Corruption Of Jay Gatsby's Dream

Jay Gatsby dreams higher than the moon and wider than the sky. In his own mind, Gatsby has created ideal life, one that he has build up since he was a young and impoverished boy. He grew up as Jimmy Gatz in North Dakota, with unimpressive parents and a simple lifestyle which prompted his thirst for riches. Nick noticed that Gatsby, “invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.” Other children dream of being a princess, or a superhero, but Jimmy Gatz was in a sedulous pursuit of being rich. His desperation to hold on, regardless of changes in himself or his surroundings, represents that he never outlived his child-like aspirations. In order to reach his lofty dreams, Gatsby fell into a life of corruption and loneliness, which overtime led to him demise. …show more content…
The sun being blocked by chickens is similar to how Gatsby’s pursuit of happiness is being stopped by how corrupt he has become. Each dishonest action Gatsby did to become rich was his chickens being let, “loose/ one at a time/ and small—/ various breeds.” No matter how small, or what kind of sin Gatsby committed, over time they build up. The poem continues to say, “Now they have/ come home/ to roost—all/ the same kind/ at the same speed.” The chickens returning to where they were first set free indicates that all of Gatsby’s peccadillo actions inevitably came back to haunt him. His moral corruption begun with his unfortunate role model, Dan Cody, who was a supercilious man, and provided a false vision of happiness to Jimmy Gatz. When Kay Ryan writes that, “the sky is dark/ with chickens,/ dense with them,” it symbolizes how the chicken have blocked what Gatsby needs to see clearly, and therefore his lies prevent him from having any