Sally:
I am really touched by the very last sentence of this novel, which is “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” Current means the movement of water in the sea or river. So from that point of view, the sentence shows us a scene that a boat was going against the current, but was at last pulled back by the water.
At the same time, current can also mean happening now or of the present time. So in that case, it seems like someone was trying their best to stay away from present and wanted to be back to the past.
In my opinion, this sentence is the best to show Mr.Gatsby’s personality. He likes to imagine unreal things. Full of imagination is not harmful but if some lives in their imaginary world and couldn’t get rid of it, the result might be horrible. Gatsby is the best example. Just like Nike wrote, “he was clutching at some last hope and I couldn’t bear to shake him free”, and that hope is which Daisy could come back to him. At this point, I think Daisy was quite ruthless. The most cruel torture is when a person only has a single hope, although the hope may not come true forever but that person will never let it go. If Daisy told Gatsby her true feelings, no matter whether it may hurt Gatsby or not, at least Gatsby got the answer so he could move on. But in fact she didn’t. Leaving Gatsby wondering and hoping, she vanished into “her rich house, into her rich, full life”. So Gatsby never gives up waiting for her, till his death he was waiting for just a phone call from Daisy. He was imagining till the last that Daisy will turn to him because they used to have a great time together. But he did not know that their happy time was already behind him. So the farther he reach, the longer distance it will be.