Why Is The Great Gatsby Considered The Great American Novel?

Improved Essays
I learned that The Great Gatsby is considered the Great American novel due to its effect of making you understand why you like to read, and ability to show how literature can somehow grab you across great expanses of time and cultural differences. Even though Joel Achenbach’s idea of why The Great Gatsby is considered the Great American Novel, I also think this title is due the the book’s ability to portray the American Dream and the fantasies generated by the book's portrayal of this idea. The enjoyment of the book and its ability to show a time from another age throughout the book, makes The Great Gatsby a notable contender for the Great American Novel. However, I believe it is the book's ability to portray the American Dream and make the …show more content…
With his writing, he was able to draw readers in and make them feel as if they were living in the time. He did this through his word choice and use of character traits and actions. “Some time toward midnight Tom Buchanan and Mrs. Wilson stood face to face discussing, in impassioned voices, whether Mrs. Wilson had any right to mention Daisy's name. "Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!" shouted Mrs. Wilson. "I'll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai –– " Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand” (Pg. 125). This quote, while reading it in the book, almost felt socially acceptable as Fitzgerald was so successful in manipulating our minds to think in the social ideals of the 1920’s. With women being seen as a lower part in the social class during the time, I felt as if Tom’s actions were normal. This allows the book to carry an old time, and make it feel like we are currently living in it. How ever The Great Gatsby also has major themes of the American Dream that make it the Great American Novel that Achenbach doesn't talk about in their article. Throughout the book Fitzgerald’s characters show many different perceptions of the American Dream, but the one that stands out from the rest is Gatsby’s idea. “He was balancing himself on the

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Gatsby Daisy's Downfall

    • 1515 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The American Dream became an unattainable fantasy for Jay Gatsby. The American Dream is the belief that any person, regardless of their current situations, can become successful if the necessary work is exercised. The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is based in the 1920s: the time where the American Dream equaled the pinnacle of success. It was Old money versus New money.…

    • 1515 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Emotions fill Daisy’s body and overtake her personality. Overwhelmed, Daisy states, “‘They’re such beautiful shirts. It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such-such beautiful shirts before”’(Fitzgerald 98). While Gatsby was stationed over seas, Daisy showed her true character, impatience. She told Gatsby that she could not wait any longer, when there was a perfectly wealthy man willing to marry her.…

    • 1549 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Tom cannot believe that Daisy is not being faithful. He never thought that their marriage would get to that point, though he is already cheating with his secret love, Myrtle. “Some time toward midnight Tom Buchanan and Mrs. Wilson stood face to face, discussing in impassioned voices whether Mrs. Wilson had any right to mention Daisy‘s name” (Fitzgerald 37). This part of The Great Gatsby is ironic because he is not okay with Daisy doing something that he has been doing for a while. He expects her to be completely okay with knowing that he does it, but when she does it, he makes her out to be a bad person.…

    • 1459 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Oluwatumininu C. Tyndall Mr. Matt Hohn English-10 16 October 2015 The Race to Wealth and its Demise The Great Gatsby is a classic novel in which money is the center of focus in the characters lives, but after all money can’t buy happiness. This specific novel is often referred to as “The Great American Novel”; it gained its title because it portrays the prosperity and success of achieved goals. The book also interprets these following characteristics: immorality, obsession, and dissatisfaction of unfulfilled dreams for upward social mobility.…

    • 1043 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is a man who fell in love with the wrong girl. He built a life of luxury and dedicated his every move to Daisy Buchanan, the wrong girl. Tom Buchanan is the husband of our so called wrong girl. His life is based more upon his own opinion and morals than what society deems as correct. Neither of the two are the perfect man, but then again, the 1920’s is not perfect either.…

    • 1204 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Daisy as the Unattainable American Dream The American Dream is what most people would associate with the epitomes of liberty, equality, reward for hard work, and money – lots of it. The question is, does it really exist or is it just a mythos which attracts people to believe that the United States is a land of opportunity and immense wealth?…

