Great Gatsby by F. Scott

¶ … Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald and "Ceremony" by Leslie Marmon Silko. Specifically it will discuss the pursuit of the American Dream in the two novels. What is the American Dream? The current economic crisis has caused many Americans to ask that question. For many, it was the chance to own a home and have a successful career, and for millions of Americans, that dream is forever shattered. That is the ultimate theme of these two texts, the American Dream and whether it is truly a dream that individuals and families can experience. Ultimately, the American Dream can be fulfilled, but can be fleeting, as well, as these two texts show, and many will continually pursue the Dream throughout their lives, finding it, losing it, and staying hopeful it will return again one day.

In both these novels, the tortured main characters search desperately for the American Dream, that magical and elusive cliche that most Americans still want to believe in and experience. The American Dream is different for everyone, but the most accepted definition is the "self-made man," who rises up from nothing to become someone of importance and value, and wealth is a major portion of the Dream. There are thousands of real life examples of the American Dream, in business, show business, and Main Street, USA, but in these two novels, the theme of the American Dream is false, at best. Gatsby has what seems like the American Dream, with his house, his car, his career, and his friends, but in reality, their lives are empty and unfulfilled, certainly not the epitome of the American Dream. Tayo had the Dream too, for a short time while he fought in the war, but it is soon gone, and the realities of real life are much more difficult to accept than the Dream. Both books take a dim view of the American Dream in the end, and that makes sense, because the American Dream may be a reality for some, but for most, it is just as elusive as the wind.

Both books use the symbols of the American Dream to build their plots and characters. In "The Great Gatsby," Gatsby seems to have the perfect American Dream. He makes a lot of money, moves in the socialite circles, lives in a big house (albeit on the "wrong" side of the tracks), and seems to have everything, as do his friends. However, they are empty, shallow people who have little inner strength or fortitude. Daisy sums all this up when she says, "What'll we do with ourselves this afternoon?' cried Daisy, 'and the day after that, and the next thirty years?' 'Don't be morbid,' Jordan said" (Fitzgerald 106). They have what to many people seems to be the perfect life, and yet, they are dissatisfied with it. Fitzgerald is really illustrating that the American Dream exists, but it is fleeting, and even if you are right square in the middle of it, you may not be for long. Gatsby's life proves that.

Gatsby is completely failed in his quest for the American Dream, and in part, that is a result of those one-dimensional people he persists in socializing with. In the end, he cannot have Daisy because even with his new wealth, he will never surmount the gap between West Egg and East Egg, the new money and old. He even says of her at one point, "Her voice is full of money" (Fitzgerald 96), and he is entirely correct. Gatsby may be an insightful businessperson, but he is far less shrewd in the ways of life, and so, his dreams of reaching the American ideal life will never come to fruition. He wants what he cannot have (often a component of the American dream), and his Dream will never come true. He cries at one point, "Can't repeat the past?' he cried incredulously. 'Why of course you can!'" (Fitzgerald 88). Gatsby has not yet learned he can never relive his past, and he can never bring back those who are lost, or rectify the mistakes he has so obviously made.

In addition, Gatsby's failure to attain the American Dream lies to some extent in the hollowness of the Dream itself and partially with his lack of real relationships with real people who care about him. Initially, Gatsby seems like the personification of the self-made man and American Dream. He survived the war and created a new, exciting, and prosperous life for himself. However, Fitzgerald's work is really a discourse about the American Dream as much as it is on the shallowness and self-centered 1920s. Fitzgerald illustrates the purposelessness of people who have nothing to accomplish, along with the worthlessness of lives that achieve what they want, and find it is still not enough to make them happy or care.

There is another disturbing element of the American Dream in both these novels, and that is the treatment of race. In Chapter 1, Tom talks about the book 'The Rise of the Coloured Empires' and essential declares the white race should continue their superiority over the black race because science has verified whites are superior. In "Ceremony," the tables are turned, but the results are the same. The Native Americans had hold of the American Dream during the war, but when they come home, it is the same old story of racism and oppression. In "Gatsby," the characters are all white and privileged, indicating the whites own the American Dream, and "Ceremony," just cements that notion, indicating that the whites know they have the Dream sewn up, and they would not have it any other way. Immigrants may have a better chance at attaining the American Dream, because so many come to this country with nothing, and they are not afraid to work hard and suffer on the pathway to the American Dream. However, these novels illustrate how hard it is for anyone to attain that Dream, especially those that have migrated to this country just for a chance at attaining the Dream.

In "Ceremony," Tayo and his friends actually reminisce about World War II, and how it made them feel special - part of the American Dream. Silko writes, "Here they were, trying to bring back that old feeling, that feeling they belonged to America the way they felt during the war. They blamed themselves for losing the new feeling; they never talked about it, but they blamed themselves just like they blamed themselves for losing the land the white people took" (Silko 43). Here is the heart of the quest for the American Dream in this novel. The Natives know they do not have a chance at attaining it. The closest they can come to that is with Rocky and memories of him, and what he could have accomplished in the white man's world. Silko writes, "Rocky understood what he had to do to win in the white outside world. After their first year at boarding school in Albuquerque, Tayo saw how Rocky deliberately avoided the old-time ways" (Silko 51). This is interesting, because just as Gatsby cannot fit into the high-society world of his friends, Rocky cannot fit into the white man's world unless he gives up his own heritage and beliefs. Rocky has football talent and good grades to help him along the way toward the American Dream, while Gatsby has new money, but for both, the Dream remains a Dream. Would Rocky have succeeded in the white man's world? Probably, if he had lived he might have reached the Dream. Nevertheless, would he have been happy giving up his heritage? Probably not, and that is the unwritten them of the American Dream in Silko's novel.

Silko's novel brings up another aspect of the American Dream, as well. In it, Rocky's dreams are the dreams of the family, and not necessarily all Rocky's idea. Silko makes that clear several times in the novel. She writes, "The understanding had always been that Rocky would be the one to leave home, go to college or join the Army" (Silko 72). Rocky is the one with all the promise and the one the family hopes "gets out" and makes something of his life, and it seems as if he wants those dreams too. However, the novel points out that the American Dream may not be the same dream for everyone, and Rocky may not have chosen that pathway toward the American Dream had he lived. He might have had a completely different idea of where his life was heading and what he wanted to do. The point is, the novel looks at the American Dream from the outside, with the family remembering and hoping for their son, rather than attempting to reach the Dream on their own.

Silko creates a very complex character in Rocky, and the family treats him almost as if he is white, compared to the other boys. Rocky does not have to work during the summer like the other boys do, so that he can "concentrate" on his football scholarship, and the family treat him as if he were special or precious, somehow. That is a lot of responsibility for Rocky to bear, because the family is pinning all their hopes on him, and he has to deliver. The author makes Rocky sympathetic - he is not a bully even though he wields power, but there is something about him that seems like she disapproves of him somehow, too. She kills him in a nasty way, and she makes him seem cold and unemotional when he quickly takes on the white man's ways in order to get ahead in school. Tayo is incredibly guilty about Rocky's death, it is almost as if he thinks that it should have been him, instead, because Rocky had so much promise, and that is another disturbing thing about Rocky. He inspires guilt and anguish in the family, and they do not attempt to do anything about their own dreams, they seem to have died with Rocky.