Resumo de The Great Gatsby

In Gatsby, Fitzgerald presents a character who also
believes in some deeper truth to the world, and possesses a ?romantic readiness?
to discover ?the promises of life? (Fitzgerald, 6). Gatsby possesses an ?extraordinary gift of hope,? which gives him a deeper,
more intrinsic ability to experience this connection with the world. However, the chaos of the world attacks
Gatsby?s beliefs and romantic ideals which he tells himself, ripping everything
he holds dear apart. Through Gatsby, Fitzgerald creates the ultimate dreamer
trying to establish an original connection with the world, discovering that he
is provided with no means other than materialism to attempt this, and
ultimately finding no way to fight the chaotic attacks of life. Only Owl Eyes
was present at Gatsby?s funeral, calling James Gatz ?a poor-son-of-a bitch? for
going to so much trouble in creating Gatsby, when it was absolutely futile to
attempt to fight against the ravages of the world.

The
story is told through the eyes of Nick, and we are only privy to his interpretation
of events. Unlike Gatsby, Nick believes ?the enchanted moment?the last and
greatest of human dreams? when man was ?face to face with something
commensurate to his capacity for wonder? (Fitzgerald, 189) could never be
repeated again. The ?old unknown world? (Fitzgerald, 189), once rich and
accessible, was reduced to a ?valley of ashes? by men?s incomprehension and
greed. Nick?s perception that the present world is chaotic and random leads him
to believe that it is no longer possible ever establish such a moment again,
that we must be ?borne ceaselessly into the past? (Fitzgerald, 189) in order to
experience such a connection once more.

Gatsby, on the other hand, not only believes
that these moments are possible, but that they can last. In Daisy?s voice, and
in her kiss, the creation of James Gatz was ?reincarnated? into flesh, and
Gatsby?s ?incorruptible dream? (Fitzgerald, 162) of forever living with Daisy
lead his to believe that it is fully possible to repeat the past (Fitzgerald, 116).
In his mind, his union with Daisy has created something that is ?commensurate
to his capacity for wonder? (Fitzgerald, 189). This new entity which exists in
his imagination denies all of the world?s harsh realities, such as Daisy?s
being married, and having a child. All these facts are inconsequential to
Gatsby, who finds it impossible to understand why she would find it even
remotely difficult to leave behind her old life (Fitzgerald, 140). Nick, on the
other hand, by believing in the chaos, cannot conceptualize the idea of
Gatsby?s incarnation, this new creation by union with Daisy. To Nick, only a
?romantic readiness? (Fitzgerald, 6) exists within Gatsby, thus giving him a
completely different interpretation of the events that occur. At the end of the
novel, he imagines the moments before Gatsby?s death, in which he ?looked up at
an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and saw how raw the sunlight was
upon the scarcely created grass? (Fitzgerald, 169). Nick believes that Gatsby
is forced to create a new world for himself, having lost the ?old warm world,
[and] paid a high price for living too long with a single dream? (Fitzgerald, 169).
To Nick, eventually chaos wins, and that Gatsby never truly experienced that
connection with the world; it was lost forever with the Dutch sailors, for it
was they who were ?face to face for the last time in history? (Fitzgerald, 189)
with a chance to establish such a connection. By believing in this version of
the world, Nick can only revert to the past, becoming a passive bystander in
the events of the book because he no longer believes in the possibilities of ever
having such a connection occur in the future. For him, time is almost cyclic,
and the only function the present serves is to elicit connections him to similar
events in the past.

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