by Jo Woodnutt

Created on: May 08, 2009

Great emphasis is placed on the past throughout 'The Great Gatsby'. The past of five years ago comes to meet Daisy and Gatsby in the novel, drawing them both into an emotional extramarital affair based on only a memory of love they once shared.

Jay Gatsby himself is haunted by the past, and the novel explores his attempts to regain "some part of himself that went into loving Daisy". He believes that he can take her back by repeating the events of five years ago- "'Can't repeat the past?' he cried incredulously. 'Why of course you can!'" Gatsby even goes to the extent that he asks Daisy to tell Tom that she never loved him. His memories of Daisy have been built up by five years of absence to a height that she could never reach - "there must have been moments that day when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams". When he sees Daisy again, an air of bewilderment comes over him, as though he doesn't believe this is happening to him- or as though he realises that Daisy isn't as he has built her up to be.

Nick also dreams of his past. In the first few lines, he establishes that he has learnt his morals from his father, and that he has had an advantaged background. In the last page or so, he describes exactly what he remembers most about his past- "That's my Middle West [...] the thrilling returning trains of my youth, and the street lamps and sleigh bells in the frosty dark". Nick's dreams of his past are distorted by nostalgia as Gatsby's are distorted by love.

Ironically, Gatsby is also trying to hide from his past. He hides his poor heritage under a changed name and a false story; covering both with enough money that nobody could challenge him. His poor background has been of embarrassment to him since he was a boy, and as soon as he could, he escaped, inventing "just the sort of man a seventeen year old would be likely to invent". Gatsby knows that his true beginnings could never satisfy Daisy in a world where so much is based on your origins and the origins of your money, so he uses any means possible to get money to hide behind- resorting to illegal means.

This dream of transcending his past is a product of the American Dream, which taught that all classes were equal, and that everybody could (and should) reach for material and spiritual wealth. However, Gatsby fails to reach his goal because all social classes are not equal. Those with "new money" are disliked by those with "old money" (like Daisy), and the idea that he was poor disgusts her. This shows the failure of the American Dream.

Whilst Gatsby struggles to hide his past, Tom Buchanan has control of the past. When Gatsby attempts to regain the past by persuading Daisy to tell Tom she doesn't love him, Tom destroys Gatsby's dream. By having the more recent past, Tom reminds Daisy of the good times they have had together and causes her to no longer think of leaving him. He also has knowledge of Gatsby's illegal dealings, something that he knows will upset Daisy, and he knows will strengthen his cause against Gatsby.

'The Great Gatsby' is effectively based on the past, and memories. In the last page of the novel, Nick contemplates human nature, and we learn a little of why Fitzgerald has written the book in this way, and why, in his opinion, we struggle so in life. He describes how our enduring spirits allow us to keep on trying to reach our goals, but recognises the futility of this because we are inevitably involved in our pasts. This is shown in the line "and so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past".

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