Idealism In The Great Gatsby

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The following three chapters of this thesis discuss the writings of Francis Scott Fitzgerald and his concentration on dreams and wealth. By detailing his significant short stories, namely “Winter Dreams”, “The Rich Boy” and “Babylon Revisited” the thesis will provide interpretations which focus on how money can affect dreams and idealism.
The thesis of this paper is that money, in most cases does not bring what one has anticipated.
Fitzgerald himself was always concerned about wealth and fitting in with wealthier people, at the same time, he was always a dreamer. Readers can find Fitzgerald in his own writings, perhaps more than they can find other writers in theirs.

Fitzgerald’s attitude towards materialism and dreams
Malcolm Cowley in his …show more content…

Although he lived his life in a more extravagant way than others, during his carrier as a writer he learnt that people started to recognize themselves in his stories. His dreams were similar to those of living an ordinary life: he dreamt about becoming a football star, the smartest college student, to be the greatest warrior on the battlefield and finally to become rich and get the top girl, the typical American dream. Cowley suggested that even though Fitzgerald was similar to these people, there is one thing that made him stand out:”It was the emotion he put into his dreams, and the honesty with which he expressed that emotion, that made them seem distinguished” (Cowley 24, 1973). Fitzgerald could make his readers appreciate and believe in the value of the time in which they lived in (Cowley 24, 1973). “The main ingredient of that culture might be defined as naïve but not deterministic belief in the limitless material promises of American life” (Stavola 11). The goal of the era was to make money and make it fast, all the while live a glamorous, pleasurable life. Fitzgerald was an advocate of this life style and like he was, his characters were also preoccupied with money, the idea of becoming wealthy or associated themselves with and enjoyed the presence of affluent people.“Yet money was only a convenient and inadequate symbol for …show more content…

He also had some weaker stories, however, as Dorothy Parker has commented, Fitzgerald could write a bad story, but he could not write badly. As expert, Bryant Magnum noted in his essay, each of his writings has that recognizable Fitzgerald-touch that he just called "the something extra" that other popular short stories lacked (Magnum 1370). Matthew Bruccoli notes in his collection, titled “The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald: A New Collection”, that Fitzgerald recognized that he could use the popular magazines, namely the Saturday Evening Post, as a workshop for his novels, furthermore it allowed him to experiment with themes and techniques while creating short stories, which later would contribute as basis to his novels. For instance, critics have found that “Winter Dreams” and “The Swimmers” led to the making of The Great Gatsby (Bruccoli

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