Although The Great Gatsby was not well received when it was published, it should still be regarded as an American classic. In the 1920s, also known as the Roaring Twenties, America underwent a social transformation that led to an increase in immoral values. Fitzgerald writes with the purpose to exhibit something that many viewed too direct at time, yet something that people can learn from in the present and future years. By Fitzgerald writing a critique of the American Dream, readers also felt criticized. The central theme of disillusionment through the American dream that Fitzgerald writes about, results in a significant cultural influence. The portrayal of the admiration for self-made achievement during the roaring twenties remains relevant.
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Fitzgerald uses the representation of Gatsby’s lifestyle to evaluate the overarching idea: the lost promise of the unreachable American dream. Gatsby creates the image of those who fruitlessly reach for something far off in the distance, something only obtainable in dreams, “and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it” (Fitzgerald 180). The author deconstructs the idea that the achievement of happiness and wealth only come through hard work, just like how Gatsby failed to find fulfillment through material wealth. Gatsby’s aspirations led to “a satisfactory hint of the unreality of reality, a promise that the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy’s wing,” but breaks down when his reality hits his dreams. (Fitzgerald 99).
Reasons why those in the 1920s wanted to criticize the novel begin with the fact that they were a part of the environment. With individuals holding the desire to escape the past and the faults that it contains, Marius Bewley accurately says, “The Great Gatsby offers some of the severest and closest criticism of the American dream that our literature affords” (Bewley). American literature should not be constructed on how the audience reacts, but aim to illustrate the mistakes of the past in order to make an improved
Fitzgerald uses the representation of Gatsby’s lifestyle to evaluate the overarching idea: the lost promise of the unreachable American dream. Gatsby creates the image of those who fruitlessly reach for something far off in the distance, something only obtainable in dreams, “and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it” (Fitzgerald 180). The author deconstructs the idea that the achievement of happiness and wealth only come through hard work, just like how Gatsby failed to find fulfillment through material wealth. Gatsby’s aspirations led to “a satisfactory hint of the unreality of reality, a promise that the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy’s wing,” but breaks down when his reality hits his dreams. (Fitzgerald 99).
Reasons why those in the 1920s wanted to criticize the novel begin with the fact that they were a part of the environment. With individuals holding the desire to escape the past and the faults that it contains, Marius Bewley accurately says, “The Great Gatsby offers some of the severest and closest criticism of the American dream that our literature affords” (Bewley). American literature should not be constructed on how the audience reacts, but aim to illustrate the mistakes of the past in order to make an improved