How Does The Mediocre Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is said to be a classic American novel, and is read by high schoolers all throughout America. The books commentary on the American dream during the 1920’s and how it does not bring happiness made it become very popular several years after Fitzgerald’s death. It may have good commentary on the American dream, but that may be one of its few redeeming qualities. The plot of the book is solid, but it is strung along by shallow characters that have no depth or personal morals at all. The lack of motivated characters makes it hard to even sympathize with anyone in the book or be interested. One thing there is an abundance of is many symbols. There are many in this book, but they serve no purpose besides making the book sound pretty when in reality the content is mediocre. The Great Gatsby is …show more content…
He has many from the green light on Daisy’s dock and cars, to ash and dust. The descriptive writing style throughout the book is beautiful, but it distracts from the true meaning. Fitzgerald wrote this to discuss that even with money and lots of possessions, happiness can still be hard to find. Gatsby’s loneliness, Daisy’s shallowness, and Jordan’s corruption shows this better than the symbols and has a better meaning. The Great Gatsby should be taught in schools with the American Dream in mind, not the plethora of symbols that people have to dissect.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald makes great commentary on the American dream but is lackluster. The characters don’t do anything for themselves, are morally complacent, and the symbols are overused, but looking past it, it is still a decent piece of literature, but definitely not one of the best in American history. Even if it was Fitzgerald’s point to make the characters unlikable, it makes it hard to care about the plot and the book should be read with that in