What is Gatsby's attitude toward the forward march of time? A. He defends it argues with Nik, who thinks that times progression can be reversed. B. He excepted it, recognizing that what has happened can never be undone. C. He celebrated it, understanding that time is what has allowed him to reinvent himself. D. He rejects it, fully believing that it is possible to re-capture the past.

Gatsby's attitude toward the forward march of time is that he rejects it, fully believing that it is possible to re-capture the past.

So, the right option is Option D.

Explanation:

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby," Gatsby is under the wrong impression that he can manipulate time. This is clear when Nick who thinks that times progression can be reversed tries to make him understand but he rejects it as he believes in the scenario that existed between him and Daisy five years before when he had left for war.

Jay Gatz always dreamt of reuniting with Daisy Fay of Louisville, Kentucky. That's the reason why he wove a lie of being a wealthy person. He purchased a mansion in West Egg to gaze at the green light at the end of Daisy Buchanan's pier. He throws lavish parties hoping that Daisy Buchanan would show up.

After five years he gets the opportunity to meet his former girlfriend through Nick Carraway at his cottage but nervousness takes him over. He accidentally knocks a clock off the mantle, catches it "with trembling fingers" and replaces it. He puts in all his effort to get Daisy back but all the portrayal of wealth doesn't erase Jay Gatsby's fear of time and the thought of not being able to recapture the past. His fruitless actions to regain what young Daisy once was for him comes to a crashing end like that of all tragic heroes.