The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald
Thesis: The pursuit of the American Dream is a dominant theme throughout The Great Gatsby, which is carried out in various ways by F. Scott Fitzgerald, how the author represents this theme through his characters and their actions is one small aspect of it.
Fitzgerald's dominant theme in The Great Gatsby focuses on the corruption of the American Dream. By analyzing high society during the 1920s through the eyes of narrator Nick Carraway, the author reveals that the American Dream has transformed from a pure ideal of security into a convoluted scheme of materialistic power. In support of this message, Fitzgerald highlights the original aspects as well as the new aspects of the American Dream in his tragic story to illustrate that a once impervious dream is now lost forever to the American people.
The foundation qualities of the American Dream depicted in The Great Gatsby are perseverance and hope. The most glorified of these characteristics is that of success against is that of success against all odds. The ethic of hard work can be found in the life of young James Gatz, whose focus on becoming a great a man is carefully documented in his ?Hopalong Cassidy? journal. When Mr. Gatz shows the tattered book to Nick, he declares, ? Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always has some resolves like this or something. Do you notice what he?s got about improving his mind? He was always great for that? (Fitzgerald, pg 182). The journal portrays the continual struggle for self-improvement, which has defined the image of America as a land of opportunity. ?By comparing the young James Gatz to the young Benjamin Franklin, Fitzgerald proves that the American Dream is indeed able to survive in the face of modern society.?(Website)
A society naturally breaks up in into various social groups over time. Members of lower statuses constantly suppose that their problems will be resolved if they gain enough wealth to reach the upper class. Many interpret the American dream as being this passage to high social status and once reaching that point, not having to concern about money at all. Though, the American Dream involves more than the social and economic standings of an individual. ?The dream involves attaining a balance between the spiritual strength and the physical strength of an individual.?(Lehan, pg.53) Jay Gatsby fails to reach...
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Through the unfolding events of a doomed romance, Fitzgerald simultaneously unfolds the tragic fate of American values. Gatsby possesses an extreme imbalance between the material and spiritual sides of himself. His ultimate goal of love swaps places with his secondary goal of becoming rich. He portrays the ultimate failure of the American Dream in that individuals tend to believe wealth is everything. Historically, America was the new world of endless opportunity and wealth. But a nation cannot operate solely on materialism. The spirits of individuals are the true composition of a nation.
Gatsby and the other characters of his story act as vessels for the author?s true message- the American Dream, once a pure and mighty ideal has been buried and is pressed into the ground by the inhuman void of money. Nick Caraway conveys this message as an outsider, an honest man who is witnessing the entire ordeal as an observer. The Great Gatsby is not the tribute of a name named Jay Gatsby; rather, it is the tribute of an institution which once was, but is now gone and can never be.
Works Cited:
Fitzgerald, Scott F. The Great Gatsby. Simon and Schuster, New York. 1925.
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.
The character of Gatsby and Fitzgerald’s commentary on the logical fallacies of the American Dream are closely intertwined, which is why Fitzgerald goes to such great lengths to separate the two. By distinguishing Gatsby from the flaws he possesses allows the reader to care for Gatsby, and the impact of his death all the more powerful when it finally occurs. By making Gatsby a victim of the American Dream rather than just the embodiment of it, Fitzgerald is able to convince his audience of the iniquity of the American Dream by making them mourn the life of the poor son-of-a-bitch
The philosophy of the American Dream has been with Americans for centurie; James Truslow Adams says that, regardless of social class, "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement” (Adams). Although this vision has never fully encompassed the entirety of America, it has been generally a positive ambition that all Americans should look past their circumstances and rely on only themselves to succeed at life. However, American capitalism and Marxist ideas have contradicted the traditional dream. Materialism is a simple concept, but its definition has been skewed over time. At ...
The thesis of Kimberley Hearne’s essay “Fitzgerald’s Rendering of a Dream” is at the end of the first paragraph and reads “It is through the language itself, and the recurrent romantic imagery, that Fitzgerald offers up his critique and presents the dream for what it truly is: a mirage that entices us to keep moving forward even as we are ceaselessly borne back into the past (Fitzgerald 189).” Hearne’s essay provides information on the misconception of The American Dream that Fitzgerald conveys through “The Great Gatsby”. She provides countless evidence that expresses Fitzgerald’s view of The American Dream, and explains that Fitzgerald’s writing of the novel is to express to Americans what The American Dream truly is.
Scott Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He attended Princeton University, but flunked out and joined the US army. While in the army, he met the love of his life Zelda. Zelda refused to commit to him without him having a steady job. After being discharged, he moved to New York City to pursue a career of advertising. After only a few months, he returned to St. Paul to continue his writing career. His first novel's success made him famous and let him marry the woman he loved. His recently found fame gave him a bad reputation that made some people see him as less than a serious literary genius. The Fitzgeralds enjoyed fame and fortune, and the characters in The Great Gatsby closely resemble these characteristics. In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is very wealthy and successful, which is what Fitzgerald strived for his entire life. The life Fitzgerald led and the life he wished to lead is reflected in the extravagant life of Jay Gatsby. Gatsby and Fitzgerald were also similar in their devotion to their lovers. Although Zelda spent her final years in an asylum, Fitzgerald continued to be loyal to her. Gatsby spent his entire trying to win back the love of his life, even when things seemed hopeless.
