Descriptive Essay On The Great Gatsby

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Writers during the Modern Era, tended to make the concept of The American Dream the focal point of their work. The American Dream is the idea that brought many to America to start a new life in a strange, foreign land. This dream portrays America as a land of opportunity, wealth, and prosperity and consists of three components: all men are equal, man can trust and should help his fellow man, and the good, virtuous and hardworking are rewarded. One such author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, is infamous for his novel “The Great Gatsby,” which creates a depiction of the Jazz Age or Roaring Twenties and demeans the American Dream. Fitzgerald offsets the dream by isolating the haves from the have-nots, depicting man as dishonest and selfish, and hinting

Example #1: Man is depicted as negative due to the negative behavior of Tom & Daisy Buchanan. Tom, much like Daisy, only cares for himself. It can be inferred that he didn’t marry Daisy for love, but for possession of her beauty. Both characters view themselves as superior to others. After the death of Gatsby, neither Tom nor Daisy send their condolences or attended the funeral services. Similarly, Daisy herself is corrupted by greed, so much that she would knowingly live with the comfort of security and money rather than with the love of her life. Her belief is shown when she tells Gatsby “Rich girls don’t marry poor boys,” (127) in reply to his question about her denial to marry him. The ultimate act of carelessness by Daisy is seen through the violent death of Myrtle Wilson. The fact that she never thinks twice about the accident shows the low morals that she must possess. The two simply were “careless creatures that smashed up things, and retreated back to their wealth to let other people clean up their mess”