The Great Gatsby at 100: Chasing Shadows Across the Bay

April 10, 2025, marked the 100th anniversary of The Great Gatsby. I decided to read it again this year after first reading it years ago in school. I did not remember much beyond the broad strokes, but going through it now, a little older, the book hit me differently. It is a story about wanting something so badly you lose yourself, and about how the people with everything often leave the most damage behind. It is not a long novel, but it stays with you once you realize what Fitzgerald was actually doing.

A Hundred Years Later

When The Great Gatsby came out in 1925, it barely made a ripple. Fitzgerald thought it would make him a big name, but it sold poorly and slipped into the background. It took decades and a whole new America before people really saw what he wrote. Today, it is locked into American culture. Every kid reads it. Every generation seems to find something new in it.

Reading it this year, what stood out was not the parties or the flashy cars. It was how much loneliness is packed into the story. The wealth and noise are just a cover. The real story is people trying to hold onto something they cannot get back. Gatsby builds his entire life chasing a memory. Everyone else is too selfish to care about the wreckage they leave behind. In the end, it feels small and sad in a way that matters.

Dreaming in Green Light

At the center of The Great Gatsby is the idea of chasing something that is already gone. Gatsby is not after Daisy exactly. He is after a perfect version of his life that never really existed. He thinks if he works hard enough, if he makes enough money, if he throws enough big parties, he can force the past to come back. It never works that way.

You cannot help but respect Gatsby’s drive, even if you know he is setting himself up to lose. He does not quit. Even when everything is falling apart around him, he still believes. That makes him tragic, but it also makes him human. Most people would rather forget their failures and move on. Gatsby digs in and refuses to give up, even when he probably should.

Gatsby Today

Reading it in 2025, it feels familiar in a way that is not comfortable. People still chase status. People still try to buy happiness. People still want to rewrite their pasts by changing what they have now. The faces and technology change, but the instincts stay the same.

Gatsby’s downfall is not just about Daisy slipping away. It is about the whole world around him being built on lies, status, and self-preservation. Even Nick, the narrator, can only stand by and watch it all fall apart. Once Gatsby has nothing left to offer, everyone who used him disappears without a second thought. That part feels very real today.

Why Gatsby Endures

The Great Gatsby sticks around because it understands something basic about human nature. We all want to believe we can get back something we lost, or finally reach something that always felt just out of reach. The novel shows how hard people will fight for that dream, even when deep down they know it will not end the way they hope.

A hundred years later, Fitzgerald’s story is still sharp. It is not about fancy parties or old money. It is about the fight to believe in something when the world keeps trying to tell you it is already gone.