The Great Gatsby Essay

The last line of the book is arguably the most important : "So we beat on, boats against the currents, borne ceaselessly into the past."
This line embodies the thematic conflict in The Great Gatsby because Gatsby is obsessed with something from the past and he tries desperately to get it back and live once again in the past.
Gatsby was once a young military officer and was stationed near Daisy's house in Louisville,Kentucky. Daisy was quite popular among the soldiers which is how Gatsby had met her. Although Gatsby was not rich she didn't know that. Daisy was the first " nice girl " that he had met and all of a sudden they both fell in love with each other. Before he left to the war Daisy promised to wait for him. While he was away Daisy got married to a man named Tom Buchanan and had a baby with him. Daisy's personality had also changed since then. She seemed to not care about her surroundings or about anything including her own baby.
After years Gatsby returns and buys a mansion across from Daisy's house. Every day he throws giant parties with important people with  the purpose of getting her attention. In the past Gatsby didn't have all the money he has now. He made it his mission to get rich and reunite with Daisy. He thinks he can change the present to "fix" it and relive the past. That is the only thing he becomes obsessed with, he is blinded by the past and he doesn't see that Daisy doesn't put the same effort as he does. Gatsby later on takes the blame for a murder Daisy committed just because he still loves her. Gatsby could've done so many things with his life and money but he was obsessed with living in the past.