Gatsby-Metaphor

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past" (pg 180). The boat in this sentence is a metaphor for all the people. The boat against the current signifies the struggle to escape from the past or trying to relive the past. Some people run from their past, but do not succeed as well as those who try to relive their past and fail. People will always carry their past with them whether they try to forget it or not. Events from a person's past made them what they are today. Gatsby was a man who lived for the past. He wanted to marry Daisy and start their life right where they left off five years ago. He could not accept that he could not relive his past and it led to his demise. He had lived almost his entire life building his fortune so that he could marry Daisy. He did not have anything in the present to live for.