Meaning_in_the_Great_Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald expresses his belief that reaching out to other people using fantasies is a wretched and consuming way of life once he examines the tragedies of the characters in The Great Gatsby. Various characters in the novel attempt to actualize the illusive nature of their dreams by establishing universal meaning for the symbols they create, but no one else shares their distorted perceptions. The effect of these delusions leads Fitzgerald to suggest offhandedly that people should keep their dreams to themselves. Nevertheless, numerous characters in The Great Gatsby still feel compelled to remain loyal to their misconceptions. They are seemingly incapable of acknowledging the falsehood of their dreams. Gatsby’s idealization of Daisy is one such self-deception. Although Gatsby has loved Daisy since he met her, he ascribes fictitious characteristics to her as the years pass. He forgets any bad things about her, and she soon becomes the sole focus of Gatsby’s life. Gatsby enlarges the idea of a “perfect” Daisy so much that “there must have been moments… when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams-not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion” (Fitzgerald 95). Gatsby is expanding his idea of what Daisy should be to a point where she can no longer live up to his expectations. In short, Gatsby’s depiction of Daisy has entered the realm of exaggeration and falsehood. He enshrines the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock as an indication that he and the Daisy he has imagined will be together one day. Gatsby tries to share this symbol with Daisy, but she does not accept its meaning because she does not share his dream. Daisy’s indifferent reaction to Gatsby’s symbol shocks him, and “his count of enchanted objects… [diminishes] by one” (93). The green light loses a bit of its charm once Daisy refuses to acknowledge the significance it holds for Gatsby Gatsby’s father, Mr. Gatz, experiences a similar feeling when he visits Gatsby’s house for the first time. Gatsby had sent Mr. Gatz a photograph of his house a few years ago, and Mr. Gatz soon came to deify the picture since he never had the opportunity to see the real thing. Mr. Gatz embellishes his idea of the house through the photograph. The photograph serves as a representation of all the inflated pride and pleasure he experiences when he thinks of Gatsby and his possessions. As Gatsby deifies Daisy, Mr. Gatz enhances his conception of his dream son and his dream son’s belongings to such an extent that what he envisions is no longer real. “He had shown [the photograph] so often that… it was more real to him now than the house itself” (172). When Mr. Gatz tries to show the photograph to Nick, Nick feels awkward that he cannot partake fully in Mr. Gatz’s excitement since the house is real for Nick and holds more significance to him than a photograph could. Mr. Gatz, however, has placed all of his energy and hopes into that photograph, and even when he comes face to face with the actual house, he still puts it away “lingeringly” (172). Nick’s unenthusiastic reaction to Mr. Gatz’s photograph and Daisy’s casual response to Gatsby’s explanation of the green light help support Fitzgerald’s idea suggestion that distorted dreams should not be shared. The meaning that one person can create cannot always resonate with other people. “No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart” (96). Therefore, it is futile to try to reconcile different impressions of a particular fantasy. Fitzgerald never openly declares whether the creation of the illusion is wrong, but Nick often supports the idea that “life is more successfully looked at from a single window” (4). This statement implies that each person should try to view life with his or her own outlook instead of attempting to share or mesh perspectives. Fitzgerald’s belief that people should look at life through one window reappears in the novel when Nick tries to apply a different viewpoint to his judgments on West Egg. Nick notes that he had accepted West Egg for what it was or what he thought it was, but is disconcerted and depressed once he considers it through the eyes of Daisy. “It is invariable saddening to look through new eyes at things upon which you have expended your own powers of adjustment,” Nick comments (104). The change in perception does not necessarily bother Nick; rather the idea that his perception is not true irritates him. People want to believe that the way they see things is the only correct way, but Fitzgerald argues that this assertion is usually false. It may be better to take one’s ideas and dreams for what they are to oneself than to claim that they are the only “right” ones out there. For example, when Mr. Wilson discovers that “Myrtle had some sort of life apart from him in another world … the shock [makes] him physically sick” (124). Mr. Wilson does not seem capable of accepting that the imagined life of happiness he has is false. Perhaps it would be better for Wilson if he stuck to his own ideas and did not endeavor to declare them paramount to all others. This is not to say Wilson should avoid reality. Instead, he should accept that his wife could be different from what he would believe her to be. Once Wilson realizes that reality does not correspond with his dreams, he sets in motion a chain of events that ultimately leads to his wife’s death. Thus, Wilson and Myrtle’s tragedy exemplify Fitzgerald’s belief that people should not share their distorted visions and desires. Despite the negative consequences of sharing inspired illusions with other people, many characters in The Great Gatsby still feel compelled to do so. Gatsby is trapped in his pursuit of Daisy. “He had intended, probably to take what he could and go-but now he [finds] that he [has] committed himself to the following of a grail” (149). Chasing his perception of Daisy is almost like a drug to Gatsby. He imagines that God or some other great force will immortalize him if he can only realize his dreams. In addition, he has lived so long pursuing Daisy that he now knows no other way of life. His distorted visions appear to him to be the only way to move forward in the perverted world in which he lives. Even Nick acknowledges that Gatsby is powerless to determine the reality of his illusions. Nick notes that Gatsby “[does] not know that [his dream] was already behind him” (Pg 180). If Gatsby does not know that his dream has passed, he is doomed to be “borne back ceaselessly into the past,” no matter how he hard endeavors to achieve the objectives in his quest (180). His desire to actualize his dreams repeatedly drives him to reach out fruitlessly to the friends he wants to include in his delusions. Fitzgerald’s portrayal of Gatsby’s tragedy demonstrates that connecting to other people using warped fantasies is a wretched and consuming way of life. Gatsby feels disconcerted when Daisy rejects the meaning of the created symbol of the green light. Using this incident among others in the novel, Fitzgerald impresses his belief on the reader that people should view life from one window, keeping all of their distorted perceptions to themselves. Efforts to extend meaning to other people often fail. Nevertheless, Fitzgerald also admits that living such a lifestyle is hard to do since once one is committed to hunting illusive dreams, the chase often morphs into a much larger and more consuming quest. Ultimately, many people are destined for a tragic return to a past pursuit of a misrepresented vision that they are unfortunately incapable of recognizing as false. Works Cited- Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York City: Scribner, 2004.