Significant Connectoins Essay

Time is a majorly significant part of these four F.scott Fitzgerald books, short stories and movies that I will be talking about. Time is a key component of all these stories and without it, the stories would have no message. The short stories are Winter dreams and The lost decade, the film which was inspired by F Scott Fitzgerald’s writing The curious case of Benjamin Button and the book being The Great Gatsby. In The Great Gatsby and The curious case of Benjamin Button, Fitzgerald uses the character’s obsessions with time to have time as a theme. All Jay Gatsby wants is to go back in time and get back the 5 lost years. In the short stories, Winter dreams and The Lost Decade time is used to show how over time people and places change. I believe that each story gives a great message about time. 

“The Great Gatsby” is a novel written by F Scott Fitzgerald. Time is the main symbol in this novel. Gatsby spent 5 years away from his beloved Daisy, and when he returned Daisy had married another man, when he came back to find her he was determined to get back those 5 lost years spent away from her. Gatsby was obsessed with trying to take back those 5 lost years with Daisy and pretend that those 5 years never happened. But no matter how hard Gatsby tried to believe in the impossible, at the end of the day those 5 lost years would always stand between him and Daisy. Although Gatsby is still trying to live in the past, Daisy has moved on from him and the life they had him. Gatsby’s obsession with time ends up leading him to his death. “So we beat on, boats against the current” and another quote that ties into this quote  “to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead.” These Quotes represent Gatsby beating against the current of time and trying to reverse time but instead of achieving his impossible dream, he ends up dead. “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.” This quote shows how Gatsby believes that he is taking back the past, going back in time and the future is getting further and further away as he rekindles things with daisy. Trying to make things how they used to be. Gatsby’s obsession with taking back the past was unhealthy and he was chasing an impossible dream that eventually got him killed. The message that time showed in this novel from this novel is that once something is in the past leave it there, you are not going to get anywhere trying to go back in time. 

“The curious case of Benjamin Button”. This film was inspired by F Scott Fitzgerald. Time is also a significant part of this film. Benjamin Button is the main character of this film. He ages backwards, he was born an old man and each day that goes by he gets a day younger. Every woman’s dream is to get younger instead of older, but being stuck ageing backwards your whole life can be a very miserable thing. Benjamin Button falls in love and makes great friends and has a daughter, but he could never stay a part of their lives for long because as time moves forward and everyone gets older he gets younger. Benjamin wishes time could work the same for him as it does for everyone else. Daisy: ‘”Would you still love me if I were old and saggy?” Benjamin: “Would you still love me if I were young and had acne? When I’m afraid of what’s under the stairs? Or if I end up wetting the bed?” These quotes are from Daisy (Benjamin’s true love) and Benjamin. They are releasing the floors of their relationship and that time is going to take them in two different directions. Can they still love each other if time takes one of them to old age and one to primary school? Time displays also displays a great message in the novel. It shows how we should never take advantage of the fact that most of us get to live life and grow old with our loved ones and experience all moments with the people we love. 

“Winter dreams” a short story written by F Scott Fitzgerald, in this story, time is also a major part. It shows how time changes people and expresses a deeper message of aging. If someone is super successful, rich or beautiful now it doesn’t mean that they are going to be the same in ten or twenty years time. In the short story Winter Dreams, Judy Jones is a golden girl, the most beautiful, successful and charming girl any man in the story would ever meet. At the start of the book, she is everything any man could ever wish for. Many men were chasing after her. Men would even leave their loving wives to be with her, but once she got bored with them she would run off with another man. But by the end of the book, time had taken a toll on Judy. She had aged and she is no longer as beautiful, successful and charming, she is boring, dull and married to some man she charmed but didn’t truly love. Judy Jones didn’t stay golden forever, time aged her majorly. “Last night I thought I was in love with a man and to-night I think I’m in love with you.” This quote is said by Judy Jones when she was at her peak in perfection. She was never satisfied with one man she always wanted more and as she was so beautiful she got what she wanted, but not forever. “I’m more beautiful than anybody else,” she said brokenly, “why can‘t I be happy?” This quote expresses how in the end even though Judy just was a prize for any man. After a bit of time and playing with men’s hearts she never ended up happy. The deeper message that time expresses in this short story is that all different people peek at different times in their life. Just because Judy peeked at the start of her life doesn’t mean she will stay beautiful and perfect forever. Everyone will have the time to shine even if it doesn’t feel like it.

“The lost decade” A short story written by F Scott Fitzgerald. This story time shows how things and places change over time. The symbol of time also gives a message of how when you are watching someone or something changing as time passes it doesn’t seem like its changes. But when you leave for a bit and return you can really see how time has changed something. Even though Mr Trimble has been in new york for the last 10 years he doesn’t remember any of it as he was drunk. In this story, it shows Mr Trimble being surprised at how much one city had changed since he last remembered it. “They’d begun the Empire State Building,” this quote is said by Mr Trimble he is talking about the last time he was there the Empire State Building had only just started being built and a decade later there’s a massive building standing in its place. So over the ten years he was gone a whole building had gone up. “You’ve been lucky to miss a lot.” The year that he missed people think not much has happened but he thinks the city has changed. The message that time expresses in this novel is when you are always witnessing something changing over time it doesn’t seem like its change but if you leave for a bit and come back you can really see how time has changed something.

F Scott Fitzgerald has used time as a very major theme in a lot of his books, short stories and movies that I have talked about throughout this essay. Time was a recurring theme of F Scott Fitzgerald stories. Charters often become obsessed with time and want to change the way time works, like the stories I talked about. In the novel The Great Gatsby, the main character wanted to go back in time and wanted to get back the time that he lost. In the movie The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, the main character just wanted time to go forwards for him, not backwards. In the short story winter dreams, it showed how time ages people. Lastly in the short story The lost decade it shows how over time things change. I think that the way time is used throughout these stories gives off a very strong message and leaves you thinking.