The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, perfectly symbolizes many emerging trends of the 1920’s. More importantly, the character of Jay Gatsby is depicted as a man amongst his American dreams and the trials he faces in the pursuit of its complete achievement. His drive to acquire the girl of his dreams, Daisy Buchanan, through gaining status and wealth shows many aspects of the author's view on the American dream. Through this, one can hope to disassemble the complex picture that is Fitzgerald’s view of this through the novel. Fitzgerald believes, through his experiences during the 1920’s, that only fractions of the American Dream are attainable, and he demonstrates this through three distinct images in The Great Gastby.
Through the use of symbolism and critique, F. Scott Fitzgerald is able to elucidate the lifestyles and dreams of variously natured people of the 1920s in his novel, The Great Gatsby. He uses specific characters to signify diverse groups of people, each with their own version of the “American Dream.” Mostly all of the poor dream of transforming from “rags to riches”, while some members of the upper class use other people as their motivators. In any case, no matter how obsessed someone may be about their “American Dream”, Fitzgerald reasons that they are all implausible to attain.
In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald gives the reader a glimpse into the life of the high class during the 1920’s through the eyes of a man named Nick Carraway. Through the narrator's dealings with high society, Fitzgerald demonstrates how modern values have transformed the American dream's ideas into a scheme for materialistic power and he reveals how the world of high society lacks any sense of morals or consequence. In order to support his message, Fitzgerald presents the original aspects of the American dream along with its modern face to show that the wanted dream is now lost forever to the American people. Jay Gatsby had a dream and did everything he could to achieve it, however in the end he failed to. This reveals that the American dream is not always a reality that can be obtained.
The American dream has an inspiring connotation, often associated with the pursuit of happiness, to compel the average citizen to prosper. In Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby’s infatuation for Daisy drives him towards wealth in order to respark his love. Due to Daisy’s rich background, the traditional idea of love became skewed because of the materialistic mindsets of people in the 1920s. In the novel, the wealthy are further stratified into two social classes, creating a barrier between the elite and the “dreamers”. Throughout the novel, the idea of the American dream as a fresh start fails.
The main qualities of the American Dream presented in The Great Gatsby are perseverance and hope. Another famous characteristic of the American dream is the idea of success against all odds. This is shown through the life of Jay Gatsby or Jay Gatz, who focused all his attention to living the dream and becoming an American hero. Ever since he was young, Gatz worked hard on becoming a great man. This is documented in his copy of the adventures of Hopalong Cassidy, who was another romantic American figure. While showing this journal to Nick, Mr. Gatz professed, "Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves like this or something. Do you notice what he's got about improving his mind? He was always great for that" (Pg. 173). James Gatz connection to the American dream is further illustrated by the fact that his program for self-improvement is right out of Ben Franklin's Autobiography, right down to the smallest details. The content of the schedule and what ...
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.
In conclusion, The Great Gatsby reveals the carelessness and shallowness of the characters in the upper class. Society is totally corrupted and the character’s lives revolve around the money and extravagant lifestyles. All of the characters are surrounded with expensive and unnecessary itms, which in turn, dulls their dream of actual success. Scott F. Fitzgerald provides a powerful and everlasting message of a corrupt, materialistic society and the effects that it has on the idea of the American dream.
Since the early colonization of America, the American dream has been the ultimate symbol for success. In retrospect, the dreamer desires to become wealthy, while also attaining love and high class. Though the dream has had different meanings in time, it is still based on individual freedom, and a desire for greatness. During the 19th century, the typical goal was to settle in the West and raise a family. However, the dream progressively transformed into greediness and materialism during the early 20th century. The indication of success soon became focused on wealth and luxury. The Great Gatsby is a story focused on the deterioration of the American dream. Throughout the novel, Jay Gatsby is shown with a desire to achieve his dream by all means. Utilizing the Roaring Twenties as part of his satire, Fitzgerald criticizes the values of the American dream, and the effects of materialism on one’s dream.
Through Fitzgerald's use of symbolism, expectations, and relationships, he explores the American dream, and how it is an illusion that corrupts and destroys lives. Through Fitzgerald’s symbolic description of Gatsby, he explores the extent of the American Dream’s deceptive nature that slowly destroys a person and his/her morals. During the Roaring 20s it was very common for people to project illusions to mask who they truly were; to fit in, it was almost essential to have one to survive in the highly materialistic and deceitful society. Nick is introduced as the objective narrator of the novel.... ...
In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald explores the idea of the American Dream as well as the portrayal of social classes. Fitzgerald carefully sets up his novel into distinct social groups but, in the end, each group has its own problems to contend with, leaving a powerful reminder of what a precarious place the world really is. By creating two distinct social classes ‘old money’ and ‘new money’, Fitzgerald sends strong messages about the underlying elitism and moral corruption of society. The idea of the American dream is the idea that opportunity is available to any American, allowing their highest aspirations and goals to be achieved. In the case of The Great Gatsby it centres on the attainment of wealth and status to reach certain positions in life, which Fitzgerald’s protagonist sets out to achieve even if it means moral corruption.