practise essay

“We cast away priceless time in dreams, born of imagination, fed upon illusion, and put to death by reality.” In the novel “The Great Gatsby”, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, we get an illuding insight into the world of a hectic 1920’s summer in Manhatten. I’ll be explaining the three main symbols of water, flowers and the comparison of yellow and gold the seven key characters fabricated themselves.

Throughout the novel, water is shown as a representation of time. The water exposes the time Gatsby and Daisy spent apart and the struggling currents of water that are keeping them apart. Although Gatsby is persistently swimming against the current of time, we know it is impossible to reverse time. Fitzgerald shows us a clear and in-depth understanding of how time and water has affected the characters in the novel The Great Gatsby. When Gatsby and Daisy finally reunite after a long five years, it is raining heavily as all the time falls apart. However, once the awkward air had passed between the two characters, the sun came out while they were reminiscing old times and remembered the mutual love in each others company. Gatsby mentioned this to Daisy as if she hadn’t already noticed that it had “stopped raining.” Daisy replied with “her throat, full of aching, grieving beauty,” that  “told only of her unexpected joy.” by saying,  “I’m glad, Jay.” This shows how the relationship is more one-sided. They are on unequal footing and Gatsby is only a memory for Daisy, it’s all he ever will be. Her half-heartless reply shows she is less invested in their future together she’s not prepared to give up what she already has just for him.  Although Daisy was trying to deny the past with passion, deep inside she felt an urge to follow along and leave her life with Tom behind. She was torn between the two opportunities in front of her but she was letting her mind overthink the situation at hand. The water shows the struggle of not being able to leave the past behind for a new and ‘better’ life. Daisy needed a rapid, not a current that would allow her to live a double life, but time is never in our favour; we have no control of water and we never will. However, it took Gatsby too long to realise he couldn’t get Daisy until he could cross the water, and to walk on water is undeniably impossible. Even before he discovered his dream of Daisy was irrational, the water was giving him more than one sign that he didn’t have a chance with her. “If it wasn’t for the mist,” that rolled in while showing Daisy the “green light that burns all night” at the end of her dock across the bay on East Egg they could see her house; they would have been able to see Gatsby’s hope together. Fitzgerald was showing us how the hope of a new beginning was getting clouded over by time, by the past five years that have haunted Gatsby for his whole life.