Darius Hong: "Dear Vina Jie-Min Prasad: The Great [Ending to] Gatsby"

Dear Vina Jie-Min Prasad: The Great [Ending to] Gatsby

By Darius Hong

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I’m not a big fan of playing favorites. It’s not right. And how could it be? It’s simply unfair to choose a favorite between two things like apples and oranges, sunrise and sunset, Mac and PC – each offers something special that the other can’t. But despite my best efforts to remain impartial, over the years, I have inevitably acquired preferences in most aspects of life (apples, sunrise, PC), including literature. So, from a boy who has spent seventeen years reading as many books as he possibly could and wishing he could read even more, I humbly present my favorite book ending ever written:

“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter – tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning –

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

The last few phrases of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925) constitute what is, by far, my favorite ending in American literature. As far as conclusions go, this one pretty much nails it.

Thematically and emotionally, it continues Fitzgerald’s good work in the first 180 pages and suggests that there can be no real way for this book to end – just as the novel suggests that there’s no real way for time, or a legacy, to end. It “beat[s] on” and is “borne back ceaselessly into the past.” So, naturally, the ending feels a little... unresolved. Like we’re not moving forward as most books do at their end, but rather, in place. Some readers might get really upset at that ending, but I think the ending of The Great Gatsby is so great because it’s unresolved. Seems fake? Just hear me out.

When it comes to the ending of a story, the most we can hope for is a closing that justifies the means needed to reach that point. What that looks like varies based on the book. For some books, it might be an elaborate and carefully laid-down twist, while for others, it might be a grand finale that makes you jump out of your favorite reading chair in joy. Whatever the case, when an ending works, it should feel earned, and it should honor the sections of the story that precede it.

The ending to Gatsby does just this. It pays homage to the story it “finishes.” As another blog puts it, in the novel, “Nick, with the omniscient view of the narrator – can see what Gatsby could not. Nick can see that Gatsby – despite all his effort and sweat at paddling against the current – was drifting backward” (https://reasonandmeaning.com/2015/04/02/the-last-lines-of-f-scott-fitzgeralds-the-great-gatsby/). The ending speaks to Gatsby’s experience of fighting for his dream but never truly moving forward (very relatable. see http://dbanach.com/sisyphus.htm). There’s a sense of stagnation, no matter what Gatsby does. The ending matches the tone and theme of the rest of the novel and thus does exactly what readers should expect. And like any proper ending should, this one reminds readers of the novel’s main takeaway.

A huge reason why the ending is so amazing to me is because of its final sentence. Not only is it the only last sentence of a story that I can call to memory on a whim, but it’s also beautifully designed. It’s nearly written in iambic pentameter (https://literarydevices.net/iambic-pentameter/) and has alliteration that creates a wave-like effect. And best of all, the last line leaves room for the reader to come to their own conclusion about the story’s meaning, which we don’t get to do too often. Largely, we can look at it in one of two ways (but if you have another interpretation, even better).

1.    Depressing :(

Our past weighs us down no matter how hard we try to move forward in life. Progress is an illusion that tricked Gatsby and is tricking us.

2.    Optimistic :)

“Beat[ing] on” is a hopeful response to a current that tries to force us down. In this more optimistic interpretation, we valiantly battle against our past with all our willpower and try to move forward as much as we can.

These two, very different interpretations can cause readers to read Gatsby in distinct ways, which I think is rather cool. How did you read it? Let me know!