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Figurative Language In The Great Gatsby

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This passage matters because these are the concluding words of the novel that express Nicks views about the past and its relationship to the future. In this excerpt Nick lies on the beach behind Gatsby’s house and contemplates the struggle that mankind faces in an effort to obtain their dreams and how people achieve them by reliving long-ago experiences. However, since people cannot move on from the past they continue to be stuck in the same place as they are, not moving forward. The author tries to use figurative language to represent this through the metaphor that people are rowing towards their own green light while the ocean's waves push them back. Nick ponders how, “[...]we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into …show more content…
The moonlight is casting shadows on his face but illuminating his surrounding just enough for him to see the outlines of the house. He thinks about how people who discovered this same location hundreds of years ago had dreams just like Gatsby had dreams for himself about his relationship with Daisy. He comes to the realization that Gatsby who had a dream and was unable to notice the fact that the dream has concluded, will also fail to realize that his goals are fulfilled. Nick continues to restlessly lie in the same area where parties once took place and contemplate the fact that people in general are driven by dreams based off of the past and by the urge to live a life in the future where their dreams are made into a reality. However those people will have a tough time doing so because the past is the part that is holding them back. This is when Nick formulates the comparison/metaphor of these people to someone in a boat struggling to move forward to their destination (goal) because the waves will be going in the opposite direction trying to bring them back to where they were before (the past). After stating his final thought, Nick stops his pondering/writing, ending the

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