Who Is Fitzgerald Present The Future In The Great Gatsby

In physics, one of the basic principles of time establishes that it can only move in one direction - forward. This arrow of time has bound humans within it’s unforgiving conditions and we thus have no choice but to accept it’s terms. Any attempt to relive the past could only be accomplished through one’s memories and mementos. However, in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, the protagonist and tragic hero, Jay Gatsby, refuses to surrender himself to the constraints placed upon him. He aims to reinvent the past and build a life for himself in which he and his lover, Daisy, can live happily and in love. Gatsby crafts himself a new and dazzling future and by doing so he convinces himself that he can change his past as well. Furthermore,
He dreamed himself a future in which he could support himself and provide Daisy with the kind of life she deserved. However, Jay Gatsby himself can only be considered nothing but a dream created by a young and hopeful James Gatz. He conjured up false stories recounting the death of his parents, his education as a young man, and his lifestyle. He claimed to have lived as a “young rajah” and spent his days “collecting jewels” and “hunting big game”(Fitzgerald, 70). By telling such enthralling fables, he successfully convinced those around him of his superiority. The stories he weaved for himself had rooted themselves so deeply in his mind that they became true to him. Because of this, in his article published in Modern Age, John Pidgeon refers to Gatsby as an “idealist” (Pidgeon, 53). Gatsby’s delusion runs so deep that he began to believe that if he could so effortlessly fabricate himself a new future he could also find a way to alter and recreate his past. In his mind, with enough hard work and dedication he could capture his past and relive his most precious moments over again. However, Gatsby’s downfall did not begin with his need to get Daisy back in his life. His undoing began when James Gatz envisioned a future bigger than the one set forth before him and proceeded to spend his life trying to achieve it by any means
At one point in their lives, he and Daisy were enamoured with each other. But, his low social status and inability to support Daisy pulled him away from her. He left Daisy in search of a way to make himself good enough for her. However, he returned to find her married with another man. Instead of accepting what had happened, he dedicated himself to winning her back. Thus, the delusion of somehow transporting himself back to a time when he and Daisy were still together and in love presented itself. Jefferey Steinbrink argues in his article “Boats Against The Current”, that this “dream . . . obscures his vision of the world” (Steinbrink, 167). Gatsby approaches the situation with such blind optimism that he fails to see the impossibility of it. Rather than accept the absurdity of his actions he insists that the past can repeat itself and continues to believe that he can one day live in such a realm. His adamant rejection of conditions where obtaining Daisy in the way he wants her is not included highlights his flawed