“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter—to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald 180). In other words Gatsby, who believed in the dream, reached towards that ideal that would always be just out of reach, but that does not matter for tomorrow he will stretch out just a little farther, row a little harder and he will finally embrace it. The dream will always evade anyone who tries to capture it, it is something that cannot be caught (Tunc). F. Scott Fitzgerald knew first hand that the harder one tries to live this beautiful, seductive ideal,
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In the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald displays that if success is not based upon possessing “glittering things”, people will always just brush it but never quite catch it (Heise). “He stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward--and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock.” (Fitzgerald 21) The green light represents the American Dream, at the end of the dock calling out to Gatsby. The material success is evident in The Great Gatsby. Gatsby is living in “purposeless splendor” and “reckless wealth” and yet, is he happy? No, he will never fully attain happiness (Telgen). Fitzgerald throughout his life demonstrated the battle of grasping happiness. He wrote his books based around the constant battle for happiness, and underneath the flashiness of all of his books there was a harsh realism to them. He exposed the 1920s for what they were and questioned the decades values in his writings …show more content…
Nobody from Nowhere” reinvent himself “from his Platonic conception of himself.” (Fitzgerald 137, 98) He himself was the greatest example of the American dream. He made a new future for himself, was rich, was hardworking and had everything and still, he wanted more (Callahan). Daisy is the elusiveness of the dream. Always at his fingertips but not quite there to grasp fully. Even if he had gotten Daisy, he would have never have been happy. She would have had to renounced Tom, would have had to leave the child behind, would have had to turn back time, would have to change herself to the girl she was five years ago (Verderame).
Fitzgerald leaves the American Dream to the reader to figure out how one achieves it. Gatsby is killed off but still floats on his mattress which is unscathed, so as does the idealistic dream that continues on after proving its fatal consequences (Callahan). For how does one achieve greatness, happiness, and prosperity? Fitzgerald never found out.
Gatsby was living the american dream which ultimately ended up as the american nightmare. No matter how much prestige or status he could artificially fake, he would never be old money. Gatsby would never be happy even though material success and fame was achieved, he thought he knew what would make him happy but that one thing flitted from his grasp every time he was close to taking
In the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald displays that if success is not based upon possessing “glittering things”, people will always just brush it but never quite catch it (Heise). “He stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward--and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock.” (Fitzgerald 21) The green light represents the American Dream, at the end of the dock calling out to Gatsby. The material success is evident in The Great Gatsby. Gatsby is living in “purposeless splendor” and “reckless wealth” and yet, is he happy? No, he will never fully attain happiness (Telgen). Fitzgerald throughout his life demonstrated the battle of grasping happiness. He wrote his books based around the constant battle for happiness, and underneath the flashiness of all of his books there was a harsh realism to them. He exposed the 1920s for what they were and questioned the decades values in his writings …show more content…
Nobody from Nowhere” reinvent himself “from his Platonic conception of himself.” (Fitzgerald 137, 98) He himself was the greatest example of the American dream. He made a new future for himself, was rich, was hardworking and had everything and still, he wanted more (Callahan). Daisy is the elusiveness of the dream. Always at his fingertips but not quite there to grasp fully. Even if he had gotten Daisy, he would have never have been happy. She would have had to renounced Tom, would have had to leave the child behind, would have had to turn back time, would have to change herself to the girl she was five years ago (Verderame).
Fitzgerald leaves the American Dream to the reader to figure out how one achieves it. Gatsby is killed off but still floats on his mattress which is unscathed, so as does the idealistic dream that continues on after proving its fatal consequences (Callahan). For how does one achieve greatness, happiness, and prosperity? Fitzgerald never found out.
Gatsby was living the american dream which ultimately ended up as the american nightmare. No matter how much prestige or status he could artificially fake, he would never be old money. Gatsby would never be happy even though material success and fame was achieved, he thought he knew what would make him happy but that one thing flitted from his grasp every time he was close to taking