Symbolic Music In The Great Gatsby

Symbolic Music in The Great Gatsby Music. Another language of modern society. The Great Gatsby is a famous novel written by Scott Fitzgerald that tells the story of a man by the name of Jay Gatsby who has big dreams and ambitions. Although he is quite wealthy and achieves part of that dream, he lingers upon the desire to marry his dream girl, Daisy Buchanan. This novel is popular for its utilization of music from the Jazz Age. In The Great Gatsby, Scott Fitzgerald uses music and song lyrics to reveal the broken nature of the American Dream and Gatsby’s compulsive nature and ambitions.
Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald uses music and song lyrics to show that over time, the American Dream has become corrupt. This is portrayed through the song “Ain’t We Got Fun” at Gatsby and Daisy’s reunion. The lyrics state, “One thing’s sure and nothing’s surer, the rich get richer and the poor get- children.”(Fitzgerald 101) The lyrics have a mocking tone towards the American Dream and American society. They express the great disparity between the rich and the poor in America, and illustrate the unreality of the American Dream. More specifically, it infers that the careless rich continue to succeed, while the poor continue to suffer. Thus, this song symbolizes the corruption of the American Dream.
Another tune that …show more content…
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