The Great Gatsby - The American Dream
In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald develops and discusses many themes that were typical of society in the 1920s time period. The two most obvious and important themes that are developed are that of the American dream and how it had an effect on the characters, notably Gatsby, and the idea of social divisions, conflicts, and the immorality of the elite class. In the novel, Fitzgerald carefully creates distinct social classes, which portrays a message of elitism in the society of the 1920s, as well as the immorality of the people of the elite class. Throughout the book, the characters are continually affected by the elitist attitudes of the rich, and the failure of the American dream and of Gatsby's pursuit of his own dreams eventually lead to his downfall and collapse. Gatsby's character as well as his strife to achieve wealth and power makes him a perfect idealization of the American dream as well as a typical person of the 1920s era. He started out with little in his childhood and eventually worked his way up to the top of the social strata. When he fell in love with Daisy, he knew that the only thing that was keeping them apart was money. Therefore, he was motivated to make money so that he would be able to win her hea
She tells Gatsby that the reason she didn't want to be with him before she married Tom was because he didn't have a lot of money. Eventually, Gatsby's dream is completely destroyed when he is killed, an ironic event in that he was killed for the wrong reason, and in that he never fully achieved his dream. Also, when Daisy is unable to deny that she had loved Tom, it shows that her relationship with Gatsby has mainly been for his money rather than for her love of him. This theme is accurate for the 1920s era because during this time, many people were following the American dream and attempting to improve their lives. Eckleburg as God is an interesting method that Fitzgerald uses to show that God sees everything, and therefore the immorality will not go completely unnoticed. When she says this and cries over Gatsby's shirts, we know that she has realized that Gatsby does have money now, and this brings her satisfaction. Gatsby also portrays a typical man during the 1920s because of the fact that he is a dreamer. Although it might be expected that the rich people would be classified into one group, the novel illustrates that there are two distinct types of rich people. Also, his only real motivation to improve his life was so that he could win Daisy. The fact that he cannot fulfill what he has dreamed leads to his collapse. " Fitzgerald makes this idea of the sacrifice of morality in order to attain wealth evident through the characters in the novel, especially through Daisy and Gatsby. " In the novel, Gatsby's dreams to repeat his past affair with Daisy before the war and to win her heart are so unrealistic that one would expect that his dream would fail. Through this organized crime, he had sacrificed morality for his wealth. Overall, the character of Gatsby is a perfect idealization of a 1920s man chasing after his dreams and attempting to fulfill his own idea of the "American dream".
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