Analyisis of The Great Gatsby
"He had been full of the idea so long, dreamed it right through to the end, waited with his teeth set, so to speak, at an inconceivable pitch of intensity." p.89 In "The Great Gatsby", Jay Gatsby accomplished the American Dream as he rose from a childhood of desperate poverty to an adulthood of extravagant wealth. Jay Gatsby's representation of the dream was to attain Daisy Buchanan. She was the "...idea so long, dreamed... " F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" critiques the cultural capital of the American Dream and its symbols. Cultural Capital is general cultural knowledge or beliefs, values which are drawn into the text from the culture which produced it. The American Dream is a life that should be better and richer and fuller for everyone with opportunity for each according to ability and achievement. It is a dream of social order in which each man and woman should be able to attain the full stature of what they are capable of and be recognised by others for what they are, regardless of the circumstances for birth or position. Fitzgerald critiques and criticizes the moral failure of the American Dream and American society through the elements of cultural capital and its symbols.
This is Gatsby's statement of the American Dream. The Symbol ashes, represents the poverty of The Valley of Ashes and the death that people feel as they have nothing to live for. Throughout 'The Great Gatsby' Fitzgerald has critiqued and criticized the American Dream through the cultural capital and its symbols by using elements of youth, wealth and love. It eluded us then, but that's no matter - tomorrow we will run faster; stretch out our arms further. 142 His dream of achieving this great task is interrupted when it clashes with reality as he struggles to fit himself into the required social group. Gatsby's goal gave him a purpose in life which sets him apart from the upper class. On the other hand, George works extremely hard but there is insufficient demand for his profession, so he doesn't gain any wealth. Gatsby believes that with ample money he can have the past, beauty, youth and love forever. In Gatsby's past he had fallen in love with Daisy Buchanan, then Daisy Fay. "So I walked away and left him standing there in the moonlight - watching over nothing.
Common topics in this essay:
American Dream,
Tom Myrtle's,
Valley Ashes,
Daisy Gatsby,
Jay Gatsby,
East Egg,
Fay Daisy,
Daisy Jordan,
World War,
TJ Eckleburg,
american dream,
east egg,
wealth gatsby,
green light,
cultural capital,
beauty youth love,
youth love,
valley ashes,
image wealth,
beauty youth,
'the gatsby',
youth love forever,
past beauty youth,
money past beauty,
critiqued criticized american,
|
Acceptance Essays
