Time, Memory and the Past

Question 1

What quote shows Gatsby’s refusal to accept the passage of time?

Answer 1

“Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can!”

Question 2

What is Nick’s comment on Gatsby’s desire to control time?

Answer 2

“You can’t repeat the past.”

Question 3

How does Gatsby symbolically relive the past in his reunion with Daisy?

Answer 3

“He revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes.”

Question 4

What line shows Daisy’s inability to meet the expectations of memory?

Answer 4

“There must have been moments… when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams.”

Question 5

What object symbolises the ticking tension of time during Gatsby and Daisy’s reunion?

Answer 5

“The clock took this moment to tilt dangerously at the pressure of his head.”

Question 6

What does Gatsby say about the five years since he saw Daisy?

Answer 6

“Five years next November.”

Question 7

How is Gatsby’s house linked to the illusion of timelessness?

Answer 7

“It was a colossal affair… a factual imitation of some Hôtel de Ville in Normandy.”

Question 8

What final line links memory, hope, and inevitable failure?

Answer 8

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