The Past vs. The Present
“‘I wouldn’t ask too much of her,’ I ventured. ‘You can’t repeat the past.’
‘Can’t repeat the past?’ He cried incredulously. ‘Why of course you can!’
He looked around him wildly, as if the past were lurking there in the shadow of his house…
‘I’m going to fix everything just they way it was before,’... ‘she’ll see’
He talked a lot about the past… I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps.” (pg. 110)
After reading the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald I have sat down to select the quote that is most important. Coming away from this novel there were a multitude of quotes and thoughts that I could pull away, so, attempting to pull out one singular quote from a book of many important quotes felt as though I was trying to pick a single leaf of grass amongst a grass field. However, though it was no simple feat to extract this one quote, I do believe its importance is quite significant to the meaning and understanding of this book.
The context of the quote is simple: Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway are having a conversation after Gatsby has expressed a sign of upset and disappointment after reuniting with Daisy. Nick is living in a reality and recognizes that the past and the present are separate entities. In contrast, however, Gatsby seems to revel in the past. So much so that he has decided to overtly defy the concept of change all together.
Now, you might be asking, why have I selected this conversation as an important passage in the novel? Well, there are many reasons. For starters the quote provides insight to both the characters of Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway. Nick is depicted as a realist, a man who lives in a world purely based on logic and understanding. This shows his unwillingness to deviate from what is typically understood. Whereas Gatsby’s longing for the past display his beliefs of idealism. He reflects on his past relationship with Daisy as an ideal situation that must be recreated in order to be happy. In the quote Nick mentions that he believes Gatsby’s fascination with the past to be largely attributed to a desire to “recover some idea of himself”. Not only is the quote implying that Gatsby wishes to return his relationship with Daisy to how it was, but it also explains that Gatsby may be longing for the person or identity he manifested when that relationship existed. This indicates that he is unhappy with the person he presently exists as.
We can also see that the style of the conversation exemplifies the relationship that exists between Gatsby and Nick Carraway. You can clearly tell that Nick is aware that Gatsby’s hopes to return everything to “the way it was” is less than feasible. However, Nick seems to keep this understanding to himself.
As we know, or rather as we’ve been taught, with every important quote comes an important theme. And in my opinion the theme that this quote reflects is the idea that those who cannot accept the present may always be stuck in the disillusioned longing for the return to the past. With this memory of a perfect time comes the exploitation of imagination and rampant idolization of a “better” or more “golden” time. The quote seems to address the question of Why live in the present if the past was so perfect? in an evidently negative way: The past will always be the past and can never be fully replicated, even in defiance in expectations, Fitzgerald suggests. This theme is integral to the understanding of this quote as well as the entire novel in general. As readers we are being provided with a meaning much deeper than the surface. Simply put, this theme explains the reason for Gatsby’s adoration for the past and thus why he goes about his style of living the way he does.
This yearning for the recreation of the past is a theme that is seen in many modern day occurrences. It is very common for a novel or a movie to be based upon a past time period. In many of these cases, the plot reflects this same craving as Gatsby, whether it be as simple as revitalizing an old relationship or a drastic as up and leaving to live in a new time period.
For example, the movie Midnight In Paris exemplifies a main character who wishes he lived in Paris in the 1920s. This film goes on to create this very situation for him however by the end of the movie the main character comes to the realization that chasing the past is meaningless. He comes to this conclusion because he soon learns that no matter where you go to in the past, there will always be a much more desirable, and much more enchanting past beyond that present. We also see this nostalgic fascination in music as seen in the song “Yesterday” by the Beatles. The song reflects this longing for the past and the wish to leave the present through lyrics expressing “yesterday” as an easier time to live in.
Not only do we see these hopes for a much more “golden time” in literature and music, but it is also replicated in many societal norms. It is quite common for a parent or a grandparent to reflect on their childhood. In many cases, this reflection of the past may be characterized as “The Glory Days” or even “The Good Ol’ Days”. While this is merely a small example, it clearly expresses a loving memory or glorification of the past.
Now granted, I understand that the likelihood that I will be able to transport myself to the golden 1920s or Italy in the 1700s is quite slim, however that does not mean that I cannot connect to this idealization of the past. Like Jay Gatsby, I too have experienced dissipated memories that I wish I could bring back. However, like all dreamers I have come to understand that the past is referred to as the past because it has gone by with time and no longer exists. And though the idealist in me may hope to relive a wonderful experience, time is much more powerful than my young self and the realist in me understands that.
So why is it that people seem to be so enamored with the past? What about the past makes it so worthy of studying, writing about, talking about or even singing about?
