Chasing After Wind in The Great Gatsby

Spiritual Reflection on Literature

October 30, 2024 

The story of Jay Gatsby is one that has been taught for decades in American high schools. Taught as the lesson of striving for the American Dream, one man’s journey to the pinnacle of success. He is presented as a character who seemingly has it all, and yet his inner life is plagued by the obsession with one thing he cannot have. As a Christian reader, and the daughter of a pastor, I am tempted to tie in elements of books that I read as if they are part of a sermon illustration. However, the story of The Great Gatsby is one that truly resonates with the message of Ecclesiastes, written by King Solomon in the days of ancient Israel.  

Ecclesiastes is a monologue from the king of Jerusalem. In it, he laments the fruitlessness of his own soul-searching and looking for meaning throughout the world. King Solomon was known as the wisest man in the world, inspiring many to come to him for advice and insight. He was also one of the richest men in the world, having an entire kingdom at his command and being the center of his country. He also was not lonely, having acquired many wives and concubines. He was successful by every human standard in the world, and yet he was moved to write this book about the futility and meaninglessness of success. In the first chapter of Ecclesiastes, verse 14, he says, “I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” This verse encapsulates the theme of Ecclesiastes, that there is nothing that a man can do that will bring purpose to his life apart from God.  

Fitzgerald uses a green light at the end of the Buchanans’ dock to represent the far away, just-out-of-reach dream that Gatsby searches for. While King Solomon searches for fulfillment in studying, pleasures, projects, and women, he never reaches satisfaction. Gatsby becomes known for his elaborate parties, his elusive persona, and his great wealth. He fills his life with parties and surrounds himself with people who chase after fun and excitement. The narration of the story from Nick’s perspective offers some commentary on Gatsby’s life. While spending the day in the company of this high-society circle, he notes, “I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life,” (Fitzgerald 35). The book offers little commentary from Gatsby’s perspective, but instead from Nick’s, who experiences this lifestyle for a brief period and then returns to normal, middle-class life by the end of the story. This quote mirrors the feelings expressed by Solomon when he says, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun,” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Solomon comes to this conclusion after a life spent full of distractions and riches, much like the life of the upper class in early 20th century New York. The Great Gatsby is often used to teach the phenomenon of the American Dream, but we can see that this human tendency goes back much farther than the institution of the United States. The human desire to search for meaning comes from a spiritual hunger for significance that can only be satisfied by one thing.  

By the end of the book, Nick has become disillusioned by the world that he has been swept into. He realizes that what he longed desperately to be a part of was meaningless after Gatsby’s death. Gatsby seemed to have everything under the sun but was deeply unhappy and was chasing after something that he could never have.  

Nick’s narration ends the book with this: 

And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, 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 ... 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 — to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther...And one fine morning —” 

The themes of searching for meaning follow through both The Great Gatsby and Ecclesiastes. Where the two stories diverge, however, are the endings. Solomon finds meaning in the Lord, remembering his Creator. Gatsby never reaches this satisfying conclusion, dying before he can reach what he so desires. The commentary from Nick mirrors the conclusions that Solomon comes to at the end of his life, a reflective look back on the striving after elusive things, chasing after wind.  

Works Cited: 

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. “The Great Gatsby”. Scribner, 1925, 2004 edition.  

The Holy Bible, New International Version. Bible Gateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes%201&version=NIV,