Time Theme in The Great Gatsby - 992 Words (2023)

992 words4 pages

William Shakespeare once said, "Better three hours early than a minute late." Time plays an important role in The Great Gatsby, specifically portrayed by Jay Gatsby and his ambition to repeat the past. As Jay seeks to erase the last five years of his life, he also seeks to strengthen a relationship with theamorof your life. Also the configuration ofThe Great Gatsbystrictly follows the theme of time and how it affects the characters in the novel. As Jay continues his wicked journey of trying to repeat the past, others are forced to watch in amazement as he marvels at life blinded by love. Everyone around Jay has realized that time has taken over their lives, but Gatsby himself refuses to accept the new role time has played in his lives, leading them…show more content…
Scott Fitzgerald comes from the scene itself. Whether it's the time of day Jay seems to be spinning or the metaphorical broken clock, time plays a huge role in The Great Gatsby. Jay is seen throughout the novel wondering at various supernatural moments. The last time, however, is his unfortunate death at two in the morning with Wilson. "At two o'clock, Gatsby changed into his bathing suit and told the butler that if anyone called, he would take him to the pool" (161). This unusual time to swim symbolically represented the wrong time he was experiencing. How the murder of him in the pool would happen due to the distant time in which he acted. Like the rest of the novel, his forgetting to see the present made him lose everything he loved, Daisy. Also, Fitzgerald uses literal time when he explains the old watch that Jay dropped from his mantle. “The clock took advantage of this moment to tilt dangerously under the pressure of [Gatsby's] head” (86). The clock's broken sense of time mimics the mental state ofjay gatsby. He does not want and does not know about the present, and for this reason he suffers like the people around him. He fails to see the art of time and this lack of vision eventually results in his

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