Yesenia Chavez

Prompt 3
The Great Gatsby is a novel that focuses on the past. Many moments in the novel have
been based on the past actions of characters. Jay Gatsby, one of the main characters has a past
that seems to come up a lot. He is the man who wants to keep the past hidden while also
repeating it with the love of his life Daisy. Gatsby simply wants to life out a lavish lifestyle with
the woman of his dreams. Gatsbys relationship to the past contributes to the meaning of the
novel by the novel being based on the entire idea that the past is should be repeated to some
extent.
In the novel Gatsby has made it known that he wants to be with Daisy. In the book it says
Cant repeat the past? He cried incredulously. Why of course you can (Fitzgerald 116). He
goes as far to say that he wants to be with Daisy so much that he was willing to repeat the
moments from which they met even after five years passing. He also wants to pretend like Tom
and Daisy never got together and never had a child together. In his mind Daisy is still the same
girl who loved him five years ago. Gatsby doesnt want to be content with how things are he
would rather change them. This contributes to the story as a whole by Gatsby being the main
man that in questioned because no one truly know who he is.
The book states About Gatsby! No, I havent. I said Id been making a small
investigation of his past (Fitzgerald 128). This is everything Gatsby had been working to hide
but he cant seem to escape it. Tom continues to bring up Gatsbys business to Daisy to shine
light on how hes not the man she thinks he is. Fitzgerald states I suppose the latest thing is to
sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife. Well, if thats the idea you

can count me out (Fitzgerald 137). Tom continues to bring up how Gatsby is new money and
how he came from nowhere and is trying to show off his new wealth. This effects Gatsby very
badly because his whole past that he has been trying to hide continues to be brought up. Gatsby
tries to deal with this situation by explaining to Daisy that its not true because he is not okay
with Daisy knowing his dark past. This eventually leads to Gatsbys death because of the
jealousy of Tom. In the book it says The poor son-of-a-bitch, (Fitzgerald 183). Even in death
he was seen as something he never wanted to be. This shows that as hard as Gatsby worked he
could never escape his past of being a poor man. Gatsby was a misunderstood man whose past
haunted him.
Gatsby only wanted to relive his past with Daisy as a rich man and not be reminded as to
how he got to where he was or how poor he was before. All in all Gatsby just wanted to be a
wealthy man who got the girl of his dreams. He was never content with his personal past. In the
end his actions of trying to repeat the past negatively affected him and ended in his demise. The
book revolves around this concept of the past being such a horrid thing because it lead to so
many problems amongst the characters.