Kyle Mac’s Blog

It’s all pretty much summed up at the end of the book with one or two sentences, which makes me think Fitzgerald could have forgone all the unnecessary writing business and gotten the point across just the same Confusious style. “….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.” This seems to be the moral of the story. We will always keep chasing out own dreams, but the past and the baggage we pick up will always drag us down.

Gatsby’s death is treated like a scoop, not a tragedy. His status in the comunity is made clear when dozens of reporters flood the gates and only a few people show up for the actual funeral. The character development ends with me hating every major player in the book with the exception of Nick. Nick gives his final assesment of every one throughout this chapter, each person having their own fatal flaw. Daisy is “careless” and leaves “other people to clean up the mess” she may feel guilty, but we never hear of it, even though it’s partly her fault that he’s dead. She doesn’t even show up for the funeral. Tom is a jack-ass, but we knew that already. He is the DIRECT reult of Gatsby’s death and feels no shame or guilt, but instead feels “justified” for it. Jordan, other than being a compulsive liar, is to prideful. When talking to Nick she tells him shes engaged, but Nick does not believe her. He thinks it’s just a defense mechanism.

I finally get what green is meant to represent- the future. The green light at the end of the bay was hope for the future for Gatsby; that’s why even when he had Daisy right behind him, he still looked towards the green light. Pink represents not only Daisy, but the past. When Daisy said she wanted to put Gatsby in a pink cloud and puch him around in it, did she mean she wanted things to go back to the way they were? Before Tom and the riches? That’s why Gatsby wore the pink suit, because he believed that you could repeat the past. Gold, perhaps, represents the futility of Gatsby’s efforts. His parties were filled with golden colors- and the only reason for those parties was to atract Daisy; a plan that never worked. Gold is a symbol of wealth; wealth that Gatsby acquired to obtain Daisy- also a futile effort. Daisy puts Gatsby in a PINK cloud, not GOLD one. Gold is Gatsby’s failed plan.