The Great Gatsby American Dream Essay -- F. Scott Fitzgerald

The majuscule Gatsby is a novel that illustrates the federation in the 1920s 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 woolgather, a dream of money, riches, prosperity and the happiness that supposedly came with the booming prudence and get-rich-quick schemes that formed the essential underworld of American upper berth-class society. This underworld infiltrated the upper echelons and created such a moral moulder 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 whole. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates the American day-dream and the foul dust or the regardlessness of a society that floats in the wake of this dream. By looking at each theatrical role and their detail and ambition it can be seen that the American Dream was n ot special(a) to one social class or type of person, that it was nation enormous and was found within everyone. From the face as narrator the reader has nettle to the thoughts and feelings of Nick Carraway much 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 comp ared 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 finished and he leaves with his hopes dashed and a disgust at how the materialism that runs rampant(ip) throughout his social class is capable of ruining lives and dreams. Nick, as with both characters is a believer in the American Dream because even he moves East to work in the bond bu... ...hen she talks about careless people, saying she hates careless people when she admits that she is one.) that contribute to the overall ethical decay within the American aristocrac y. Fitzgerald shows that in the social classes that were represented in The Great Gatsby there is a running theme of how the American dream affects all of the characters, they each have their own aspirations for their own life but more often than not they revolve around money and the effects that wealth has on their style of life. Because of the tragic events within The Great Gatsby and the fact that the characters who are still alive at the end of the novel, bar Nick, are not drastically altered by their experience lend to the view that the 1920s and 1930s or the Jazz Age held a society of people who were ruled by materialism and trivial and depthless beliefs and values.-Cam