Great Gatsby Ending Analysis

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The Great Gatsby Final Paragraph’s Analysis

This final section of the novel uses an ambivalent tone, recurring images and fractured syntax to draw together the essential thematic concerns of the novel. Through the use of these methods, F. Scott Fitzgerald undermines something of higher significance; that the American Dream is a false and unachievable one, as dreams are naturally unattainable.

        

        The tone of this last section is ambivalent. It is ambivalent in a way that “[Gatsby] had come a long way, and his dream must have seemed so close that [Gatsby] could hardly fail to grab it.” Gatsby’s dream is to be with Daisy, his childhood girlfriend. Although she didn’t wait for him, Gatsby still continued to pursue his dreams, “believing in the green light and the orgastic future,” refusing to accept the truth and hoping that everything will come together. He earned enough money to get himself the best of everything – the fanciest car, the largest house and the finest cloths, all of which were symbols of how he has “made it”. However, “[Gatsby] did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city…”What Gatsby didn’t realize was that no amount of wealth would be able to turn back the time to recreate the vanished past – his time in Louisville with Daisy. What F. Scott Fitzgerald wants to believe is that the American Dream is so beautiful, so achievable; however, the fact that he uses an ambivalent tone to undermine that no matter how much money Gatsby has, he can’t buy back the past. This shatters Gatsby’s dream, and portrays the American Dream to be a lie, one with materialism and greed and corruption.

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        Dreams are a world where everything is perfect; reality isn’t. The fractured syntax in the passage plays a role in portraying how Gatsby’s dream was abruptly shattered and turned into reality. “It eluded us then, but that’s no matter – tomorrow we will run faster, stretch our arms further…And one fine morning –” Though optimistic about being able to achieve the dream that continues to evade them, the Ellipsis points and the dashes indicate an unfinished thought, and this can be drawn into a parallel that this “orgastic future” can never be attained. Though the American Dream is technically ...

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