The Complex Themes Hidden in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Other characters, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, live in East Egg in a large Georgian Colonial mansion, as a symbol of their established wealth. The "Valley of the ashes" is used as a symbol for al, the dark and grim things in society. The main character in this story is Jay Gatsby. He is a mysterious man that throws parties yet instead of attending them, he watches his guests enjoy the fun. He is devoted to his dream of perfect romance.

The classic novel of a corrupt American dream– F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby – makes a bold statement of the era of disintegrating goals and low expectations of Americans commencing in the 1920s. F. Scott Fitzgerald was known to be one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century and many of his literary works have been recognized for their brilliance. This flawless novel being an essential basis for Fitzgerald’s fame and certainly one of my favorites, exemplifies that more worthwhile goals have gone out the window, and wealth truly doesn't buy happiness or in this case love. Fitzgerald definitely proves his point through Gatsby who plays the prime example of deteriorated morals. Displaying the useless merriment and unfathomable desire to possess money and fame; Gatsby hopelessly shows his fortune off due to his unrequited affection from Daisy Buchanan.

In his novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, conveyed his belief that wealth and materialism corrupted the American Dream. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald shows his disapproval of the times by portraying characters attempting to achieve their American Dream by any means possible. Myrtle Wilson, a low class inhabitant of the valley of ashes, puts her morals to the side when pursuing the wealthy life. Not even marriage stops Myrtle from having an affair with Tom Buchanan-- a rich man who enables her to finally buy the life she thinks she deserves. Not only does Myrtle cheat on her own husband, but she has an affair with someone who caught her eye with "a dress suit and patent leather shoes and [she] couldn't keep [her] eyes off him" (Fitzgerald 40).

Jay Gatsby is one character that longs for the past. He devotes most of his adult like trying to recapture it and dies in its search. In Jay's past, he had a love affair with a wealthy woman named, Daisy. Knowing he could not marry her because of the difference in their social position, he leaves her to make his wealth to equal her status. Fitzgerald shows Gatsby using a corrupt form of the American dream to acquire the wealth he thinks he needs to win Daisy.

He’s do anything, at any cost. Daisy was the only thing that mattered to him. Majority of Jay Gatsby’s adult life has been dedicated to fulfilling one of the most outlandish dreams- reliving the past. With patience, determination, secrecy and wealth Jay Gatsby was successful in winning Daisy heart, though it ended in tragedy for him. Gatsby patiently waited five years to be Daisy again.

Living the American dream was a goal that most families were attempting to reach. Living the dream included simple things such as being true to your spouse, raising your family with love and earning an honest living. At points, this goal may have seemed out of reach and this is where the lies came in. The blatant disregard for honesty, eventually leading to destruction, can be seen in both literary works, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gasby. Both novels touch upon similar themes regarding the instability and ignorance of the two main characters, Willy Loman and Jay Gatsby.

Dreams, expectations, desires have also a dark flipside of disappointment and loneliness. Gatsby in The Great Gatsby and Paul in Six Degrees of Separation experienced both the good and the dark side of entering the upper class. Gatsby transformed himself from poor to someone who’s great, who lives in a mansion and throws the biggest parties of all Long Island. Similarly, Paul is a self-made man just like Gatsby, who transformed himself into a new identity to enter the world of the rich where he never belonged. With different motivations behind their goals, they both created fake identities where no one knew their real selves; ultimately they got lost in their lies.

A great lecturer once said, ³Man is so caught up in his own recklessness that he does not notice the values of life.² The theme proclaimed in the quote reflects literature in the abundance that it is used in throughout the history of writing. Author F. Scott Fitzgerald, spokesman of the Jazz Age, illustrates the shallow emptiness, careless recklessness, and materialistic concerns of the rich in his novel The Great Gatsby. First and foremost of all are the issues of the materialistic concerns of the rich. Jay Gatsby, a young rich bachelor, had so many personnel possessions because he wanted Daisy, the first love of his life, so much that she was the equivalent of ³Winter Dreams² to him. Gatsby¹s silk shirts being tossed over his head out of his dresser is a good example of how his money means nothing to him and how he would give it all away to have Daisy.

One reason that Gatsby's dream is never accomplished is because his wealth takes over his integrity. His high social status causes Gatsby to focus on immediate indulgences, rather than long-term pleasures of life, such as his dream. Gatsby not only throws parties for Daisy, but he feeds off th... ... middle of paper ... ...re of the American Dream in that wealth takes over his life. He loses sight of everything that is important to him and ends up living a meaningless existence. Today, Americans get so wrapped up in the immediate glory of things that they don't take time to see what is really happening and what or who they deeply, honestly care about.

The novel is set in 20th century New York featuring a man named Jay Gatsby, born James “Jimmy” Gatz, who was born into poverty but always aspired for more. At the start of the novel he is a wealthy businessman who is deeply in love with a woman from his past. Throughout the book he pursues this woman, Daisy Buchanan, slowly becoming less sexist. However Daisy is married to a rampant sexist, Tom Buchanan. As Gatsby becomes less sexist, Nick Caraway, the narrator, begins to understand how it is corrupting the American Dream in terms of gender equality, but still continues to express sexist views.