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Great Gatsby
In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, the title character is portrayed as an impossible dreamer. Jay Gatsby would appear to be the classic "rags to riches" example that embodies the idea of the "American Dream." From a modest Midwest background to the owner of a luxurious mansion on Long Island, Jay Gatsby dreams his dream of becoming rich and recreating himself so that he can get the proverbial girl. What does this novel suggest about the American Dream and its possibilities? Considering the unhappy ending to which nearly all of the characters arrive, the reader might infer that the American Dream is an impossible dream.
Jay Gatsby's main motivation throughout the novel is his love for Daisy. As a young man, he fell in love with the beautiful and wealthy society dame. World War I saved him from the immediate knowledge that "rich girls don't marry poor boys," but he was inevitably disappointed when he discovered that she had married the wealthy Tom Buchanan. Gatsby's subsequent thirst for wealth so that he could impress and win Daisy shows that he believes he can recreate himself and live out a nearly impossible dream. With enough wealth amassed and an impressive mansion right across the Sound from hers, Jay Gatsby feels certain that he can "repeat the past" when Daisy had loved him.
The American Dream is different for other characters in the novel. For Daisy, it appears to be maintaining the status quo by marrying someone in her social set. Tom Buchanan probably feels the same way. For Nick Carraway, the saddened narrator of the story, the American Dream is more elusive. His feelings that people should not be criticized because they have not had all the opportunities other people have had would appear to echo the American idea of equality. His disgust at the shameless pursuit of wealth and the actions of the wealthy suggest that a dream of simply becoming rich is not a dream worth pursuing.
The failed result of Gatsby's re-creation and the disgust with which Nick Carraway leaves the novel suggests that the American Dream has limited potential to create happiness.
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
He is so enraged by the way she died, with the driver not even stopping to try to help her, that he determines that God wants him to kill the driver. If this event had not happened, George would have known that murder for any reason was wrong. George, however, has been blinded by grief. In the end, all the characters have demonstrated moral ambiguity. Gatsby has made his money
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
Scott Fitzgerald and the Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald, born on the 24th of Sept 1896, was one of the greatest writers, who was well-known for being a writer of his own time. He lived in a room covered with clocks and calendars while the years ticket away his own career followed the pattern of the nation with his first fiction blooming in 1920s. "His fictions did more then report on
Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald intended to create in the title character a uniquely American figure, one whose relationship to love, wealth and success was complex and shot-through with irony. Despite the fact that Jay Gatsby is certainly flawed, he is in the end a character for whom we feel great sympathy, in no small part because we (as American readers) can understand the psychological balancing act that Gatsby
Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby examines the concept of the American Dream, understood by the protagonist Nick Carraway as the pursuit of success and individuality. The character of Gatsby is the embodiment of the Dream, and his death is symbolic of the death of the dream itself. Gatsby's death arose from his hollow pursuit of Daisy, and Carraway likens this to the death of the American dream as