Great Gatby

“If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire” (George Monbiot). In his novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald describes the decay of the American Dream and the corrupt and materialistic tendencies of the American elite. The principal character, Nick, who also serves as narrator, is indecisive but attentive. He lives in West Egg on Long Island Sound, surrounded by immense prosperity and luxurious titles. Gatsby, Nick’s neighbor, is portrayed in an air of mystery and uncertainty, but it is learned that he is a man of around thirty years old who grew up from an impoverished childhood in North Dakota to become exceptionally wealthy. As a military officer in Louisville in 1917, Gatsby met and immediately fell in love with Daisy Buchanan for her aura of elegance and charisma. Throughout his novel, Fitzgerald focuses on Nick’s relationship with Daisy and Daisy’s friend Jordan Baker, and specifically on Gatsby’s unattainable goal of winning Daisy’s love through power and wealth. In the process, an atmosphere of superficiality, discontent and deceitfulness is created through the immoral actions of the primary characters. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby turns the American Dream into a nightmare by revealing issues of unrestrained materialism, moral emptiness, and social hypocrisy during the 1920’s.

In his novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrays the 1920’s as an era of mistrust and avarice by revealing the corruption of the American dream and epitomizing the decadent parties and obsession with material possession. Although Daisy did not wait for Gatsby and marries Tom Buchanan, from that moment on Gatsby dedicates himself to winning Daisy back through superfici...

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...orrosion of the American Dream. By revealing the unrestrained materialism and obsession with moral possessions, characterizing issues of moral emptiness, and underscoring the social hypocrisy rampant throughout, the idea that the American Dream is nothing more than an illusion is augmented. Particularly, Fitzgerald conveys the atmosphere of superficiality and greed characteristic of his novel by through Nick’s narration, satirizing the actions of his primary characters and focusing on Gatsby’s unattainable goal of winning Daisy’s love. In the process, a distinct correlation can be drawn between Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway. Fitzgerald conveys the idea that without his good morals, Nick is the mirror image of Gatsby. Had he not moved back to the Midwest, Nick could have turned into Gatsby, chasing the corrupt and careless Jordan just as Gatsby aimlessly chased Daisy.