Th great gatsby
Th great gatsbyThe Great Gatsby is a novel that illustrates the
society in the 1920’s and the associated beliefs,
values and dreams of the American population at
that time. These beliefs, values and dreams can be
summed up be what is termed the “American Dream”;
a dream of money, wealth, prosperity and the
happiness that supposedly came with the booming
economy and get-rich-quick schemes that formed the
essential underworld of American upper-class
society. This underworld infiltrated the upper
echelons and created such a moral decay within
general society that paved the way for the ruining
of dreams and dashing of hopes as they were placed
confidently in the chance for opportunities that
could be seized by one and all. Scott Fitzgerald
illustrates the American Dream and the “foul dust”
or the carelessness of a society that floats in
the wake of this dream. By looking at each
character and their situation and ambition it can
be seen that the American Dream was not limited to
one social class or type of person, that it was
nation wide and was found within everyone.
From the position as narrator the reader has
access to the thoughts and feelings of Nick
Carraway more than any other characters; but this
same position also reduces the effectiveness of
the reader as a judge of character because he is
presented in a biased way compared to others. With
that said, it can be seen that Nick suffers
greatly from his experiences in New York. His
regard for human decency is ruined and he leaves
with his hopes dashed and a disgust at how the
materialism that runs rampant throughout his
social class is capable of ruining lives and
dreams. Nick, as with all characters is a believer
in the American Dream because even he moves East
to work in the bond business - then a booming
industry. Because of the actions of his cousin
Daisy, her husband Tom and the beliefs held by his
love interest in the novel Jordan, Nick is finally
privy to how the dreams and values held by all
these people overrun their sense of sensible
behavior and how the general society caused their
personalities to be affected this way.
The transformation between James Gatz and Jay
Gatsby is an example of how people can transform
themselves according to their ambition for wealth
and prosperity. The use of illegal activities to
gain Gatsby’s wealth is alluded to in the book;
this shows the extent of how the American Dream
circumvented the moral revulsion and pushed people
who were crazy about money into crime - driving
the moral standing of wealthier citizens into the
ground. To Gatsby, his dream was symbolised by
Daisy; Gatsby even says that her voice sounds like
money, a direct correlation between Daisy and the
wealth and happiness that Gatsby would supposedly
enjoy if only he could have married Daisy but
could still enjoy if he had married her five years
later. His pursuit of happiness with Daisy was the
ultimate cause of the degradation of Gatsby’s
morals and realistic dreams. This is because he
held an unrealistic view of life and how he could
recreate the past. His dreams had distorted
reality to the point where when his rationality
realised that the image of life and of Daisy did
not coincide...
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