Introduction
After the World War II, the US became one of the most powerful nations in the world in par with the United Kingdom. The span of American power is not determined by its highly trained military units and rich wealth distribution; the American power primarily lies on the cultural aspects especially most writers, both foreign and native Americans discuss the premise of the American Dream, a philosophical ideology which became an integral part in forming the nation’s identity. As early as 1931, the famous American historian named James Truslow Adams envisioned an ideal land which follows the utopian ideals in which a society can live in harmony with all people having equal rights and without the division of social status. In his novel entitled The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald points out his views regarding on the American Dream. Based from his novel, the idea presented by the author about the American Dream is a bit corrupted and vague. The novel takes place in the early 1900’s; to be exact in the 1920’s during the Great Depression in America. The Great Depression was an event from American history characterized by poor employment, failing national economy and extreme poverty. Before the World War II, it was clear indeed that America was still suffering the ill effects of the first war, and the continuous immigration of other races to the New World had contributed to the lack of suitable employment for people. The issue of racism was still prevalent in the society and the social caste between the rich and the poor dominated the entire community.
Analysis of the Novel
Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby is an example of a novel which explores the hidden meaning of the American Dream. In fact, most of his novels’ themes are derived from the influences of society, most particularly the emerging American social classes by which the rich people holds more power and influence than people with lower social standing. It was ironic, that the idea of the American Dream is not achieved in real life and Fitzgerald, having led a hard life personally, used his experiences to elaborate that the theme of having American Dream is not as easy. Because of the circumstances of the society during that period, the idea of equality was not achieved. The idea behind the perceived American Dream is the fact that America is a land of new possibilities. In contrast to Europe (Old World), America have been considered as the New World because there were no nobilities in the society and this makes the power even more distributed amongst the members of the government. The influx of new cultures along with the huge entry of foreigners in the United States made the Americans more aware of the changes on their national identity. The American Dream was incorporated in popular culture as a means of getting rich in the New World. Because of this, many foreigners immediately flocked into the United States in hopes of achieving wealth and secured future; after all, America unlike the European mainland is a land born out of a dream, a land of possibilities and wealth. Hence, the term ‘go west’ does not really mean ‘to die’, but for the people who had lived in the aftermath of the Second World War, it meant new opportunity to get a better out of life. With the use of realism, Fitzgerald takes his readers an in-depth exploration during the Jazz Age in the United States. Nick Carraway, a Yale graduate and a war veteran; narrate the scene from a party through his keen observation.
“By seven o'clock the orchestra has arrived, no thin five-piece affair, but a whole pitful of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets and piccolos, and low and high drums. The last swimmers have come in from the beach now and are dressing up-stairs; the cars from New York are parked five deep in the drive, and already the halls and salons and verandas are gaudy with primary colors, and hair shorn in strange new ways, and shawls beyond the dreams of Castile. The bar is in full swing, and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside, until the air is alive with chatter and laughter, and casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot, and enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other's names” (Chapter 3, p. 2)
The excerpt above characterizes Fitzgerald’s keen observation on his surroundings. The scene portrays the part wherein Gatsby was introduced amongst the crowd of elites who reside on the East Egg County. However, it was also seen in that although Jay Gatsby was indeed a wealthy man in his prime, the elites still looked down upon him because his character was not yet clearly introduced. By that his origin, as well as the immense fortune he acquired was not elaborated through the conversation: “He’s just a man named Gatsby” (Chapter 3, p. 11). Furthermore, it was clear enough to see that by judging from that simple statement above, Nick’s female acquaintance who conversed with Jay Gatsby himself was not entirely convinced that the man graduated from Oxford and studied there; because of the statement, Nick was able to obtain a faint grasp regarding the mysterious personality of Jay Gatsby.
