Kathleen Balan-Celino

University Studies 182A-002: Work of Art (CRN 43751)

January 25, 2015
Journal Entry 1
F. Scott Fitzgeralds text and Baz Luhrmanns film of The Great Gatsby revolved
around the theme of Idealization and Dream. Therere several examples from the text
that could prove this theme. The first example is the reason why the narrator, Nick
Carraway, decided to go East. Nick moved to the East intending to learn the bonds
business, hoping to find excitement and sense of possibility, and having the chance to
discover or, in Nicks situation, reinvent himself. The second example is the green light
that Nicks neighbor, Gatsby, is reaching out for from across the water. He stretched out
his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have
sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward and distinguished nothing
except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock.
When I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone again in the
unquiet darkness (Fitzgerald, 20). The way Gatsby is reaching out for the green light
across the water shows that he is hopeful for a dream that is unattainable, which was
recreating his past with Daisy and becoming extremely wealthy through the power of
corruption. Lastly, the third example is when Gatsby insists on staying at the Buchanans
house until Daisy goes to bed. So I walked away and left him standing there in the
moonlight watching over nothing (Fitzgerald, 145). This scene shows how Gatsby
isnt able to give up on his dream even though its impossible.