"What a Grotesque Thing a Rose is"

I found the second full paragraph on page 169 to be very interesting. I really like the analogy of a rose to a single dream. A rose is a pretty flower to look at, but if you hold on to it too tightly you’re obviously going to get pricked by the thorns. I thought that the sunlight upon the grass was like to reality, so Gatsby was realizing that his dream was no longer possible. Similarly, dreams are good to have; they give you a goal and motivate you to get through difficult situations. But if you get so absorbed in a single “either/or” dream that you are completely unaware of reality, you have a problem. You’ll start to make rash decisions that you can’t undo, and when you finally understand that your dream is impossible, you’ll be greatly let down. Gatsby did just this. His only desire was to win back Daisy’s affection, which was a dream that had only two possible outcomes: either he’d succeed and get her, or fail and lose her; there was no middle ground. He lost, and only then did he realize “What a grotesque thing a rose is.” That’s why I feel that dreams are necessary, but to a certain extent need to be practical. In my opinion, you have to set goals that you can pursue knowing that in the end you can say to yourself, “Hey, I may not have gotten to exactly where I wanted to be, but I’m better off now than I was when I started.” I feel that if you cling to an “either/or” dream, you will only be setting yourself up for failure and disappointment.