“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald 180). The ending phrase in The Great Gatsby sums up human life; people fight against the incessant stream of obstacles flowing towards them in the path called reality as they are forever linked to their past and their mistakes. The Great Gatsby, as told through the eyes of Nick Carraway, tells the story of a young man fruitlessly striving to overcome the societal barriers to be with his true love: a married Daisy Buchanan. As two separate entities written in different time periods, the novel The Great Gatsby-written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925-and the movie The Great Gatsby-directed by Baz Luhrmann in 2013-converge and diverge on several topics …show more content…
The movie takes the core of the plot as Gatsby to manifest the idea that some dreams are not meant to come true and should be relinquished. For example, Nick and Jordan’s tangible romance is never shown as it is in the novel because this could take focus off of Gatsby and Daisy’s impossible love story. Again, Nick is relegated from narrator to main character as to take his bias towards the other characters out of the equation. By removing Nick’s opinions on Gatsby, love and the affairs, the audience is able to only imbibe the views which disclose how Gatsby’s dream to be with Daisy is wrong. The violence surrounding some of the main events that turn Daisy against Gatsby, such as the murder and fight at the hotel, also proves that only unpleasant things could come from having his dream come true. The added tension from music and car chases may seem to be a simple film technique to engage the audience, but it is truly a covert way to hint at all the turmoil and trouble that has come from Gatsby’s own “American Dream” and all the trouble that would come if he were to achieve his goal. On the contrary, the novel focuses on the characters’ stories as a whole to communicate a message about how society crushes one’s desires. With the story being viewed through Nick’s eyes and being interpreted in an honest manner through the lens of Nick’s thoughts, the reader can see that the principles which society’s grotesque innards-wealth is everything, love and fame are the keys to paradise, you can have everything, the American Dream-are exposed and seen as impossible fantasies that have no substantial meaning to true happiness. Nick longs for Jordan and affluence throughout the novel, but sees his longings as nonviable and frivolous after his meeting with