The Great Gatsby

1355 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The problematic of the american dream

The Great Gatsby is chalked full of metaphors and symbolism for America and what it stands for; however, one theme is addressed time and time again. One must be careful of how far they let themselves slip into the fantasies of their dreams, or they will never be able to resurface. In this statement is where the true point of the story lies. From the social status of the characters, to the setting of the story, and even as far as the colors used to paint the surroundings, you cannot read this book and miss the ultimate point F. Scott Fitzgerald was trying to make. People will go to great lengths to achieve the “American Dream” and inevitably will destroy themselves in the process.

Fitzgerald strategically uses the larger than life personalities of his characters to highlight the corruption that makes up most of the story. “The American dream is the driving force behind all the characters in the story” (C.J Dawson). A main theme is that the dream is not so reachable; not everyone can get everything their heart desires, regardless how hard they strive for it. Furthermore, to “emphasize the corruption of the American dream, all the characters are portrayed as liars of some sort” (Magill 206).

“Gatsby embodies the American dream in the best way possible he quite literally represents America, a land without a past, coming from humble beginnings; however, his whole life is a lie” (C.J Dawson). His name is made up; he lies about his education, and worst of all he lies to himself. That being said, Gatsby is perhaps the only one that puts genuine faith in the idea of the American dream. This results in his fatal flaw of not being able to separate reality from fantasy.

Daisy represents the object of Gatsby’s affection. Metaphorically s...

... middle of paper ...

...ction, changing her clothes from blue, to tan, then cream, but never fully reaching the stark white perfection that she longs for. changing her clothes from blue, to tan, then cream, but never fully reaching the stark white perfection that she longs for.

One only has to take a look at Fitzgerald’s life to realize that true he feels people recklessly pursue their dreams in a crazed, animalistic way. “[He] was indoctrinated early with a belief in the American dream. Later he would pursue it with a ferocity that would take a devastating toll upon his life” (Hickey 2651). He is even quoted saying, “America’s great promise is that something’s going to happen, but it never does” (F. Scott Fitzgerald quoted by Frank N. Magill 205). Fitzgerald saw how his dreams destroyed his life and “The Great Gatsby” could very well be a warning against other people doing the same.

Show More
Related

  • The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    377 Words  | 1 Pages

    In F. Scott Fitzgerald's, The Great Gatsby, the pursuit of the American dream in a corrupt period is a central theme. This theme exemplifies itself in the downfall of Gatsby. In a time of disillusionment the ideals of the American dream are lost. The classic American dream is one of materialism and when Gatsby incorporates Daisy, a human being, into the dream he is doomed to fail.

    Read More

  • Pursuing Emotional Stability in "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    1100 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, illustrates one man’s efforts to reestablish a romantic relationship with his old flame. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald portrays an overarching theme of the “American Dream”. A majority of the characters in the novel have achieved financial success and independence, but none ever truly achieve emotional content. The author wove his opinion of the American dream into the novel by displaying characters who always fall short of an ideal life. Fitzgerald makes it clear that he believes that the American dream is no more than an ideological concept.

    Read More

  • Character Analysis: The Great Gatsby

    733 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the book, ‘The Great Gatsby’, F. Scott Fitzgerald had a variety of different character but does not give his readers a formal hero. Ruther, Fitzgerald portrays Gatsby as a tragic hero. This reveals the parallel attempt of Gatsby’s lost dream to people’s notion of the American dream.

    Read More

  • Great Gatsby’s Commentary on the American Dream

    1268 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are times when reality falls short of expectations, and when individuals fail to live up to their ideals. This struggle can come in the form of one specific event, or an overall life philosophy. The quest to attain what we really want can be an all encompassing one, requiring all of our devotion and effort. It is especially painful to see others possess what we cannot have. For the characters in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby these problems are all too real. Gatsby works for a lifetime to gain back what he feels is rightfully his, while all the while facing the crushing realization that he may be too late. Fitzgerald uses this futile search to introduce the idea that the idealized America Gatsby fought for has been corrupted over time. Descriptions of a land of picket fences and middle class freedom is exchanged for one based on greed and lies, where characters with stop at nothing to attain what they desire. Fitzgerald provides a window into the American Dream, and shows that it has become one based on immorality and deception.

    Read More

  • The Death Of The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

    1392 Words  | 3 Pages

    F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is set in the 1920s when the Jazz Age was at its peak, and immigrants seeking fast fortune set their eyes to the United States to obtain the American Dream. Fitzgerald’s theme throughout the novel is the idea that the American Dream that many individuals set out to obtain a rags to riches story is a myth. Gatsby and George Wilson are portrayals of those who strive to gain wealth as fast as possible, and will do anything in their power to get what they want. As society framed the American dream as an optimistic form of pursuing your goals, Fitzgerald makes a stubble nod and racial hierarchies that were formed from this idea. Though they represent individuals striving for a better life, their goals and social status within the community are immensely different, and their deaths at the end of the novel symbolize the death and decline of the American dream.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby

    1799 Words  | 4 Pages

    In famous novels throughout literature, characters often face conflicts between not themselves and other characters, but with time itself. In John Green's novel Looking For Alaska, the main characters confront the idea of "imagining the future as a kind of nostalgia". In this way, the main character Miles Halter, after the death of his friend Alaska, dreams of a future where he and Alaska are somehow reunited. However, the Alaska of his dreams is not as she presently exists, because she is no longer living. She is not even the Alaska that once existed, she is only Miles's own fantasy based on girl that he loves who was a part of his past. In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby experiences the same type of longing for a return to his past in the future. In the pursuit of his dream, Gatsby faces reality as that which counterbalances his strong idealism as Nick Carraway observes it. In the novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby's failure to ultimately realize his dream is due to his belief in returning to his romantic past as an idealized conception of the future.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby American Dream Analysis

