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"...But I didn't call to him for he gave a sudden introduction to not be disturbed. He stretched out his arm toward the dark water, where a green light glowed." pg 20

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The green light is a symbol of the American Dream. It is something that gives everyone a sense of pride when they get it. For Gatsby, his American Dream is to live with Daisy. But, we know that this dream is impossible because she is already married to Tom. On top of that they have a child.

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"He took me down to the dock, Gatsby looked toward the Green Light and sighed with relief" pg 89

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The green light is a symbol of a ray of hope for Gatsby. It also represents longing and desire. It symbolizes hope because Gatsby looks at it at the end of his dock and hopes that one day Daisy will return to him. Therefore, the green light stands for all of Gatsby's wants and dreams.

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I'm writing this post under what appears a dark backlit canopy, with one large hole punched in it; the bright, full moon. It seems a fitting setting to reflect on the theme of hope that runs through Baz Luhrmann's screen adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's brilliant novel The Great Gatsby.

The story opens as Nick Carraway describes Jay Gatsby as 'the most hopeful man I've ever met.' This aspect of his character is referred to a number of times throughout the film and forms an important focal point for reflection on the person of Jay Gatsby. But the question that the film provokes is this: what kind of "hope" is Gatsby's? What does "hope" look like?

Nick's first sighting of Gatsby is at the end of his dock, looking out, searching, reaching, yearning for the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. This green light becomes the symbol of hope for Gatsby, the hope that one day Daisy and he will be reunited, no longer separated by the bay that lies between their two castles.

Things begin promisingly for Gatsby, but quickly his hopes begin to unravel. At the party, Daisy tells Nick that her and Gatsby have had a row about 'the future'. It transpires later in the film that Gatsby's great hope is that the future can be like the past, before Daisy was married to Tom. Nick advises Gatsby that 'you can't repeat the past', yet Gatsby is adamant that you can. It is at this point that I really began to see the naivety of Gatsby's hope. As a parting word to Nick he reaffirms his belief that you can repeat the past, but this only serves to underline the ultimate futility of his so-called hope.

Gatsby's hope is that in the same way he has been obsessing over Daisy for 5 years, she will reciprocate, and at once declare she never loved Tom and leave him for Gatsby. Yet in perhaps the most poignant moment of the film, Daisy tells Gatsby that it would be a lie if she said she had never loved her husband. Gatsby reassures himself and Nick that she just needs more time, but the truth for Jay Gatsby is that his hope lies smashed on the floor like the lamp he knocks over as he and Daisy leave the room.

The film closes tantalisingly with Gatsby waiting patiently for Daisy's call. But it never comes.

By the close I was left with a sense that Gatsby's hope is vain and naïve, demonstrated by Gatsby's endless, yet fruitless reaching for the distant, elusive green glimmer at the end of the bay: his "hope" is actually just a dream.

"...I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night. Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter-tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms further... And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

In Noah Gittell's review, he concludes, 'That very word, "hope," has been diminished of late, and our films reflect it... Perhaps ours is just not a hopeful time.'

I wonder if sometimes Christians appear to be a bit like Jay Gatsby, full of hope, but a hope that is really mere naive dreaming. Do Christians believe in the resurrection of Jesus like Gatsby believed in the green light?

'If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith... And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied ' (1 Corinthians 15:12-14,17-19).

If Jesus was never raised from the dead Christian hope is just like Jay Gatsby's: empty. And people should pity us because of that, as I found myself feeling pity towards Gatsby by the end of the film.

' But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep' (1 Corinthians 15:20).

Christian hope hinges on the resurrection of Jesus. Maybe you're sceptical, maybe you're convinced, perhaps you're just not sure - why not find out? This essay by Norman Anderson is a great place to start.

If it's true, it's the best hope there is.

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The Green Light of Hope in the Great Gatsby

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I'm writing this post under what appears a dark backlit canopy, with one large hole punched in it; the bright, full moon. It seems a fitting setting to reflect on the theme of hope that runs through Baz Luhrmann's screen adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's brilliant novel The Great Gatsby.