The American Dream; the dream that every American citizen had an equal opportunity to have a family, become successful, and so much more through hard work and determination. For many this “dream” was one of the main pulls to move to the US and for many they truly believed that they could achieve this fantasy. Many say that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book “The Great Gatsby” is the essence of what the American dream is and describes what most people got and will get when coming to America. The book doesn’t exhibit this literally; rather it does through various literary styles in both a negative and positive manner. For example, Gatsby’s dream is to reunited with his true love, Daisy. At first the only thing Gatsby wants is to be with her yet soon
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In fact the first time Nick lays eyes on Gatsby he is reaching across the bay to nothing but a green light which is described as “minute and far away”. The green light represents America in a symbolic way and Daisy in a literal way. Throughout the story Gatsby spends almost all of his time and a lot of his money to try and reunite with Daisy. Gatsby clearly thinks very highly of Daisy and believes that she will make his life complete. . In the last pages of the book we read: “For a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.” (9.180). The message Fitzgerald is trying push is that on both Gatsby’s dream and a pursuer of the American Dream both have very high expectations of what they want from their dream. However, their expectations are too high and they are let down when they face the reality of the …show more content…
Symbolically people that are from West Egg are people that recently achieved the American Dream and citizens from East Egg are people that have received money from past generations that were originally (symbolically) a West Egger. Gatsby is a great example of a West Egger; he was once poor but has now achieved the American Dream and has lots of “new money”. Due to the fact that Gatsby was once quite poor, he wants to cover up his past so that he can fit in with all the other rich folk. In order to this Gatsby hosts many lavished parties, has many expensive possessions, and even has a full library which turns out to be fake. We find out about this when Nick first meets Owl Eyes: “See! he cried triumphantly. "It's a bona-fide piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella's a regular Belasco. It's a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop, too - didn't cut the pages.” (Chap.3, Pg.45) From this quote we learn that Gatsby’s library is indeed real, but they have never been read due to the fact that they have never been cut, meaning that Gatsby wants to look like an “Oxford man” even though he is really a fraud. What Fitzgerald is trying to say about the American dream is that if one does indeed achieve the dream, then he/she will probably
In fact the first time Nick lays eyes on Gatsby he is reaching across the bay to nothing but a green light which is described as “minute and far away”. The green light represents America in a symbolic way and Daisy in a literal way. Throughout the story Gatsby spends almost all of his time and a lot of his money to try and reunite with Daisy. Gatsby clearly thinks very highly of Daisy and believes that she will make his life complete. . In the last pages of the book we read: “For a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.” (9.180). The message Fitzgerald is trying push is that on both Gatsby’s dream and a pursuer of the American Dream both have very high expectations of what they want from their dream. However, their expectations are too high and they are let down when they face the reality of the …show more content…
Symbolically people that are from West Egg are people that recently achieved the American Dream and citizens from East Egg are people that have received money from past generations that were originally (symbolically) a West Egger. Gatsby is a great example of a West Egger; he was once poor but has now achieved the American Dream and has lots of “new money”. Due to the fact that Gatsby was once quite poor, he wants to cover up his past so that he can fit in with all the other rich folk. In order to this Gatsby hosts many lavished parties, has many expensive possessions, and even has a full library which turns out to be fake. We find out about this when Nick first meets Owl Eyes: “See! he cried triumphantly. "It's a bona-fide piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella's a regular Belasco. It's a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop, too - didn't cut the pages.” (Chap.3, Pg.45) From this quote we learn that Gatsby’s library is indeed real, but they have never been read due to the fact that they have never been cut, meaning that Gatsby wants to look like an “Oxford man” even though he is really a fraud. What Fitzgerald is trying to say about the American dream is that if one does indeed achieve the dream, then he/she will probably