The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is often regarded as one of the best American novels ever written. The novel is written from the viewpoint of Nick Carraway, a man seeking to make money, who travels to West Egg, New York and meets the infamous Jay Gatsby. Nick learns about Gatsby’s life; how he changed his name, of the multiple suspicions surrounding his wealth, and the most valuable part of his life, his dream of marrying Daisy Buchanan. Although Daisy is currently married, Gatsby does not stop trying to gain Daisy’s love even though his attempts inevitably lead to failure. The novel contains the motif, “tension between realism and idealism,” which portrays the main idea that Fitzgerald tries to reveal about the American Dream. Fitzgerald
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Correspondingly, the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock that Gatsby stares at symbolizes the American Dream, and its location represents Gatsby’s hope or dream of having Daisy all to himself. Gatsby can see this light because he lives just across the bay from her, and he repeatedly stares or stretches his arms out to it but always falls short of grasping it. Nick Carraway alludes Gatsby’s desires by verbalizing, “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- tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther….And one fine morning- so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past,” (180). Not only are Gatsby’s beliefs included in the quote, but the core of the American Dream is also instilled in it. Gatsby believes that the American dream is still alive and well as he continues to chase it but that is not the case. The dream is impossible to reach, but the venture for it still occurs, even though all the odds suggest the necessary failure. The insurmountable dream is also illustrated by several pieces of literary criticism. Barry Gross talks about the consistent failure of trying to reach the dream in his literature criticism, “Our Gatsby, Our Nick”: “He [Fitzgerald] regarded it as a necessity for any life at all. Without it, life would be an extinction up an alley. With it, life would at least be a journey, a journey of hope. The hope would, in the end, be dashed. The attempt to control one’s destiny is foredoomed. But that really is no matter. Still the journey must be undertaken. Still the attempt must be made,” (Gross 165). Also, another piece of literary criticism from Marcus Bewley, “The Sewanee Review”, focuses on how that “The Great Gatsby becomes the acting out of the tragedy of the American vision,” (Bewley 13). Once again, the emphasis is on how attainment of the
Correspondingly, the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock that Gatsby stares at symbolizes the American Dream, and its location represents Gatsby’s hope or dream of having Daisy all to himself. Gatsby can see this light because he lives just across the bay from her, and he repeatedly stares or stretches his arms out to it but always falls short of grasping it. Nick Carraway alludes Gatsby’s desires by verbalizing, “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- tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther….And one fine morning- so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past,” (180). Not only are Gatsby’s beliefs included in the quote, but the core of the American Dream is also instilled in it. Gatsby believes that the American dream is still alive and well as he continues to chase it but that is not the case. The dream is impossible to reach, but the venture for it still occurs, even though all the odds suggest the necessary failure. The insurmountable dream is also illustrated by several pieces of literary criticism. Barry Gross talks about the consistent failure of trying to reach the dream in his literature criticism, “Our Gatsby, Our Nick”: “He [Fitzgerald] regarded it as a necessity for any life at all. Without it, life would be an extinction up an alley. With it, life would at least be a journey, a journey of hope. The hope would, in the end, be dashed. The attempt to control one’s destiny is foredoomed. But that really is no matter. Still the journey must be undertaken. Still the attempt must be made,” (Gross 165). Also, another piece of literary criticism from Marcus Bewley, “The Sewanee Review”, focuses on how that “The Great Gatsby becomes the acting out of the tragedy of the American vision,” (Bewley 13). Once again, the emphasis is on how attainment of the