Time, Love, and Entropy in "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Essay from the year 2015 in the subject American Studies - Literature, , language: English, abstract: F. Scott Fitzgerald is a distinguished author in American Literature. The novel, The Great Gatsby, is a national icon, representing an era of excitement and wonder. The novel is most recognized for its allusions to the American Dream. However, Fitzgerald¿s allusions and symbols go further than that. I wanted to analyze the ¿secrets¿ and symbols of The Great Gatsby, especially the function of time throughout the novel.

I first began my exploration of the way time moves in the novel. I began to understand the different ways time functions in the novel and began to undercover multiple theories in relation to time¿s purpose in the novel. As I went deeper into my exploration, my understanding of time expanded. I began to see a relationship between time and the characters of Gatsby, and how time, in combination with love, developed the character of Gatsby himself. I expanded on the theories involved with the forms of Time Gatsby exists in. I later learned about the physics of time and how science itself stopped Gatsby from reaching his goal.

At the end of my research, I concluded how all of these different factors of time functioned together. I adjusted my original research question from ¿To what extent does Fitzgerald use time in The Great Gatsby¿ to, ¿To what extent does Fitzgerald use time, love and entropy in relation one another in The Great Gatsby¿. The forms Gatsby existed in evolved over time because of love, and living in one of those forms misled Gatsby to believe he could bend the laws of physics.