The Great Gatsby opens and closes with Nick reflecting on his time in New York City and frames one of the novel's primary themes, which is the illusion of dreams.
The novel opens with Nick describing how he wanted "no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart." He goes on to say Gatsby had an "extraordinary gift for hope," but "foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams." This opening perfectly...
The Great Gatsby opens and closes with Nick reflecting on his time in New York City and frames one of the novel's primary themes, which is the illusion of dreams.
The novel opens with Nick describing how he wanted "no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart." He goes on to say Gatsby had an "extraordinary gift for hope," but "foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams." This opening perfectly sets up the disappointment that waited for Gatsby as he pursued his dream girl, Daisy, throughout this entire book.
The closing scene expands this idea that dreams of one day achieving all that one's heart's desires are nothing more than illusory. Instead of just Gatsby's dreams being unreachable, according to Nick, everyone's dreams are unreachable. He says, like Gatsby, everyone reaches for their dreams and "will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning—." Nick leaves out the final part that Gatsby, while still attempting to reach his dream of being the one man for Daisy, ends up face down, dead in his own pool on a "fine morning."
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