Austin Essay Draft

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Austin Spingarn
Mrs. Steiner
4/1/2015
American Lit.

In Their Eyes Were watching God, author Zora Neale Hurston writes, "Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board”. Hurston is talking about dreams. When the ship is at a distance, the watcher can believe that his dreams may come true. However, sometimes the ship becomes closer and eventually makes it to the shore. When this happens, the watcher must accept the reality of what is actually on board the ship. Often, this discovery is disappointing. Hurston conveys that believing in dreams is exciting, but it can set people up for disappointment when their dreams do not come true in reality exactly as they imagined. Author F. Scott Fitzgerald explores this theme in his novel The Great Gatsby. In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby, who dreams for Daisy Buchanan, is the watcher and Daisy is his ship at a distance.

Gatsby’s dream began to form during his early childhood. He grew up with poor family, who lived on a farm in the west, but he wanted more. Gatsby wanted to better himself, and achieve the American dream, which at the time was completely unassociated with wealth. He even made a list of general resolves, including “no more smoking or chewing, bath every other day, read one improving book or magazine per week” (Fitzgerald 104). His dream was infinite, never ending. Gatsby took the time to plan his rise to fame and fortune. His personality changed from a poor boy to a man ready to make his infinite dreams and visions become a reality. He joined Dan Cody, an extraordinarily wealthy old man, who showed Gatsby that he can pursue his dream. When Gatsby saw Dan Cody's yacht anchor at a dangerous point in Lake Superior, he saw an opportunity to leave his old life behind and took it. Cody also showed Gatsby that money would help him achieve his dream. Dan Cody acted as a type of mentor for Gatsby. He taught Gatsby valuable social lessons. He also improved Gatsby’s understanding of alcohol and the effect it can have on people, as well as how much money a person can make by selling it, which was illegal at the time. Cody’s inspiration and teachings made Gatsby more determined than ever to accomplish his dreams. Although Gatsby learned many new things from his five year adventure, Cody narrowed his dream _______________________. Gatsby could no longer see the difference between dream and reality. Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanan's cousin and the narrator of the novel, said "Gatsby turned out alright at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men" (6).

Gatsby began to vision a more exoitic life, and he saw Daisy as his ticket into this new world. He fell in love with the wealthy debutante Daisy Fay shortly before he was to leave for war. When Gatsby returned, he discovered that Daisy had married Tom Buchanan, a wealthy Duke University scholar, making him want to achieve his dream even more. This point marks James Gatz’s transformation to Jay Gatsby. From a distance, Gatsby’s imagination was fulfilled by his dream to be with Daisy. Gatsby’s entire life is spent changing and becoming wealthy only so he could become a part of Daisy’s life. He is so convinced that Daisy is deeply in love with him that Nick Carraway, the narrator, narrates “He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: "I never loved you.” (Fitzgerald 125). Gatsby is so convinced that Daisy is in love with him, that he wants her to erase her past. Later in the novel, Gatsby to Nick Carraway: “Can‘t repeat the past?...Why of course you can!...I‘m going to fix everything just the way it was before....She‘ll see‘‖” (110 - 111). This shows how much Gatsby is willing to change to reach his dream. He is a man of tremendous romanticism, and he has created a vision of Daisy that she could never meet, even if she were perfect, which she is not.

Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. This is a convoluted metaphor for the dreams men have and their journeys to accomplish them. Envision looking out to sea and seeing a ship against the horizon; this is the vessel which contains all the dreams of man. Sometimes the ship gets closer and makes it to shore. This ship contains the dreams which come true. Sometimes that ship never gets any closer, and it keeps sailing back and forth across the horizon. That ship contains the dreams that never come true. To Gatsby, the ship sailing against the horizon is Daisy, but when a ship is at a distance, one is unable to see the hidden flaws aboard. Gatsby set himself up for failure when he decided that Daisy was his only ticket for happiness. Nick Carraway narrated “She wanted her life shaped now, immediately - and the decision must be made by some force of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality that was close at hand” (159). Daisy love for Gatsby was mainly due to the overwhelming attention he provided her, and his extreme wealth. Gatsby does not know this until it is too late. Nick Carraway said "There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams -- not through her own fault but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion" (101). Nick realized Gatsby’s selfmade illusion far before Gatsby did. Meeting Daisy derailed his initial dream, as she became his dream, and after that, he was lost in that illusion. Never could he accept Daisy for what she was.
 As he inches towards his dream, he begins to realize that the real Daisy has fallen short of his unrealistic creation. His failure to recognize the disparity between dream and reality creates a whirlwind of external factors that lead to his ultimate downfall. Gatsby’s dream was to win Daisy but was corrupted by money and dishonesty, similar to how the American dream of happiness and individualism turned into the mere pursuit of wealth. In a conversation between Gatsby and Nick, Gatsby said

In the end, Gatsby's persistence in believing that he could recreate the past became his own downfall. Although he never again achieved his ideal happiness that he found with Daisy, he would continue to hold on to the one thing that temporarily made him feel whole. From a distance,