Edenic Myth in The Great Gatsb essays

Edenic Myth in The Great Gatsb essays Picture this: You are the director of a high budget feature film. You are in the process of filming a brilliant scene in which a man and a woman have just escaped from a near-death situation and have found themselves atop a mountain in the pouring rain, but alas, safe and out of harm's way. In the midst of all the insanity, they realize that their attraction for each other is love at its finest, and as they prepare for a beautiful, passionate, Hollywood-style kiss, the treacherous storm clouds above them dissipate into a clear, star-filled sky strategically designed to intensify this glorious moment. They embrace, and they kiss. It is a long, fabulous kiss. Or, so they thought. When the kiss is complete, they stare into each other's eyes, and from the sidelines we hear, "Cut!" "What was wrong with that?" demands the leading man. "That was perfect!" "Oh, no it wasn't." you reply. "There was nothing perfect about it. The rain stopped too early, the wind was blowing too hard, and the two of you just kissed like you've never met!" "So, what do you want to do?" snaps the leading lady. "You want to do it again?" "Yes, I do." You answer. "And again, and again, and again. Until we get it right. I want this scene to be perfect!" Wouldn't it be fantastic if we could do things repeatedly until we were delighted with the results? Wouldn't it be grand to stop at a certain point, evaluate what we have done thus far, decide what was not perfect, and subsequently perfect it? In reality, most of us are aware that this is simply not an option. Knowing that we cannot change what has already happened is perhaps a large reason why many of us feel regret as we get older. When reflecting on our lives, we tend to use phrases like, "If I could do it all over again, I would never..." or "If I knew then what I know now..." It is our own way of expressing the real truth: what's done is done. One of the main characters in F. Scott...