    760 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the most prominent motifs in the novel The Great Gatsby is the disillusionment of the American Dream. When the American Dream first surfaced in society, it was based on the ideas of freedom, excellence, and self-reliance. It challenged people to have dreams of spiritual greatness and strive to make them reality. However, over the years, these ideas have warped into purely materialistic values. Many people started to believe that a life of ease, with a fancy car and an extravagant house would bring them fulfillment. Gatsby represents the aspiring American who wishes for something beyond what he has. And yet, in the end, he failed to make his dream a reality due to the fact that he, like a majority of real Americans, misunderstood the true meaning of the American dream.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Idealism In The Great Gatsby

    671 Words  | 2 Pages

    The American dream is an “idea that believes all people have the possibility of prosperity and success.” This idea inspired people to fight for something or someone. This idea can be determined by love, wealth, power, success, etc. During the 1920’s, the idea of the American dream became corrupted and replaced with the idea of wealth and power. The main theme in this novel by Fitzgerald is the American dream. “The Great Gatsby is a corrupted version of what used to be a pure and honest ideal way to live”. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby is destroyed by his view of the American dream, corrupted and perilous, of being with Daisy and having it all.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Materialism In The Great Gatsby

    1315 Words  | 3 Pages

    The American Dream. This mentality of individualism, discovery, and the pursuit of happiness has always been and continues to be a staple of American culture. F. Scott Fitzgerald, in his novel The Great Gatsby, explores the disintegration of the American dreams in the 1920s in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess through characters, such as Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, Myrtle Wilson, and Daisy Buchanan, who are seeking the happiness they desire. However, in order to obtain such happiness, these characters fall into the trap of materialism and decayed moral values. By depicting characters’ emotional isolation as a means of coping with the empty pursuit of pleasure, Fitzgerald criticizes the superficial effect of the unattainable

    Read More

  • Free Great Gatsby Essays: Reflection of an Era

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the 1920's America was a country of great ambition, despair and disappointment. The novel The Great Gatsby is a reflection of this decade, it illustrates the burning passion one man has toward his "American Dream" and the different aspects of the dream. Fitzgerald's work is a reflection of America during his lifetime. The Great Gatsby shows the ambition of one man's reach for his "American Dream," the disappointment of losing this dream and the despair of his loss.

    Read More

  • Power In The Great Gatsby

    1761 Words  | 4 Pages

    F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is a classic novel about the yearning for love and money and how it affects the characters in the end within the story. This is a story of man by the name Jay Gatsby who desires the love of Daisy Buchanan and shows he will do everything in his power to get what he wants. The novel is told through the eyes of a young man named Nick Carraway, who not only is Jay Gatsby’s neighbor but an outsider watching the situation. Taking place in the 1920s, which is known as the Roaring Twenties, Fitzgerald focuses on the idea of achieving the American Dream and how power can lead to material success. Many of the characters in the novel fall for a different idea of an American Dream. Consumed by the ideas of material

    Read More

  • Significance Of The Green Light In The Great Gatsby

    1561 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, exemplifies numerous subjects; however the most vital one relates to the degradation of the American dream. The American dream is described as some person starting low on the money related or social level, and locking in towards flourishing and wealth and reputation. By having money, an auto, a noteworthy house, lovely pieces of clothing and a happy family symbolizes the American dream. This dream in like manner addresses that people, paying little respect to who he or she is, can wind up doubtlessly productive in life by his or her own work. The yearning to try what one needs can be master in case they lock adequately in. The dream is addressed by the considerations of a free man or woman, who endeavors

    Read More

  • Corruption of the American Dream in the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    1440 Words  | 3 Pages

    In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald employs the use of characters, themes, and symbolism to convey the idea of the American Dream and its corruption through the aspects of wealth, family, and status. In regards to wealth and success, Fitzgerald makes clear the growing corruption of the American Dream by using Gatsby himself as a symbol for the corrupted dream throughout the text. In addition, when portraying the family the characters in Great Gatsby are used to expose the corruption growing in the family system present in the novel. Finally, the American longing for status as a citizen is gravely overshot when Gatsby surrounds his life with walls of lies in order to fulfill his desires for an impure dream. F. Scot. Fitzgerald, through his use of symbols, characters, and theme, displays for the reader a tale that provides a commentary on the American dream and more importantly on its corruption.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Materialism Essay

    1725 Words  | 4 Pages

    F.Scott Fitzgerald’s novel,The Great Gatsby shows how the American Dream is full of materialism, and how materialism influence the lives of people making it hard for them to see the reality of an objective in the American Dream. It is a deep novel revealing the loss of hope and the loss of the American Dream in society on who pursued the American Dream and how the American Dream came about.

    Read More

  • The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

    659 Words  | 2 Pages

    The American dream is an ideal that has been present since the onset of American Literature. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's, The Great Gatsby, the American Dream is a critical theme throughout the novel. Fitzgerald, in an obvious way, makes a mockery of the American dream. From the novel, one can conclude that Fitzgerald believes in the idea that the American dream is a hoax, and one must be born into money in order to reap the benefits. Fitzgerald makes use of Gatsby’s dream of being with Daisy and his hunger for wealth and Daisy’s dream of having both financial security and love to portray the death of the American Dream.

    Read More

More about The Great Gatsby

Open Document