In the 1920’s novel, The Great Gatsby, F.Scott Fitzgerald represents America as a land where the rich stay rich the poor stay poor, and the American dream is hard to achieve. At a glance, Fitzgerald 's complex novel may look like a success story of rags to riches, but when you look at the roots of the characters, it is anything but. By the end of the novel, it is clear that Fitzgerald views the American Dream as false hope, and uses the fate of the characters, and the stark contrast between East Egg, West Egg, and The Valley of the Ashes to show that one has to be born into wealth to succeed in society. Fitzgerald’s novel was more than a tragic love story, but one that honestly portrayed America in the roaring twenties. While The Great Gatsby
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In the end Gatsby did not achieve the dream of success, but he got close by participating in corrupt activities such as bootlegging. Towards the end of the book, the reader is given a list of Gatsby 's general resolves. The list includes many petty things such as, “Dumbbell exercise and wall-scaling,” and “Read one improving book or magazine per week.” Through this, Fitzgerald represents how empty and lacking of substance Gatsby 's life is. People of East and West Egg are supposed to be the ones who achieved the American dream, but Gatsby 's life is just for Daisy and money. Fitzgerald uses Gatsby and his dream as a symbol of the American Dream. He thinks his wealth can buy anything even Daisy. He is in the the mindset, that if he can get rich and get to the highest class standard, he can do anything. Similarly, all of the Americans at the time have a tendency to believe that if they have enough money, they can stay young, party hard, and buy their happiness through materialistic spending. As Jordan Baker says, “There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.” This is the idea that everyone is working so hard to achieve their dream, that the struggle of class and materialistic things became their sole …show more content…
Corruption didn 't just affect the people of the ashes, but also the wealthy. There were few in this story who attempted to refuse the temptation of money and status. The American Dream in The Great Gatsby is presented as a dying symbol the hope that is once represented.Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald wanted showcase the twisted idea of the American Dream, and the people who corrupted it. Through the fate of the characters, their desires throughout the novel, and their homes, Fitzgerald successfully captures the corrupt, materialistic society that was 1920s
In the end Gatsby did not achieve the dream of success, but he got close by participating in corrupt activities such as bootlegging. Towards the end of the book, the reader is given a list of Gatsby 's general resolves. The list includes many petty things such as, “Dumbbell exercise and wall-scaling,” and “Read one improving book or magazine per week.” Through this, Fitzgerald represents how empty and lacking of substance Gatsby 's life is. People of East and West Egg are supposed to be the ones who achieved the American dream, but Gatsby 's life is just for Daisy and money. Fitzgerald uses Gatsby and his dream as a symbol of the American Dream. He thinks his wealth can buy anything even Daisy. He is in the the mindset, that if he can get rich and get to the highest class standard, he can do anything. Similarly, all of the Americans at the time have a tendency to believe that if they have enough money, they can stay young, party hard, and buy their happiness through materialistic spending. As Jordan Baker says, “There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.” This is the idea that everyone is working so hard to achieve their dream, that the struggle of class and materialistic things became their sole …show more content…
Corruption didn 't just affect the people of the ashes, but also the wealthy. There were few in this story who attempted to refuse the temptation of money and status. The American Dream in The Great Gatsby is presented as a dying symbol the hope that is once represented.Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald wanted showcase the twisted idea of the American Dream, and the people who corrupted it. Through the fate of the characters, their desires throughout the novel, and their homes, Fitzgerald successfully captures the corrupt, materialistic society that was 1920s