I decided to call to him. Miss Baker had mentioned him at dinner, and that would do for an introduction. But I didn't call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone - he stretched out his arms towards 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 but a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock
Page 16
'If it wasn't for the mist we could see your home across the bay' said Gatsby 'you always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock.' Daisy put her arm through his abruptly, but he seemed absorbed in what he had just said. Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one.
Page 59-60
The God in The Great Gatsby is most certainly not the God of the immanent Trinity. The rising spectacles of the absentee occulist, Dr. T. J. Eckleburg, and the ever-distant green light that is the epitome of Gatsby's quest for Daisy and the amazing life he wants so desperately, seem more at home with the clockmaker God of the Enlightenment. Indeed, the roaring '20s seem more Babylonian than incarnational. However, Gatsby calls himself a son of God, which therefore destined him for greatness. In fact, though Jesus is never mentioned, Gatsby feels entitled to an heir's inheritance. This is not just from Dan Cody, who discovered Jimmy Gatz loafing around on the beach; Jay Gatzby he has a unique claim on inheritance from God. Let's be clear, this is not general revelation to all people who believe in God, or general concern for all of God's creation, but special revelation that make Jay Gatzby above everyone else. In Jay Gatzby's mind, it is impossible for him to fail; not only that, but he and his string of fabulous friends will bring everyone in on "the business". Everyone can ride on Gatsby's coattails. As evidenced by his uncanny ability to make any lie into a convincing story (aided by his relationship with the police commissioner) he can get away with anything... or so we think.
But it's not just the overseeing eye of a reluctant benefactor God that Gatsby is trying to get to so desperately. His quest is almost as though each party (and/or each lie) is an attempt at fullfilling dharma. He lost Daisy when he was a soldier, so he must remake himself in the billionaire across the lake. He thinks he has everything she wants. He has to remake his story again into something better than Tom Buchanan, but he even does that because he has a better kind of love. It is deeper, purer, everlasting and... reckless. He is single-minded and focused on rewinding the clock back through the five years he lost with Daisy. He has earned his inheritance now. The right to status in a place and era where everyone have inherited their status. I has a feeling he would take pride in (or at least acknowledge as status quo) the statement made famous in The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks "... dad's got more money than God". Gatsby considers God to be his personal Father, even if Dan Cody is a facilitator in all this. James Gatz by successfully recovering whatever assets he loses and more has out done the prodigal son.
He is capable of multiplying his money. Making power and influence appear out of thin air. Everyone knows him, and everyone speculates about him. He has done absolutely everything, with very little help from God that he can see.
Now he has more money than God, and can finally give Daisy the kind of life he thinks she wants. Very much like the kind of life she has, only without Tom, with someone who is actually faithful. Hopefully, he will be faithful to her, if not, he will at least be faithful to the dream of her. Or the larger than life image of himself as a son of God, which is bigger than being one of many sons made in the image of God.
The unique unstoppable inevitability of the success of his dreams make up the entirety of the symbol of the green light. it burns all night, all night long unwavering. It will never go out, no matter how many lies build the bridge across the lake, and no matter how many cycles of fantastic success or despairing defeat that he goes through, Gatsby will still do everything in his power to present Daisy with a glittering emerald that she will like.
Even when she sees it (and even when she isn't pleased) he barely notices a setback. All he sees is the elusive green light - a dream he is ever pursuing, and unlike some recent Oscar winners, he's pathologically unable to appreciate the joy and importance of the moment he has, either with Daisy or with his possessions. He only wants to get back to the very moment he left five years ago. He doesn't take into account any history, good or bad, with Tom as having any merit.
Worse, he hasn't given any thought to an even bigger problem: the intractable existence of the bond between mother and child. Regardless of how much time we see Daisy away from Pammy, her existence cannot erase the history of this marriage, and will greatly reduce the likelihood they Daisy will actually leave Tom for Gatsby. Despite apparently pining for him, perhaps even indulging in a little dreaming herself as an antidote to wallowing in her husband's affairs. But she dotes on her daughter the only way she knows how, learning from the same culture that only known people in bonds. She knows how to be what Pammy is: a polite little paper doll, and what she hopes Pammy is, "a beautiful little fool" She knows how to escape through parties and hotels, booze and shirts... and perhaps even trips. But she knows the difference between a vacation and what her mother would never allow her to do, what she now would never allow herself to do... she knows the difference between a vacation for temporary relief, and leaving. She cannot join Gatsby's life of "high religion" (at least in his own mind). She will always return to what her family has known and will know for generations: the life of empty aesthetics. How to be (and raise) "beautiful little fools".
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