Discussion of thematic elements/plot ideas having to do with The Great Gatsby.What thematic element/plot idea of The Great Gatsby does this refer...

I would say that the quote featured links very strongly to
Fitzgerald's discussion of the American Dream.  The manner in which he displays and
shows Gatsby's unrelenting belief in his accomplishment of the American Dream, there is
almost a belief that if Gatsby does not embody all aspects of his dream, there is a
sense of failure attached to it.  His idealism and faith in his own presentation of the
American Dream almost prevents him from embracing his own limitations within it.  It is
this idealism that prevents him from understanding that he might be used as a means to
an ends by the Toms and Daisys as well as the Jordans of the world.  In the quotation,
Gatsby would not accept the idea of "being crushed" as it goes against his notion that
human freedom in America is limitless, just as the dreams it facilitates.  There is a
sense of despair in the quote that Gatsby, at his height of belief, would never be able
to fully accept.  It is something that Nick comes to understand though in the course of
the narrative.