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¶ … Great Gatsby and the American Dream
In many ways, the first portions of the biography of Jay Gatsby embodies the American Dream: Jay Gatsby was born to unspeakable poverty and was able to climb out of it through hard work, discipline and dogged determination. This was at least how it appeared in the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. However, over the course of the book Fitzgerald demonstrates that the American dream is actually far more elusive and far darker than most actually realize. He always had some resolves like this or something. Do you notice what he's got about improving his mind? He was always great for that (230).'" The tragedy of this moment is not lost on the narrator nor is it lost on the reader. It's clear that Gatsby's father is still under the illusion that hard work was the one thing that contributed to Gatsby's success and subsequent transformation. Rather, the reader knows that success, luck and a willingness to engage in underhanded shady activities were the real reason that Gatsby was able to amass such wealth. Here, Fitzgerald shows us a reluctance or an inability to let go of this precious American dream. And in the case of gatsby's Father perhaps its better he doesn't.
Consider the exchange that the narrator, Nick Carraway has with Gatsby's father, once Gatsby has been killed. The father has found a schedule that his son wrote out for himself back when he was boy, and the schedule dictates a strict hourly routine of how the young man would divide his time each day: from the moment he rose from bed, to the dumbbell exercises he would do, to the practicing elocution and poise. This schedule even had a list of general resolves that the young Gatsby intended to make, including no more chewing or smoking. As Gatsby's father proclaims, "I come across this book by accident," said the old man. 'It just shows you, don't it?'
Fitzgerald deftly help renew our faith in the American dream before he rips it away again. In one of the final scenes between Gatsby and Buchannon, we find out why Gatsby feels he can't really call himself an Oxford man: the explanation is simple. Going to Oxford was just an opportunity that some of the soldiers were given after the armisitice and Gatsby was only there for…
Works Cited
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. (2013) The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribners
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Great Gatsby -- a Theoretical Analysis The Great Gatsby is one of the legendary novels written in the history of American literature. The novel intends to shed light on the failure of American dream that poor can attain whatever he wants and emphasizes on the hardships presented by the strong forces of social segregation. In order to understand this novel, there are various theories which tend to be helpful in order
Gatsby had built up this incredible illusion of what Daisy really was, and had gone off the deep end in throwing himself after her. Weinstein (p. 25) quotes from pages 102-103 of the novel: "There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams -- not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion." It is typical of Fitzgerald to
Great Gatsby -- the American Dream The Great Gatsby is a novel that uses the theme of the American Dream in a number of ways, and it is not a stretch to explain that F. Scott Fitzgerald was showing the dark side of the elusive American Dream. The themes used in The Great Gatsby revolve around those issues in the Roaring Twenties that were linked to the newly wealthy people; and
However, his single focus on getting Daisy's green light, something he cannot have, creates a motive of greed in Gatsby that he is unable to control and eventually destroys him. For example, Nick talks of Gatsby's idealization of Daisy by saying: "There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams -- not through her own fault but because of the colossal vitality of his
Even after Daisy commits murder, Gatsby remains unmoved in his emotions towards her. What's more, he assumes responsibility for her actions. Or consider the statement: ' Of course she might have loved him, just for a minute, when they were first married -- and loved me more even then, do you see?' (Fitzgerald, p. 133). Gatsby clings to this hope despite Daisy's professed loved her husband. Such explanations indicate