F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

In this quote, Fitzgerald shows a shallowness of an American marriage. Survival is a theme of marriage for Daisy, survival in the most luxury possible. As we can clearly see, socio-economic status and class conflict both affect each character in the story in a different way, but ultimately lead to the same place. Class conflict is a major theme from the beginning of the story. “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had” (1).

Two respected works of modern American literature, The Great Gatsby and Death of a Salesman, give us insight into how the individual interpretation and pursuit of the "American Dream" can produce tragic results. Jay Gatsby, from F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, built his "American Dream" upon the belief that wealth would win him acceptance. In pursuit of his dream, Gatsby spent his life trying to gain wealth and the refinement he assumes it entails. Jay Gatsby, lacking true refinement, reflects the adolescent image of the wealthy, and "[springs] from his Platonic conception of himself" (Fitzgerald 104). Gatsby is a watered down version of a member of the true social elite.

Gatsby tells Nick he inherited a tremendous amount of money from his wealthy family and decided to settle in Long Island. Via Jordan, Nick learns that his cousin Daisy had a romantic encounter with Gatsby back in 1917, but Daisy then rejected Gatsby because he was deployed and she got tired of waiting, and also because he was poor. Her parents then insisted on Daisy marrying Tom, who she also falls in love with, eventhough her love for Gatsby never faded. Daisy has no clue Gatsby is Nick’s next do... ... middle of paper ... ...ople became interested in spending money in materialistic items, started paying interest in fashion, parties and dances everywhere and the American Dream arose. It was the era of prosperity, growth of cities, automobiles, a backfiring alcohol ban, extravagance and opportunities.

Gatsby thought that having wealth meant he had a chance at getting his old love, Daisy, back. The characters in The Great Gatsby became the vessel for Fitzgerald to illustrate his ideas about society and the American dream. All characters had a delusional mindset where they thought that having wealth and power was all they nee... ... middle of paper ... ...be who they want to be. Tom is completely different around Myrtle and Daisy. He knows he can be more dominant around Myrtle since she is poor.

"New" rich is a term used to describe people who have recently acquired their wealth, and have no connections in East Egg, where the people who have established their wealth live. Gatsby befriends Nick for a good reason, to meet his long lost love, Daisy, Nick’s cousin and resident of East Egg. Unfortunately for Gatsby, Daisy is married to Tom, a boisterous man who has taken in a mistress and everyone in the novel knows about it. Throughout the novel, Nick acts as Gatsby’s confidant. A confidant is a person present when a hero needs someone to listen to his plight.

The wealthy men controls the society while the poor works diligently in order to survive and reach their dreams. The ‘rags to riches’ stories like Ben Franklin’s testimony explained in The American dream by Luella Putnam gives hope to the young workers that one day they will become living a life of luxury and happiness. The three distinctive classes that are pointed out in the novel are the ‘new money’, ‘old money’, and the ‘no money’. Gatsby falls under the category of ‘new money’. “Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn” (Fitzgerald ch.1).

The American Dream was originally about discovery, individualism, and the pursuit of happiness but has transformed into a materialistic vision of wealth, power, and expensive things and the means of obtaining it all. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby as a way to represent the demise of the conservative ideologies and the rise of consumerism during the Roaring Twenties. Due to the aftermath of World War I, America experienced a period of financial growth. These were prosperous times. Jay Gatsby was a poor boy of obscure origins who rose to great wealth and prestige.

I am looking at the importance of class as this is the reason for the differences in the characters. Talk about Gatsby, Tom Buchanan and George Wilson. James Gatz, otherwise known as Gatsby, is depicted as someone who is very rich as he has purchased a gaudy mansion in the West Egg and he throws lavish weekly parties. He is like the hero of the novel; however, he is one of the many bootleggers in the 20s who rose to fortune because of the crime that they committed in the past and becoming millionaires overnight. He struggles to forge a new identity out of the material riches he has accumulated.

Gatsby never wins the affections of Daisy, and so his attempts were in va... ... middle of paper ... ...n what their ideology was. The values of the past such as the American dream are changing. If a person works hard they become materialistic. While consumerism is having an impact on the wealthy within story, this shows a contrast with the poor, when Tom and Nick drive in a fancy car to New York they pass through the Valley of Ashes. Here they pass a sign, which is evidence of the advertising that goes along with consumerism.

This is the opposite idea of the American Dream, which states that only the good, virtuous and hard working are rewarded. Gatsby also lies his way through life to conceal his wrongdoing. Gatsby claims that he belongs to a rich family whom provides his way to Oxford and from whom he inherits his riches. “’I am the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West-all dead now.’” (Fitzgerald 65). Only later on in the novel, does Nick uncover the truth that “his parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people...” (Fitzgerald 99).