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Memories can offer the revival of numerous emotions. They can trigger the senses to bring familiar sensations back to life. Their power allows a person to relive the former glory and enchantment of their younger days and to reflect on their prior character. Unwanted memories haunt the beholder while desired memories enhance the soul. Abiding in the jaunty memories – and even in the depressing ones – for a short time is healthy, for memories are continuous reminders of personality. Yet, if a person is determined to remain in the past eternally, they become dissatisfied with the present. Slowly the memories rend their mind, devouring their confidence and self-worth until the individual reaches their ultimate demise. Therefore, lingering in the past impedes contentment, for it is impossible to recreate the former euphoria of the past. Gatsby did not know this to be true, as he desperately attempted to reconnect with Daisy, wishing to continue their young love affair from where it left off. Though after nearly five years Daisy had moved on, Gatsby persisted by viewing the green light at the end of her dock, wearing his pink – immature – suit, and by associating with the clock at the center of Nick’s mantel. No impetuous attempt of Gatsby’s was successful in the recreation of the past, and as a result he suffered not only a mental, but also a physical downfall.
The green light enables Gatsby’s lonesome desire to recreate the past. Because the light represents Daisy, each night Gatsby is plagued with the bright ongoing glow that reminds him of an all but forgotten love that has since left him with a vacuous soul. Not once has he felt truly happy absent of Daisy, so he clings to the green light which represents her and in turn the past. ...

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...ite this he still attempts to control and restore it. The awkward moment that follows states, “I think we all believed for a moment that it had smashed in pieces on the floor” (Fitzgerald 92) which also represents the fact that the past cannot be reconstructed because, though the clock did not break, the atmosphere suggested that it did. As the characters are surrounded by an ambiance of broken time, it is evident that the past cannot be restored once broken, making each person extremely uncomfortable.
Gatsby’s memories drove him into death, for he did not understand the importance of releasing and respecting history for what is it. Instead, he held onto the past through the green light, pink suit, and simple clock. Furthermore, he lingered in a place that only crippled his well being, indifferent to the impossibilities of restoring the past to its former rapture.

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