Gatsby Essay
Brandenburg
Taylor
Gatsby Essay (Prompt 5)
26 August 2013
The Harsh Reality "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter – to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther...And one fine morning –" The last sentence of The Great Gatsby. Leaves so many questions unanswered, leaves so many possible ideas about what it could possibly mean. There are many potential reasons as to why Fitzgerald leaves this sentence unfinished. Could it be because he is showing what can happen “one fine morning” just by simply cutting the sentence short? I think it shows that one day we could be chasing our dreams and living life to the fullest; frolicking throughout the world doing everything as normal; everything as planned. Then one morning, we could die, we could go bankrupt, we could lose our house, someone in our family can die; something can and most likely will happen to cut our future short. It’s the harsh reality of it all. Nothing lasts forever, and we can’t expect that it will. I also think the unfinished sentence could be taken in a positive way, like Fitzgerald was letting the reader create their own idea of what could happen one fine morning. Whether that is something negative or positive. Some people can work hard enough and achieve their dreams, but if their sole purpose of doing anything in life is based on a person (Gatsby’s motivation was his “love for Daisy), it isn’t a valid dream. It’s superficial and less likely to happen. That is why it can be interpreted different ways by the reader. As for Nick, I think he realizes that life doesn’t last forever and we don’t always get what we want. Being highly educated, he isn’t naïve to the facts of life. Part of me also thinks that he believes on one fine morning, karma will come back to haunt you in a way. Meaning, everything that we have done will come back and bite us, and the fun will be over. “The
Taylor
Gatsby Essay (Prompt 5)
26 August 2013
The Harsh Reality "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter – to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther...And one fine morning –" The last sentence of The Great Gatsby. Leaves so many questions unanswered, leaves so many possible ideas about what it could possibly mean. There are many potential reasons as to why Fitzgerald leaves this sentence unfinished. Could it be because he is showing what can happen “one fine morning” just by simply cutting the sentence short? I think it shows that one day we could be chasing our dreams and living life to the fullest; frolicking throughout the world doing everything as normal; everything as planned. Then one morning, we could die, we could go bankrupt, we could lose our house, someone in our family can die; something can and most likely will happen to cut our future short. It’s the harsh reality of it all. Nothing lasts forever, and we can’t expect that it will. I also think the unfinished sentence could be taken in a positive way, like Fitzgerald was letting the reader create their own idea of what could happen one fine morning. Whether that is something negative or positive. Some people can work hard enough and achieve their dreams, but if their sole purpose of doing anything in life is based on a person (Gatsby’s motivation was his “love for Daisy), it isn’t a valid dream. It’s superficial and less likely to happen. That is why it can be interpreted different ways by the reader. As for Nick, I think he realizes that life doesn’t last forever and we don’t always get what we want. Being highly educated, he isn’t naïve to the facts of life. Part of me also thinks that he believes on one fine morning, karma will come back to haunt you in a way. Meaning, everything that we have done will come back and bite us, and the fun will be over. “The