The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is a bold and damning social commentary of Americawhich critiques its degeneration from a nation of infinite hope andopportunity to a place of moral destitution. The novel is set during theRoaring Twenties, an era of outrageous excesses, wild lavish parties andsadly, an era of regret and lost potential. As the audience, they take uson a journey guided and influenced by the moral voice of Nick Carraway, acharacter who is "simultaneously enchanted and repelled by theinexhaustible variety of life." Nevertheless, when Carraway rejects theEast, returning to the comparatively secure morality of his ancestral West,we realize that gaiety was merely a thin facade, and that behind it lurkeda hideous ugliness that penetrated to the essence of the human spirit. It was during the Jazz generation that the common man, a man nodifferent to James Gatz, pursued the glowing icons of his age. As religiongradually faded away, it was money that had become an object of veneration.The desire to become wealthy was parceled in the form of the American Dream,a savage ideal that was fundamentally flawed from the outset. The fallacyof the American Dream cursed all who aspired to its promises while the
It therefore follows that Gatsby's demise represents the plight ofthe American nation. The universal nature of Fitzgerald's message engenders The GreatGatsby to critique not only the fate of the American nation but also thedestiny of human kind. Yet once the "partywas over," reality begins to dominate and tragically, Gatsby falls to hisdemise. Both were once faced with a "transitory enchanted moment,"a moment of infinite hope and potential. His unbridled imaginationhas created a world in which reality is undefined to itself and thusthrough this wilderness of illusions, Gatsby attempts to realize thepossibilities of life. Much like the new land "flowered" before the Dutch sailors eyes,so too did Daisy "blossom" before Gatsby and there was a time when Gatsbycould "suck on the pap of life, gulp down the incomparable milk of wonder. "However, there could never be a union between Gatsby's "unutterable vision"and Daisy's "perishable breath" for this vision was simply far too 'great'for the emptiness and social rigidity which Daisy personified. " Confronted by reality, Gatsby realizes how disgusting itreally is compared to his world of illusions. Fitzgerald parallels Gatsby's demise with the degeneration of theAmerican nation. It can only be hoped that we will he. Fitzgerald criticizes the stagnant upper class thathas developed, the forgotten promise of an egalitarian society; he condemnsthe society that flaunts their wealth and victimizes those who fall to theglamour of the American Dream. Gatsby finds himself in a world "material without real" and as he"looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves. So too wasthe bounty of new land, the "fresh green breast of the new world" pollutedby the old European ways which had traveled with the Dutch sailors. he found whata grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcelycreated grass.
Common topics in this essay:
Meyer Wolfshiem,
American Dream,
Consequently Gatsby,
Gatsby Gatsby,
Dream American,
Nevertheless Carraway,
James Gatz,
Roaring Twenties,
,
Nick Carraway,
american dream,
human spirit,
american nation,
green breast world,
green breast,
dutch sailors,
breast world,
fresh green,
infinite hope,
fresh green breast,
gatsby's demise,
james gatz,
|
Acceptance Essays
