Great Gatsby Response

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” this quote from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald completely encompases the entirety of the novel of which it concludes. The meaning behind it serves its purpose as a message for the Modernist novel’s audience as well as a lesson for the intricate characters trapped in their pasts. The quote ends the novel saying that people want to reclaim an idealistic past, or a pure moment or memory, but when this desire for the past turns into an obsession, it leads to destruction. Gatsby believes throughout the whole novel that the way to attain happiness is to recreate the past. Many people strive to succeed but seem to never change. Living in the present and future
represents success and how people are fighting the tide trying to better themselves. We can observe how living in and chasing the past ends in ruin with Gatsby and Daisy as well as myself and cousin.

Gatsby and his one true love Daisy have been separated for five years and Daisy has married another man. Gatsby is so blinded by his ambition for the future he is stuck trying to recreate the past. Gatsby says “Can't repeat the past? Why of course you can.” in this statement he is referring to his former relationship with Daisy. Gatsby throws enormous, lavish parties in hope that Daisy will show up, he fixates his life around finding her and it becomes imperative that he does so. "I’m going to fix everything just the way it was before," this quote is showing how Gatsby was his own anchor. Even though he was in the present and his current situation had changed he still was living in the past. He was looking behind himself into his previous years with Daisy that he couldn't look ahead of him to the future. He couldn’t even enjoy his current wealth or possessions. The past is merely an anchor and Gatsby is fighting the current. But, for every victory he has the current always keeps him in the same place.

The ending quote to The Great Gatsby sends a powerful message that me and my cousin can relate to.
We both have lived in our pasts which have limited our success. For example, when i was twelve years old on my soccer team i played goalie. I broke my finger and couldn't play for a couple of months. My coach told me that i wasn't going to be good enough for the team based off my first performance on the first day back. I quit travel soccer that day and didn't try out for another travel soccer team ever again. There was a long time where i had wanted to try out for the travel team but i was living in the past where i was told I wasn't good enough. I became so aware of the fact that my coach had lost faith in me that I was holding myself back. Even if i played well in a game i would tell myself that i wasn't good enough because i was living in my past thoughts. I was a boat pushing against the current, going nowhere. My cousin had a more serious example, she is 4 years older than me and suffers from obesity. She was bullied about her weight and started to believe it. She eventually stopped working out and trying to better herself and her body because she believed in the mindset that the past had given her. As a result of my cousin and I we both had mental blocks from living in the past that our goals and potential were weakened because of it. No matter how hard we tried to move past our problems, living in the past made the current too
strong.

Through my family experiences and Gatsby it can be clearly seen that living in your past leads down an unsuccessful road. It not only limits your potential but also can blind you from reality. Even if you do succeed the current will always draw you back in. Truly succeeding is only gained from living in the present and looking toward the future. Living through the past affects your mindset, personality, and actions.