Living in the Past

While a cliche, it is true that the past is in the past, and that's where it should stay. Allowing our past to consume our present and future will eat away at you. No matter how hard you try, you can neither go back in time to relive the past or recreate the same situations as the past. Each moment in time happens only once, and no matter how great it was, cannot be redone. 

In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby becomes obsessed with the relationship he and Daisy had in the past.  Both he and Daisy were in love with each other, but things ended when Gatsby left for war and Daisy found Tom, a man with more money. When Gatsby tries to win Daisy back, he attempts to impress her with his new found wealth in his enormous mansion. Daisy is in awe with Gatsby's luxuries and cries do to the fact that this is the life she could've lived if she had not married Tom. 

After confessing their love for each other, Gatsby plans to take Daisy back to where they lived when they were together to get married. By doing this, Gatsby tries to recreate their "perfect" past that he is so infatuated with. However, this is not possible for the two because so many things have changed: Tom and Daisy married, Daisy was in love with Tom, and Daisy now has a child with Tom. These new events have caused a permanent rift in the relationship between Daisy and Gatsby. 

Gatsby will never truly be happy with his relationship with Daisy even if they do end up getting married because he will always wish things were the same as the past. By romanticizing and obsessing over the past, Gatsby digs himself into a hole of misery that he cannot escape. He will always wonder about what could've been and question his new relationship. 

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