Theme Analysis

In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald warns that reliving the past or attempting to recreate the past often ends in a catastrophic way. Usually, when one attempts to recreate the past, it is due to a principle called repetition compulsion. Coined by Freud, repetition compulsion is “the desire to return to an earlier state of things” (Dename) perhaps because of the happiness and satisfaction the past offered. Gatsby, who represents those affected by the compulsion to repeat the past, imagines himself a reality where everything was the same as they were before he left for the war and "that the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy's wing" (Fitzgerald, 100). It is not enough for one who suffers from repetition compulsion to simply look upon the past, the desire extends to changing the past into the present. Unfortunately, Gatsby’s desire to regain the love of Daisy is irretrievable. Like most who desire to repeat the past, the desire is all but a dream - an illusion.

Gatsby is also tempted to recreate the past and to erase the dreaded past he burdened. As Nick puts it: “[Gatsby’s] parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people - his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all” (Fitzgerald, 99). Gatsby’s present problems are due to the social class problems that he has carried with him since birth. Like most who want to erase the past, Gatsby is unable to carry the mental weight of coming from an impoverished family. By changing the past, the anchor that weighs people down no longer exists. Gatsby in an essence detached himself from the mental weight; he changed his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby and became the "son of God" (Fitzgerald, 99). However, in reality, there is no method of erasing one’s past and in the end, even though Gatsby achieved wealth, he was still revealed to be a proletariat when Tom exposed Gatsby as being a bootlegger. Gatsby's hopes of recreating the past to falsely say he came from an aristocratic family is impossible. Gatsby, who represents everyone who wants to recreate the past, is unable to come into terms with his identity in the present time and therefore attempts to change the past.

The theme of reliving the past touches on the idea of nostalgia. The nostalgia Gatsby constantly feels is the result of a damaged mind. He fears moving on and living a life without Daisy because in his mind, Gatsby “felt married to [Daisy]” (Fitzgerald, 149). Therefore, Gatsby is constantly fixated on the past where his relationship with Daisy was blooming. It is Gatsby’s unwavering focus on the past that consumes him and eventually destroys him. At the end, even when it was clear that Gatsby had lost Daisy, Gatsby still believed that Daisy loved only him and not Tom. As a result of his hope, Gatsby decided not to leave town – which had he done, he would have lived – and instead waited for Daisy, who has ironically already left town with Tom.