Scott Fitzgerald was inspired by a French novel called Le Grand Meaulnes, written in 1913. It was translated into English with the titles The Wanderer and The Lost Estate (Conradt, 2013). Neglecting the past in people's mind is one of the most difficult things in the world today. Many people refuse to let go of the past or neglect it because they always grieve for what they have lost. They don't accept the healing hand at the time but at the same time, they want to gain what they lost in the past. "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." ― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby. We always fight to continue towards our live, and get out of the mess that we are in. It's hard to get the past again no matter how much effort people put in or how hard people try. In The Great Gatsby, the main protagonist Jay Gatsby didn't consider that Daisy doesn't have the same emotional state as she was, he is a representation of materialism and thinks that money can buy him whatever he may desire, and the green light represents the Gatsby's dream of being reunited with his old lover, Daisy.
Firstly, Jay Gatsby didn't consider that Daisy doesn't have the same emotional state as she was five years ago. In the beginning, when Daisy was popular among the officers at Camp Taylor, Gatsby went to her with some other officers. After a while, he went to her alone, and the beautiful love passage has begun since then. Their love ended when he went to world war I, but Daisy promised to wait for him until he returns. But she didn't wait and married Tom, who was socially equal to her. After five years separation, he is trying desperately to make his life the same as it was 5 years ago, he thinks that people don't change, and also he doesn't know that life changes too, and it can't be the same as it was in the past. During luncheon, he wants Daisy to tell him that she has never loved Tom.
