The Lessons of The Great Gatsby

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“The Great Gatsby” is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the 1920’s. The novel is narrated by a young man named Nick Carraway, who moves to West Egg, New York to learn more about the bond business so he can eventually sell bonds. He moves into an average house in between two huge mansions, so in comparison his average house looks like a small, run down shack. One of the owners of those mansions, and Carraway’s new neighbor, is Jay Gatsby. Gatsby has huge extravagant parties every night and one day invites Carraway personally, which he never does. Gatsby is never seen at his own parties and no one really knows who he is though there are many rumors about whether he even exists or not and about what type of person he is. But he makes himself known to Carraway and Jordan Baker, a new friend of Nick’s, because they both have relations to Daisy. Daisy is Nick’s cousin and Jordan’s best friend, and Gatsby has been in love with her for years. The duration of the story shows Gatsby’s background history and his struggle from rags to riches to achieve the ultimate version of The American Dream, and his pursuit in getting Daisy, a married woman, to fall back in love with him. Each character in this novel achieves their American Dream in a different, yet similar way. They all wish to have money if they don’t already. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald highlights the concept of extreme happenings without consequence; this thematic structure of the text parallels the concept of The American Dream in current popular culture and for this reason the text is a classic.

Much like Gatsby, the author of this novel wanted nothing more to achieve The American Dream as well. Fitzgerald takes things from his life to add into his s...

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...ertains students while showing them that no matter how invincible you think you are, you cannot get away with everything.

Works Cited

Callahan, John F. "F. Scott Fitzgerald's Evolving American Dream: The `Pursuit of Happiness' in Gatsby." Ebsco Host. N.p., n.d. Web. 10th Feb. 2014

F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great American Dreamer. Prod. History Television Network Productions. A&E, 1997. Videocassette

Fitzgerald, F.Scott. The Great Gatsby. N.p.: Everbind, n.d. Print.

Hauhart, Robert C., and Jeff Birkenstein. ""Globals" and the American Dream: A Survey of

Student Aspirations in an American Studies Course." Ebsco Host. N.p., n.d. Web. 10th

Feb.2014.

Hearne, Kimberly. "Fitzgerald's Rendering of a Dream." Ebsco Host. N.p., n.d. Web.

The Roaring Twenties." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 10th Feb. 2014.

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