The Great Gatsby Complexities Of The American Dream

A story isn’t a story without a deeper meaning. This proves true with the book The Great Gatsby, a book set in the roaring 20’s where the American Dream was the only thing on everyone’s mind. Author F. Scott Fitzgerald dives into the downside of the American Dream and the problems it causes. Through imagery, flashbacks, and irony, F. Scott Fitzgerald writes of the complexities of the American Dream. Using imagery as an useful writing strategy, F. Scott Fitzgerald explains how achieving the American Dream doesn’t ensure a happy life. On page 141, in chapter seven, the author writes, “In a little while I heard a low husky sob, and saw that the tears were overflowing [Tom’s] face.” This line, written after Tom discovers that his mistress had been killed, shows the immense pain Tom feels. Tom’s stature is usually big and hulking and the passage, describing a crying sad man, illustrates that Tom has been deeply affected. This example shows just one of the many complexities of the American Dream. Tom Buchanan, rich and successful, felt pain as everyone else. No

Scott Fitzgerald creates a complexity of the American Dream. On page 150, Fitzgerald writes, “They had never been closer in their month of love, nor communicated more profoundly one with another, than when she brushed silent lips against his coat’s shoulder or when he touched the end of her fingers, as though she were asleep.” This flashback illustrates the great love Daisy and Gatsby shared as a young couple. Their love was pure and whole. They needed nothing but each other. Their feelings of pure affection did not relate to money or wealth or success. They achieved an once in a lifetime love not because of a pursuit for material things but rather through a want for each other. Money didn’t matter to Daisy and Gatsby. An American success would be considered to include financial success along with love and a family. Daisy and Gatsby had gained love but didn’t need money to be