This paper is going to cover the analysis of the novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and how the American dream is threatened nowadays. This paper expresses the point of view that the novel “The Great Gatsby” presents the American dream in pessimistic way. The novel was written in year 1925, and it describes how magnificent and magnetic is the dream about wealth and power in the society. The status means everything, and each American would be incredibly happy to reach this dream, to get his high position and status in the society, to show everyone that he is the one, who managed to become a meaningful figure for many people. The respect and adoration are the true friends of this lucky man. However, everything has its logical ending, and who knows where the most powerful and wealthiest people will end.
Nick Carraway is the narrator, and he is Gatsby's neighbor. Nick moves from the Midwest to West Egg, Long Island, trying to find a fortune as a bond salesman. Nearby lives his cousin Daisy Buchanan, who is married to Tom Buchanan. Nick and Tom know each other because they studied at the same college. There he also meets a professional golfer Jordan Baker. The Buchanans and Jordan Baker live chartered lives, which totally differ from Nick’s lifestyle. One night, when Nick returns home, he sees a weird and solitary man standing on the shore and looking at the lonely green light on the other shore. This man stretches his arms towards this light. This is Gatsby.
Once Nick is invited to Gatsby’s party, however, this invitation seems to be weird because Gatsby never sends any invitations. People just come to Gatsby’s house to join the abandoned hilarity. Parties at Gatsby’s are always fashionable, rich and many people go to his parties in order to get to know the host. However, no one sees Gatsby, many legends and rumors are spread about the owner of the house. Some guests tend to think that Gatsby is hiding because he killed someone; others think that he has problems with the law. Nevertheless, it turns out that later on Gatsby and Nick become friends and spend time together.
As Gatsby tells his life story to Nick, he opens his soul in the narrative. He no longer wants to seem rich and posh, he tells a story of a simple guy with a strong desire to distance from his past self and enter the circles of rich and famous. His desire to become a new person is so strong, that he changes his name, to erase any trace of his past, learns to speak with a new accent and makes up a legend about his childhood and adolescence. Gatsby’s shallowness in regards to the personality is seen in this quote: “I wasn't actually in love, but I felt a sort of tender curiosity.”
Next, an important storyline is Gatsby’s relationship with Daisy. Starting from the beginning of the story, we can sense the romantic moods in it. Gatsby is always very kind to Daisy, he does his best to comfort her and make her happy. His excitement of meeting her is filled with pure joy and passion. In the first part of the book we can see Gatsby’s hesitancy and shyness, his strong sides are no longer visible when Daisy is around. However, in the second part of the book we can see how his attitude towards Daisy changes, he no longer perceives her as a human being with whom he is in love; we find out that all along Daisy was the only “trophy” he couldn’t have. He says: “I hope she'll be a fool -- that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” “Getting the girl” was the only part of Gatsby’s American Dream that he couldn’t fulfill. In the end we can see that Gatsby’s love to Daisy can be compared to a man’s desire to buy a new car: romance disappears.
The narrative ends with the hero’s death: sudden, unpredictable and in a way undeserved. It is very remarkable how Gatsby’s surroundings react to his death. Among hundreds of friends and fans, there are only three people at the Gatsby’s funeral. It is visible for the reader that the loud crowd was solely after the material side of the friendship: fun and money are the biggest aims of the society. Fitzgerald shows it in the saying about Gatsby’s surroundings: “Reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope.” This quote depicts the meaning of the hero’s death: “The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.” The same applies to the concept of the American Dream: some chase the miracle of fun, freedom, money and happiness while completely ignoring what’s inside. The reader can tell that for Gatsby’s surroundings his greatness manifested in ability to host parties and lead a posh lifestyle, not his character.
The story is set in the bygone times with the advent of the Great Depression, and it is very important in regards to the American Dream. The death of a hero symbolizes the end of the carefree, rich era, when it was possible to get rich quickly. In my opinion, the hero of Francis Scott Fitzgerald symbolizes not only the nouveau riche of the 20s, he in many ways symbolizes the America itself: the country that created its fame and fortune from scratch, eagerly seeking to catch up to the European culture. The green light in the novel portrays the “extraordinary gift of hope” which is apparent in the American society. Country, as its hero, is fighting for freedom and wealth, standing up to the right to be in a decent society. One of the metaphors that is seen in the story is how Gatsby – an American, who has achieved everything himself, from rags to riches, fills his library with lots of books, but does not understand that it is not enough to own a copy of a book, it is equally important to read it. This symbol emphasizes the moods in the American society at that time: praising the book cover and forgetting the essence.
The Great Gatsby is an investigation of the American Dream as it exists in a degenerate period, and it is an endeavor to discover that hid limit that partitions the truth from the illusions. To Fitzgerald, the long forecasted American dream had its satisfaction in the post World War I period known as "the Roaring Twenties." A term he provided for its curve devout cleric and prophet, Jay Gatsby, in his novel The Great Gatsby. The social themes of the Great Gatsby emphasize the gap among the Americans of that time, how those who managed to climb on top looked down on those who barely survived. Gatsby’s lush life was a grim to those, who couldn’t achieve such wealth. His parties can be called a joke for the same reason. It is apparent, that American Dream cannot survive in such corrupt society.
The threat to the American Dream has not appeared at some point in the history, not the corruption or inequality ruined the concept. The American Dream was dead long before people tried to incorporate it in their life. According to Fisher, no one who tried to live by the American Dream has found it in practice. It is flawed by its core, corruption and itself is unrealistic.
Works Cited
Callahan, John F. F. Scott Fitzgerald's Evolving American Dream: The" Pursuit of Happiness" in Gatsby, Tender Is the Night, and The Last Tycoon. 1996.
Cullen, Jim. The American dream: A short history of an idea that shaped a nation. 1962.
Fisher, Walter R. "Reaffirmation and subversion of the American dream." Quarterly Journal of Speech 59.2 (1973).
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925.
Johansson, Mary Ann. The Great Gatsby mini review. 26 August 2013. <http://www.flickfilosopher.com/2013/08/the-great-gatsby-mini-review.html>.
McAdams, Tony. "The Great Gatsby as a business ethics inquiry." Journal of Business Ethics (1993).
Ornstein, Robert. "Scott Fitzgerald's Fable of East and West." College English (1956).
Pearson, Roger L. "Gatsby: False Prophet of the American Dream." English Journal (1970).
