The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a novel about one man’s obsession and failure to attain the American dream. Throughout the story, we watch as the character, Jay Gatsby, a man who aspired to achieve wealth and a position among America’s richest to win the heart of his true love Daisy Fay, fail. The story paints a picture of American society during the 1920’s. The 1920’s were a time of parties, drinking and having fun. Many longed to be rich and to become a member of the upper class. Although this was the dream for many Americans of this time, it seemed almost impossible to become a part of this social elite unless one was born into it. Fitzgerald criticizes the American Dream by creating characters from new money, old money and the working class, who all fail in gaining life, freedom and happiness. The main theme of The Great Gatsby is the death and fall of the American Dream. By analyzing high society during the 1920s through the eyes of Nick Carraway, Fitzgerald argues that the American dream no longer means a noble pursuit, instead it has become largely materialistic and corrupt. This is shown through Gatsby’s involvement in bootlegging and underworld connections to make money. His extravagant parties, huge mansion and expensive clothes all represent his corruption.
Fitzgerald creates the tumultuous twenties by showing the division of classes. He
Ackley2 does this by showing where the new money lives and where the old money lives. West Egg is home to new money, those who have acquired their wealth recently and lack an
established social position. East Egg is home to old money, those who possess wealth that has been inherited through several generations. Fitzgerald talks about how people from the more wealthy side of town, East Egg, have more rights and are treated with more respect than those from West Egg. The main character Jay Gatsby lives in West Egg implying that he has not been able to complete his transformation into a member of the social elite. He tries to fulfill his American Dream by trying to fit in with socialites. Gatsby’s pursuit of the American Dream is in vain because he tries to buy his way into a society that will never accept him. Gatsby’s only goal for gaining wealth is to win back his old love Daisy Fay.
Gatsby purchased a mansion across the bay from Daisy’s home.There is a green light at the end of Daisy’s dock that is visible at night from the windows and lawn of Gatsby’s house. This green light is one of the central symbols of the novel. In chapter one, Nick observes Gatsby in the dark as he looks longingly across the bay with arms stretched outward toward the green light. It becomes apparent, as the story progresses that the whole being of Gatsby exists only in relation to what the green light symbolizes. The green light’s significance is revealed in Chapter 5, as Gatsby and Daisy stand at one of the windows in his mansion. “If it wasn’t for the mist we could see your home across the bay,” said Gatsby. “You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of
Ackley3 your dock.” “Daisy put her arm through his abruptly, but he seemed absorbed in what he
had just said. Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it has seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed so close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects has diminished by one.” (Fitzgerald 93). Gatsby had believed in the green light, it made his dream seem attainable. Upon meeting Daisy again, after a five-year separation, Gatsby discovers that sometimes attaining a desired object can bring a sense of loss rather than fulfillment.
Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald shows how dreams are ruined, no matter what the dreams consist of, money, social status or just simply to be happy or loved. Fitzgerald also shows that the failure of the American Dream is inevitable in a sense that nothing can be as perfect as one could imagine. All the characters attempt to become happier and more satisfied with their lives. Tom and Daisy Buchanan, the wealthy couple, seems to have everything they could possibly want. However, they are still unhappy because their lives are empty and without purpose. Gatsby’s American Dream to become wealthy comes true, but he ends up alone and empty.
Despite the fact that human beings will inevitably fail, we are still full of hope and optimism. Throughout the whole novel Gatsby hopes that he will be reunited with Daisy one day. That hope keeps him going and gives him a purpose to achieve his American
Ackley4 Dream. Fitzgerald uses the green light at end of Daisy’s dock as a symbol of Gatsby’s
hope and dreams for the future. “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- tomorrow 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, 180). Nick stated this as a conclusion to the novel and I believe that it still today represents a great summary of how we treat our hopes and dreams and how we find our own ways to follow them and pursue them. Daisy is Gatsby’s version of the American dream, and the green light also symbolizes that more generalized ideal.
But the worst qualities of the modern American Dream are represented in Tom and Daisy Buchanan. They live without any hopes or regrets because the foundation of their character is money and prosperity. Nick describes Buchanan’s as such: “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, 179). Daisy cares only about herself and her reputation. When she accidentally runs over Myrtle Wilson, Tom’s mistress, Gatsby takes the blame for her, which in turn, he dies for her mistake. She doesn’t do anything to protect Gatsby because her reputation is more important than he is. When Gatsby dies, any chance of the old American Dream of surviving in the immoral and corrupted modern world is destroyed with him. All of the
Ackley5 hopes and dreams that gave him strength and motivation to pursue his American Dream
are shattered as he lies in swimming pool, stunned and confused about the world he is living in and about to leave. After shooting Gatsby, Myrtle’s husband George Wilson, the symbol of the ordinary man who is trying to achieve his own American Dream, commits suicide.
The death of both the rich and poor man who try to achieve their goals symbolize the death of the old American Dream. Through the tragic story of Jay Gatsby and his failed attempt to achieve his dream, Fitzgerald also describes the tragic death of American values. The upper class in The Great Gatsby are examples of Fitzgerald’s message- the original American Dream and all of its pure and moral values have been replaced with money, greed and materialism. Fitzgerald deliberately makes all characters with money appear to be unhappy, corrupted and arrogant thus contradicting standard idea of the American Dream.
The perception of the American Dream changed, and the idea that money leads to happiness obviously was not the case for Tom and Daisy. The same is true for Gatsby. Gatsby truly believed that he can buy Daisy’s love with wealth. His illegal business was all an excuse to earn money and impress Daisy, however once again, money could not bring Gatsby happiness. This wrong perception was what led to most of the destroyed dreams in the novel. The collapse of the American Dream in Gatsby’s life is mainly due to his moral downfall throughout the novel. Instead of becoming a honorable man after
Ackley6 acquiring his wealth, he becomes a fake member of Tom and Daisy’s crowd through,
trying to live up to the material culture of that decade. Daisy becomes the only important person in Gatsby’s life, and in his efforts to get her back he turns into a careless person just the way she is. When Gatsby and Daisy hit Myrtle with his car, he doesn’t even care whether Myrtle is dead or alive; he is only worried about whether this will cause problems for Daisy. Gatsby’s pursuit of happiness through illegal and shallow means ultimately is the cause of his death and therefore the collapse of his American Dream.
As the novel closes, the experience of Gatsby and his broken dream become the focus. Fitzgerald compares Gatsby’s experience to that of the Dutch Sailors who first came to Long Island and had an unspoiled continent before them. As Nick lies on the beach in front of Gatsby’s home, his last night in the East, he contemplates this thought, “I became aware of the old island that flowered once for Dutch sailor’s eyes – a fresh green breast of the new world. It’s vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby’s house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder. I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it
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was already behind him” (Fitzgerald 180).
Gatsby’s greatness was to have retained a sense of wonder as deep as the sailor’s
on that first landfall. Gatsby’s tragedy was to have had, not a continent to wonder at, but only a green light at the end of Daisy’s Dock. It is through symbolism that Fitzgerald paints a picture of the dream destined to fail because it’s basis was illusion, not reality.