Blog Topic #4: Text Connections

           The central theme in the novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is one of unending hope.  Fitzgerald goes to great lengths to illustrate one individual’s specific journey of hope but also uses symbolism throughout the story to highlight this general condition of the human race.  The Great “Jay” Gatsby is a, “poor son-of-a-bitch” (183) whose sole focus and motivation in life is to become successful enough to win back the love of a girl. Daisy loved him at an earlier age but he never felt worthy of her affection.  Fitzgerald introduces Gatsby very early in the story but only as a very mysterious figure. Nick Carraway, the narrator of the novel, has just spotted Gatsby “But I didn’t call to him for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone—he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward—and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock. When I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone again in the unquiet darkness” (25-26).  Unknowingly, Nick was glaring at the green light that represented Gatsby’s aspiration to attain a brighter future. A text-to-world connection can be made, in comparison with Gatsby’s view of the light, to a green light over a body of water that has throughout time represented hope to mariners from far distant ages.  Later in the novel, the green light is referenced again as Gatsby and Daisy are reunited after five years apart.  While touring his Mansion Gatsby notes, “if  it wasn’t for the mist we could see your home across the bay”, “you always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock…Daisy put her arm through his abruptly but he seemed absorbed in what he had just said.  Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever.  Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her.  It had seemed as close as a star to the moon.  Now it was again a green light on a dock.  His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one” (98).  This represents the diminishment of hope.  It’s as if the thought of attaining happiness by gaining Daisy’s love is greater than her love itself.  Hope often exists in that state for humans—larger than life. Once again, a text-to-world connection can be made to a mariner as he approaches a safe harbor. The green channel marker is just a light in the darkness, but when visualized in a storm it seems to be a great unattainable symbol of survival.  The narrator reflects at the end of the story, after Gatsby had come so close to realizing his dream only to fall short and die alone, “And as I sat there, brooding on the old unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock…Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.  It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther….And one fine morning—So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (189).  Not only is the green light a text-to-world connection but it is also a text-to-text connection because of its reoccurring presence throughout the novel. Overall, the green light can be connected to the human races unending endeavor for safety and happiness.