The Great Gatsby Group

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missy2009
missy2009
Student
High School - 11th Grade

In The Great Gatsby, what is Gatsby's reply when Nick said you can't repeat the past? Why?

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Posted by missy2009 on Thursday March 27, 2008 at 3:50 PM and tagged with chapter 6, gatsby, nick, the great gatsby.

Answers:


  1. dymatsuoka

    eNotes Editor

    Gatsby's response to Nick's observation that you can't repeat the past is incredulity.  He says, "Can't repeat the past? Why of course you can!"  To him, it seems perfectly reasonable to expect that Daisy would be able to tell Tom that she never loved him, and pick up where she left off with him, Gatsby, five years ago.  Gatsby is determined to "fix everything just the way it was before".  As he talks, Nick understands that in actuality, Gatsby wants to recover more than just Daisy.  He is looking for "something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy".  His life has been incomplete since he lost her, and he somehow feels that if he could just go back and do it all again the right way, he would find the thing that he has been missing (Chapter VI).

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/great-gatsby/chapter-6-summary-anal...

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    Posted by dymatsuoka on Thursday March 27, 2008 at 4:27 PM


  2. cybil Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    Gatsby replies that of course you can repeat the past. In fact, that belief has laid the foundation of his whole life for the past five years as he amassed the fortune that he believes now exceeds Tom Buchanan's. The money is necessary to attract Daisy, who Gatsby believes will now leave Tom for him.

    Gatsby is confident that he repeat the past when he and Daisy first met. This time around, however, she will be his because he now has enough money.  His simplistic view reveals how completely he has skewed reality in his desperation to have the woman of his dreams.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/great-gatsby/chapter-6-summary-anal...

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    Posted by cybil on Thursday March 27, 2008 at 4:27 PM

  3. amyflamey
    amyflamey Student
    Community / Jr. College

    Gatsby says "'Can't repeat the past?' he cried incredulously. 'Why of course you can!'" pg 111 of the penguin edition this is because he wants to recreate his relationship with daisy and so says this as he doesnt like this idea or dream (remember american dream is a key theme) being challenged

    hope that helps

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    Posted by amyflamey on Sunday March 30, 2008 at 11:32 AM