    • 1390 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Charles Blackwell Mrs. Crissafulli English 11 Honors 26 May 2017 Great Gatsby Essay Great Gatsby was a book that was set in 1920s. Nick Caraway analysis the story of how his cousin Daisy Buchanan and spouse Tom have two lives that neither know about until it’s too late and people around them. The theme of the Great Gatsby was the weakening of the American dream in the 1920s. Due to corrupt actions by the characters in the novel. Similar to today’s world and how somethings and people are trying to hold us back from living the American dream.…

    • 947 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “‘The Great Gatsby’ is at its heart, a tale of hopelessness.” Discuss this quote, illuminating your discussion with reference to other critical views and relevant context. Despite the Great Gatsby being considered the ‘Great American Novel’, Fitzgerald uses the dream of the aspiring Jay Gatsby to illuminate the limits of American opportunity and the illusion of the American Dream. Throughout the novel Jay Gatsby, consumed by the cultivation of image, exhibits an outrageous display of status and prestige through his lavish parties in the hopes of winning the heart of the coveted debutant Daisy Buchanan – “He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths”.…

    • 1447 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Great Gatsby

    • 1191 Words
    • 5 Pages

    There are many debatable issues over which people base their opinions. Human beings are made to have their own personal views on different ideologies and practices; no one ideology can fight against all other views and say that factually and morally their way of viewing things in life is the only right way. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald illustrates the concept of the American dream. Through the use of characters like Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway, Tom and Daisy Buchanan and many more other characters. The Great Gatsby is a story of the defeated love between a man and a woman.…

    • 1191 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    American Dream: The Great Gatsby In the novel, The Great Gatsby, F. S. Fitzgerald writes about a time period in American history where achieving anything was possible, at least that was the common belief. Not only does he describe the economic, social, and historical circumstances that drive his characters, but also a glimpse into the minds of the characters that they use as a way to justify their actions and motives. The most basic reason for the actions that take place in the course of the book is towards an idea that many people are familiar with. It’s the American Dream.…

    • 1111 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Reality of the American Dream America has been viewed as the “promise land” and the “land of opportunity” for many generations. America has built itself on the concept of opportunity, individualism, and self-reliance which are the factors that assembled the “American dream.” The American dream has fueled the aspirations of many. Many believed that through hard work and dedication, prosperity and success is achievable. Success varies from individual to individual depending on one’s own personal desires.…

    • 1546 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    James Truslow Adams’ publication, The Epic of America, defines the American Dream as “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.” (Adams 214-215). Yet, The Great Gatsby portrays the Roaring Twenties as an era of decayed social and moral values, as the author explores, as well as reveals the decline of the American Dream. F. Scott Fitzgerald develops a plotline that appears to be a romantic account of an interrupted relationship—due the World War I—between Jay Gatsby and Daisy (Fay) Buchanan. In conflict, Jay Gatsby faces hindrances that prevent the revival of his love affair, mostly due social and moral degradation that surfaces in the…

    • 1391 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On the surface of the novel written by Scott F. Fitzgerald, one may say that "The Great Gatsby" illustrates a classic American story with a plot twist, having one of the preeminent characters pass in an abrupt and unforeseen way. However, underneath that very surface lies the resounding theme of the novel—The American Dream. "The Great Gatsby" is a pure symbolic reflection of America in the 1920s, depicting the effects of the sudden boom in the marketplace and the intensified materialistic views people gained. The American Dream in the novel is stripped of its ambition and gaiety once Fitzgerald spun a mordant critique of that particular decaying illusion in the society of the '20s, where people 's ethical significance was splintering, and their giddy greed for wealth and superfluous material items resulted in hedonism—which very well still happens today.…

    • 1357 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Class struggle in The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a book about the romantic relationship between successful businessman Jay Gatsby, and former debutante Daisy Buchanan. The book is commonly used to reflect the American dream. The American dream is a set of ideals about the life of people in the United States. It is about a land in which every person, with the enough hard work, will reach success.…

    • 1381 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The American Dream; the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. Unfortunately, back in the 1920’s this ideal remained but a mere dream for anyone trying to work their way up from rags to riches for the simple reason that it was practically impossible to become rich unless you were already born into it. In the novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald we get an up close and personal idea of what it was really like to be after the American Dream. However, instead of the typical dollar and a dream story Fitzgerald puts his own spin. For one, Fitzgerald criticizes the “American Dream” in every possible way throughout the entire book.…

    • 1396 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays