· “It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… And one fine morning—
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (180).
The example of syntax present is especially effective at portraying Gatsby’s overall demise; Fitzgerald’s use of an ellipsis and dashes and his varied sentence structure aid in this portrayal. These last few sentences of the novel discuss the theme of the perpetual cycle of man pursuing wealth and riches but failing, and the trying again but to only once more fail, forever working against the tides of society. By Fitzgerald employing these syntactical devices, his is able to emphasize the physical turmoil inside man as the sentence is repeatedly interrupted reflecting the interruptions in man’s life. The rhetorical fragment concluding the novel elicits an effect of continuous work “against the current.”
I think the pursuit of wealth and riches and the tides of society are very limited interpretations. The syntax, in my opinion, is used in this way to deal one final blow to the reader in order to make her, for the last time and utterly, conscious of the depth of Gatsby's ambition and the impossibility of the dream. Fitzgerald often pondered and hypothesized about what it means to be a romantic and Gatsby is one elegant formulation of his conclusions. I think in the quote above the point is to portray how heroic a struggle the Romantic's life is, yet how the world is structured in a way that eventually dooms her. So to just highlight wealth and societal forces is horribly shortsighted. There are deep metaphysical implications, one might reflect upon the question of death in the light of these brilliant lines. But I do agree that the syntax is also an image of the work against the current...
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