Significant connections

Introduction

To go back in time is the dream. To recapture the past for a single split second. This is the hope in the minds of the main characters In the novels The Great Gatsby, Babylon revisited, Winter Dreams and The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button all written by F Scott Fitzgerald. All the main characters want to go back in time to change past mistakes they have made that now affect their future. We learn that time is uncontrollable and you can never go back in time to change what has happened. The past decisions that they have made follow these characters round every day with their looming presence and there is no way to escape the past. They never lose hope and spend all their energy on a pursuit of a goal that is unatainable.

Time was most important to Gatsby as we know his only goal in life was to recapture the past so he could be with Daisy again. We learn to understand that, he really believes that he can go back in the past to change things to be with Daisy again. Every second that Daisy was not with him he was working for her. His whole life revolved around Daisy and wanting her back. Although Daisy is married to Tom, Gatsby still tries to win her over. Gatsby arranges a renuion tea for them and after this their relationship starts to blossom again giving Gatsby hope. We also see that Gatsby throws extravagent parties at his house every weekened in hope that Daisy will turn up. Daisy finally attended one of the parties and he felt that she didnt enjoy herself. Nick tries to tell him that he cant repeat the past to make Daisy happy again but Gatsby denies that. “You cant repeat the past, why of course you can”. Gatbsy really believed he could go back in time to be with Daisy again. We know that this hope of Gatsby’s is unatainable as you can never repeat the past. Gatsby wants Daisy to erase the last 3 years of her life so they will be together again. Gatsby becomes so confident that Daisy is going to leave Tom but as we know this dosent happen. Even though Daisy admits that she loves Tom, Gatsby continues to love and fight for Daisy. Throuhgout the novel the aspect of time does not affect Gatsby’s mindset on wanting Daisy but we learn he will never be able to achieve his hopes and dreams as shown in this quote.“So we beat on boats against the current borne back ceaselessly into the past” These words from Nick conclude the novel and has us returning to the theme of the significance of time and the past, and the dreams for the future. In the metaphoric langauge used here, the current draws them backwards as they are trying to row foward and reach the light at the end. In Gatsbys case being with Daisy. He continues to struggle as his dreams cannot be his reality. While Gatsby never loses hope he spends all his energy in a pursuit of a goal that he will never be able to attain.

Fitzgerald uses words of time to convey his theme that people are unable to escape the past, in the story Babylon Revisited it is about a man trying to over come his past mistakes only for them to confront him. The story follows a man named Charlie who is trying to attain custody of his daughter Honoria. Even though Charlies wild days have passed he’ll never be able to truly escape them. Although every day he tries to forget the past, it always haunts him such as, when he takes Honoria out for lunch he can only find one resturant that dosent make him think of the hours of drunken meals he had.”The in-laws found it hard to forget about the 5 years that charlie had not been there and been a drunk.” The in laws gained custody of Honoria when Charlies wife died. They believed he caused her to die from a heart attack because of all the stress he put on her while being a alcoholic. Charlies only hope is to regain custody of Honoria and go back in time to change his past mistakes so the in laws will trust him. This shows how uncontrollable time is. “He wanted to jump back a whole generation and trust in character again”.If charlie could just go back and change his mistakes that he made he would be able to have custody of his daughter. The Great Gatsby and Babylon revisted both have the same narrative. Both Gatsby and Charlie want to jump back in time and erase the last 5 years and fix all the mistakes they have made so it dosent affect their future. The past decisions these charcters have made follow them around every day with their looming presence and although they never lose hope they are spending all their energy on a goal that is unatainable.

In the story of Winter Dreams, Dexter Green is desperate to validate his success through his wealth and social status. While he is so focused on being wealthy he also attempts to be humble and sophisticated. Dexter goes from working at a golf club and being a caddy boy to the rich, to then owning the largest string of laundries in the upper midd west. Dexter becomes infatuated with Judy Jones when he is just fourteen working on the golf course. All Dexter wanted was her, winning her became equal to winning wealth. We can see similarities in this text with The Great Gatsby and Babylon revisited as both Dexter, Gatsby and Charlie are driven to make this one girl theirs. Dexter believed that Judy was the most beautiful girl and she would fit perfectly into his dream life. “ He wanted no association with glittering things and glittering people – he wanted the glittering things themselves”. In the text when Dexter is younger he believes that being successful and wealthy will make him a happy man. This is quite similar to what Gatsby believed as well. The main difference is that Dexter ends up with Judy, the so-called “dream girl”. In the end Dexter leaves Judy to join the army for a couple years. Dexter ends up coming back to be the businessman he dreamed of being, he became very successful which saw him owning the largest string of laundries. In these three texts we see time is a big contributor in the overall aspect of their relationships with people. For Gatsby the 5 years away from Daisy and all the waiting around for her was too much. For Charlie he wanted to erase the last 5 years of his life so he could have a relationship and gain custody of his daughter. For Dexter his own dreams, which were wrapped up in Judy’s beauty and dreams of them one day being together, faded away without him even noticing. All he is left with are piles of money that he has earned

In The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, the main character Benjamin is always finding himself in a strife with time as he never has enough of it. Benjamin is born into the body of an old man, and finds he gets younger as the years pass by. His issue with time begins when he meets a young girl named Daisy. All Benjamin wants to do is hangout and spend time with Daisy. Benjamin falls madly in love with Daisy who is told he is not allowed to be with her and is told to “play with people your own age”. Benjamin comes to the conclusion that he and Daisy are on completely different paths in life but it doesn’t stop him from falling in love with the idea of their possible life together.  Benjamin carries on with his life but when he and Daisy finally become a similar age Benjamin asks her “will you still love me when I have pimples…when I find it funny to make fart noises”. This quote shows how Benjamin starts to feel anxious as he is not sure what is going to happen to him in the next few years and doesn’t want to abandon Daisy. For Benjamin time is a struggle as it takes Daisy away from him, he is always fighting to have more of it. Time eventually will always catch up to Benjamin and all our other characters in the past novels as time is uncontrollable and we cannot predict what will happen in the future. We see in every single novel that the characters fantasize their future with their one person to regain a relationship with. Even though they spend all their time and energy focusing on this one person, time will always be in the way of them forming a relationship. Even though they do everything possible they will never be able to attain their hopes and dreams as time is a uncontrollable aspect.

The Great Gatsby, Babylon Revisted, Winter Dreams and The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button each represent the concept of how time is uncontroablle. Even though the charcters spend all their time and energy on this one pursuit, their goal for for a relationship with this one girl. They will never be able to achieve this because of thier past as the past affects their future now and they cant go back in the past and change what has happened. Through all these texts Fitzgerlad purpose was to teach us how uncontrollable time is. Change is inevitable and there is nothing we can do about. The sooner we accept the fact that we cant go back in time and change our past mistakes the less we will cling to them and you will become happier. To conclude, Fitzgerald tries to portray if we want to be truly happy, it essential to accept the things we cannot change, like time, as we have no control over it.