“Something in her tone reminded me of the other girl's "I think he killed a man," and had the effect of stimulating my curiosity. I would have accepted without question the information that Gatsby sprang from the swamps of Louisiana or from the lower East Side of New York. That was comprehensible. But young men didn't at least in my provincial inexperience I believed they didn't drift coolly out of nowhere and buy a palace on Long Island Sound” (Chapter 3, p. 11)
Nick Carraway is the extension of Fitzgerald in his own novel. The author’s sharp usage of descriptive yet powerful language allows readers to imagine the life of people who had lived during the Jazz Age. The line, “casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot, and enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other's names” shows the author’s contemptuous tone for the social elites who ruled the society since the colonial years. Fitzgerald ridicules the behavior of the women who were more interested in creating an acquaintance for the sake of social standing rather than knowing pursuing some interest in remembering and knowing the names of the others. In the story, there are two cities separated by the Valley of Ashes, the first is the East Egg, by which the true elites came from. These are the families who belong to the wealthy circles of the society ever since the creation of America, whilst the second is the West Egg, the city wherein the newly born rich people reside. Tom and Daisy Buchanan lived in the East Egg whilst Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby lived in the East Egg. Although he is a wealthy person, however, the society sees him as a total nobody because of his unknown origin (Fitzgerald 18). The author further expands the novel’s effectivity in communicating towards the readers by including some of his real-life experiences from the Jazz Age. Fitzgerald, who served as a military man was stationed in Montgomery, Alabama and eventually fell in love with Zelda Sayre, the daughter of a Supreme Court Justice who served in Alabama. He used this tidbit of personal information for the character of Jay Gatz (later known as Jay Gatsby), a Lieutenant who fell in love with Daisy, Nick’s distant cousin who eventually became the wife of Tom Buchanan, a resident of the East Egg. The idea of American Dream as portrayed in The Great Gatsby is a naïve philosophy that existed in such a corrupt society wherein the American class dominates the whole society (De Koster 22). The American class as it was presented in the society is a direct proof on why the idea of American Dream is totally regarded as a naïve one. The society at that time was divided by two groups of people, the old rich and the newly-born rich. Discriminations about certain groups of people who became rich in a suspicious way are a common matter. For this matter, Jay Gatsby is a new born rich and his love for Daisy made him strive to attain more wealth so that he could win her back from Tom Buchanan. Little does Gatsby knew that although he may have the riches to splurge for expensive parties to catch Daisy’s attention, he had no real friends, except for Nick Carraway who mostly looked on his properties and also on Jay Gatsby himself. This scene from the novel explains that the American Dream, which proposes equality amongst people in the society, cannot exist because of the corrupt practices made by the people in order to attain social security. For example, Gatsby’s idealism about the American Dream is represented by the relationship of Tom and Daisy Buchanan. Even though they belong to the true elites of the society, their marriage was an unhappy one. Fitzgerald pointed this out using the Nick Carraway, and he stated that:
“I couldn't forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy-they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (Fitzgerald, Chapter 9 p. 17).
The American Dream was only a utopian idealism believed by Gatsby and his romantic and naïve beliefs eventually led him into his own destruction for such beliefs cannot exist in the real world run by lies, wherein the matter equality among people is just a silly old joke. Once again, as stated by Nick, he generalizes Gatsby’s idealism.
“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter-to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther and one fine morning So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald, Chapter 9 p. 19).
As a whole, Fitzgerald’s injection of realism throughout his novel, the modern day readers were able to obtain valuable information about the society after the Second World War. For this reason, the realistic approach was delivered with great effectiveness by using simple words and phrases as well as incorporating the premise of the American Dream. Scholars of the Jazz Age literature presumes that although the epic of the American Dream was published later than The Great Gatsby, there was no mistake that Fitzgerald’s character was the same as Jay Gatsby, for both men idolized the rich people. Along with the radical changes that took place in the American society at that time, the materialistic idealism in contrast to the American Dream that Gatsby strongly believed, dominated the society. The American identity at that time is far more confused as it was beginning to absorb influences coming from other cultures brought by the foreigners who had come to America in search of a new life. The existing social division made people to criticize each other and to take advantage of everything that is present. Perhaps, what Fitzgerald was trying to tell the modern readers of his novel is the other truth behind materialism and romanticism. Materialism cannot grant true happiness, just like what happened to Tom and Daisy. Romanticism, on the other hand, can only grant personal desires and wishes of the heart although there can never be a guarantee that a person will be happy without money. It was like the balance between materialism and romanticism is destroyed and clearly the destruction of a person is inevitable. The national identity of America during those times is more focused on the materialistic concept of money. After the Great Depression and the Second World War, one cannot blame the people for envisioning wealth after suffering. The evidence of social classes became more evident as the continuous growth of ‘new money’ millionaires such as Jay Gatsby climb up the ladder to form a bond wherein he can be equal with the elites. However, Gatsby’s innocent beliefs about happiness are the main factor that led him to his death. Fitzgerald’s critique about the American society of the 1920’s attacks the materialistic concept of some people, particularly the newly-born millionaires like Gatsby, who believed that money can buy a person’s happiness. Idealism similar to Jay Gatsby is nothing more than a mere utopian idealism of a perfect world and aside from this, Fitzgerald also explained the other fruits of success; unhappiness and loneliness as represented by the marriage of Tom and Daisy. Furthermore, the novel is the magnus opus of Scott F. Fitzgerald; a written representation of what his life had been during the Jazz Age in America. Although the ending is quite tragic, The Great Gatsby is a finest work which explores the hidden depths of a society and the failure of the American Dream: “I see now that this has been a story of the West, after all—Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan and I, were all Westerners, and perhaps we possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly un-adaptable to Eastern life” (Chapter 9, p. 14).
Works cited
De Koster, Katie. Readings On The Great Gatsby. 1st ed. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1998. Print.
Fitzgerald, Scott. The Great Gatsby. 1st ed. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925. Web. 27 May. 2014.
