Beauty Against the Grain: The Great Gatsby

Abstract

With The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald created a narrative frame intertwined with the historical discourse of the Dutch sailors and the American Dream. However, Fitzgerald’s handling of the passing of time calls for another interpretation. Gatsby’s past is to be intended both as a loss and as a source of strength. But the moment he “has” Daisy, Gatsby has come to the end of possibility. With this in mind, the narrative is not about Gatsby’s love for the beautiful Daisy, wife of Tom Buchanan, ex-football star. Instead, it is the successful attempt to recapture the past, the paradoxical beauty of beating against the current. And in this purpose, there is no defeat.