Great Gatsby Critique

Throughout the plentiful years of the Earth’s existence, very few have been glorious. Civilization has had various ups and downs like the roaring twenties and the Great Depression. The roaring twenties however has been one of the most prosperous years of America’s journey. Many people were happy both financially and emotionally. However, the novel The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, symbolizes many of the events during the roaring twenties that made it earn its name. Even so, the novel visualizes the diverse crimes occurring such as Gatsby’s illegal businesses. F. Scott Fitzgerald displays both characteristics of this time period. The depth of this novel will contain the similarities and differences of literary criticisms regarding …show more content…
Majority of the critics believe that the theme was the pursuit of the American Dream. The critic Bern argues that the American Dream is solely about greatness instead of personal freedom or financial success (Combs 60). More so, Dickstein agrees with the theme of the American Dream. Dickstein believes that the dream stands for “material success, not emotional expansion.” The purpose of Gatsby’s money is to enable him to reel backwards, to freeze time and undo the past (DB). Another critic who believes in the theme being the American Dream is Telgen. Telgen states, “Gatsby represents the American Dream of a self-made wealth and happiness, and the ability to make something of one’s self desire despite one’s origins. The cause of Gatsby’s realization to pursue the dream was due to the fact that he could not win Daisy. This novel represents American in the roaring twenties with ambition and despair, along with ideals being disregarded through class and material success” (Telgen 73). Yet, on the other hand, Telgen also believes that the theme deals with moral corruption. Telgen brings up the fact that the wealthy classes are corrupt. She brings religion into play and argues that religion is dead here and the American Dream is corrupt. This corrupt environment is what causes Nick Caraway to leave the wasteland (Telgen 74). Finally, Coleman stresses that death is the major theme of the novel. Coleman uses Myrtle’s death as an example to show that Gatsby remains unchanged. The “colossal vitality of his illusion” is distinguishable from Gatsby’s vitality. This leaves to Gatsby to realize his dream proves impossible and that this was the moment of his true extinction (Coleman 117). These critics and their opinions put together reveal a truly thematic