” (Rebirth). “The future” is the pre-determined, inescapable fate of every human being, so when Gatsby wanted to reach …show more content…

Scott Fitzgerald’s word choice in the last two paragraphs of The Great Gatsby strongly contributed to his whole work’s meaning. For accessibility, the two paragraphs are: “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’ll run faster, stretch our arms farther, and one fine morning -. And so we beat on, boats against the current, born back ceaselessly into the past.” (Fitzgerald, 180.) Many words in this passage are indicative of theme and helped set up the image, thereby conveying the literal meanings of symbols in the book –the most important of all being the green light. First is the word “orgastic.” This word is especially important because Fitzgerald basically made it up. “Orgastic” derives from the word “orgasmic.” This word implies lust over things. Lusting over something is characterized by the seeking of it for so long, yet finding pleasure in obtaining it for a significantly shorter period of time. By initiating this flow of thoughts, that is the last two paragraphs of the book, with this word, Fitzgerald not only signaled the importance of time in his work, but also hinted at his still-to-come excessive reference to

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