And You Thought Death Was a Bad Thing...

"Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves like this or something. Do you notice what he's got about improving his mind? He was always great for that" (Fitzgerald, 185).

     Ever since a young age, evidently, Gatsby, or Jay, or Jimmy had an underlying goal of getting ahead, fueled by a sort of undeniable determination. And he did. He succeeded in attaining a large amount of money and changing his penurious lifestyle to one of extravagant wealth and luxury. And with this desire of going forward, Gatsby, in a way, manipulated the context of life and time, freezing everything whilst he dragged himself ahead and, in a sense, reached his inevitable end at a moment seemingly too soon in the eyes of others, yet appropriate within the context of Gatsby and his life, his perspective. In reference to life, that which Gatsby lived may have seemed short externally, and was. Yet in reference to the concept of living, Gatsby is still alive. The life that was lived by Gatsby could not have been extended, his death could not have been avoided, for it would have reached him in another form, as Gatsby's life, a fabrication of many elements, grief, anger, confusion, excitement, love, contempt, success, was in fact, fully lived, and desired a break, a pause, of which death was able to provide. Through his aspiration and success in going ahead, Gatsby did that, which many fail to do, resulting in life necessitating a balance of this seemingly incessant "time" that Gatsby had objected to, leading to the externally unexpected yet inevitable death of his. This goes to say that there is a possibility his death should not be regretted or viewed as a negative, nor countered as a positive. His death was rather a necessity, a response, in a way, of balance and control that this "life" undeniably seems to hold over humanity. Not to say that Gatsby was a bad person. He was not, nor is it possible to say that death should only be inflicted upon those who are. It is possible that the concept of "going ahead" is not a pleasant one, as life seems to view it in the least, not to say it is not intriguing. Revisiting the past, however, is another story.