“Can't you repeat the past? Because of course you can!” The theme of the book The Great Gatsby is that some people do nothing but chase the past, while others are satisfied with their current situation. In this writing the reader has the opportunity to see how this theme emerges in the book. The essay will concern three main characters. After reading this essay the reader should be able to see how and why this theme is true. Jay Gatsby. Jay Gatsby is a strangely normal man. He is very handsome, has a lot of money, but his bearing is a little silly. Jay just seems a little shady. Throw all these parties just to wait and wait and wait. He acted happy and cheerful, but was he really? Who or what was waiting? Margherita pizza. Jay had been obsessed with Daisy since the first time he saw her. His obsession gets the better of him and he tries to make her fall in love with him again. Once again, Jay is a handsome, wealthy man. How not to make a girl fall in love with him? In the book Jay tells Nick that in 1917 he loved Daisy and she loved him. Jay wants to be with Daisy but she hasn't shown up once to any of his parties. Jay comes up with this plan in the book to get him and Daisy to the same place. His plan works and triggers something. Nick tries to tell Gatsby that he can't expect too much from Daisy and that he can't repeat the past. However, Jay responds to Nick with the book's most remembered quote on page 109: “Can't you repeat the past? Because of course you can!” Jay is also convinced that Daisy never truly loved Tom. He doesn't believe it. She won't believe it, but Daisy eventually tells Jay that she once loved Tom and that she would be lying if she said otherwise. Jay was shocked by this news but continued... middle of the paper... notice how angry he gets when he sees Daisy and Gatsby together. A reaction Tom had that showed he loved Daisy on page 131, “I can't speak about what happened five years ago…I didn't know Daisy then…Daisy loved me when we first got married and He still loves me!" In this thematic paper, valid points demonstrated that the thematic statement “some people only chase the past while others are satisfied with their current situation” is true. The evaluation of Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, and Tom Buchanan shows that these characters show how that theme is true. To this day, this theme can still be seen in everyday life. In the book and in the real world there are dreamers and chasers and in the end, almost always, the chasers seem to win. Oh, and one last thing... you can't repeat the past. Works Cited The Great Gatsby Book