Hope O'Malley

Mr. Smith

Junior Lit

23 November 2022

Gatsby Symbolism Paragraph

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, clocks are used to demonstrate Gatsby's

unhappiness with the present and his attempts to relive his past. Clocks first appear when Daisy

is invited over to Nick's house and Gatsby is awkwardly talking to her, saying, ““We’ve met

before,” muttered Gatsby. His eyes glanced momentarily at me, and his lips parted with an

abortive attempt at a laugh. Luckily the clock took this moment to tilt dangerously at the pressure

of his head, whereupon he turned and caught it with trembling fingers, and set it back in place.

Then he sat down, rigidly, his elbow on the arm of the sofa and his chin in his hand. “I’m sorry

about the clock,” he said.”(Fitzgerald 55). Fitzgerald’s purpose is to explain the tension in

Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship. The two haven't spoken in five years, which is shown when the

clock is described as old, and the tension between them are shown when Gatsby knocks the clock

over. His catching the clock before it hits the ground and breaks is reflective of his hesitation to

reopen his relationship with Daisy, but when the clock ends up broken, but not un-fixable, it

shows the slow rebuilding of the relationship between the two. This is further demonstrated later

in chapter 5 when Gatsby invites Nick and Daisy to his house and he is so obsessed with Daisy

and their past relationship he acts strange. When Gatsby is finally living the moment he had been

dreaming for five years he feels as though time has stopped and their relationship has picked up

from exactly where they left it, Nick explains that, “He had passed visibly through two states and
was entering upon a third. After his embarrassment and his unreasoning joy he was consumed

with wonder at her presence. He had been full of the idea so long, dreamed it right through to the

end, waited with his teeth set, so to speak, at an inconceivable pitch of intensity. Now, in the

reaction, he was running down like an overwound clock.”(Fitzgerald 58). In this example, the

clock reflects not only Gatsby's actions but also his thoughts. Gatsby's true desire to relive his

past is momentarily granted and he feels as though his life is complete which is shown through

the over wound, or broken, clock. Similar to the events described in chapter five, Gatsby's past

has similar patterns of attempts to relive the past. Earlier in Gatsby's life, before his wealth and

fame, clocks appear again as Fitzgerald explains the thoughts of young Gatsby, “A universe of

ineffable gaudiness spun itself out in his brain while the clock ticked on the wash-stand and the

moon soaked with wet light his tangled clothes upon the floor. Each night he added to the pattern

of his fancies until drowsiness closed down upon some vivid scene with an oblivious

embrace.”(Fitzgerald 63). Fitzgerald’s purpose is to show that it wasn't the money or the fame

that swayed Gatsby's wish to relive his past, but instead it has always been his dream to relive his

desires. Fitzgerald’s use of clocks clearly highlights Gatsby's struggle to accept the present time

since he's unhappy with it and instead insists on reliving his past moments.