Here is the last section of The Great Gatsby (179-180):
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
Nick Carraway
Fitzgerald ends his novel focused on the setting of his story because he wants to emphasize the importance of place in the novel. The setting of The Great Gatsby is the fictional town of West Egg on Long Island, New York. The town is a symbol of the American Dream, and it is also a place where people come to reinvent themselves. Gatsby himself is a product of the American Dream, and he comes to West Egg to create a new life for himself. However, he is ultimately unable to escape his past, and he is destroyed by the very thing that he sought to create.
The setting of The Great Gatsby is also a symbol of the past. The novel is set in the 1920s, and it is a time of great economic and social change. The Roaring Twenties were a time of great hope and optimism, but they were also a time of great excess and decadence. Gatsby himself is a product of the Roaring Twenties, and he embodies the excesses of the time. He is a wealthy man who throws lavish parties, but he is also a man who is deeply troubled.
In the end, The Great Gatsby is a novel about the American Dream and the past. It is a story about how the past can haunt us, and how it can prevent us from achieving our dreams. It is also a story about how the American Dream is often an illusion, and how it can lead to destruction.
Fitzgerald ends his novel focused on the setting of his story because he wants to emphasize the importance of place in the novel. The setting of The Great Gatsby is a symbol of the American Dream, the past, and the illusion of the American Dream.