Untitled Essay Research Paper Fitzgerald

Untitled Essay, Research Paper

Fitzgerald’s dominant theme in The Great Gatsby focuses on the corruption of the American Dream. By analyzing high society during the 1920s through the eyes of narrator Nick Carraway, the author reveals that the American Dream has transformed from a pure ideal of security into a convoluted scheme of materialistic power. In support of this message, Fitzgerald highlights the original aspects as well as the new aspects of the American Dream in his tragic story to illustrate that a once impervious dream is now lost forever to the American people. The foundation qualities of the American Dream depicted in The Great Gatsby are perseverance and hope. The most glorified of these characteristics is that of success against all odds. The ethic of hard work can be found in the life of young James Gatz, whose focus on becoming a great man is carefully documented in his “Hopalong Cassidy” journal. When Mr Gatz shows the tattered book to Nick, he declares, “‘Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves like this or something. Do you notice what he’s got about improving his mind? He was always great for that.’” (pg 182) The journal portrays the continual struggle for self-improvement which has defined the image of America as a land of opportunity. By comparing the young James Gatz to the young Benjamin Franklin, Fitzgerald proves that the American Dream is indeed able to survive in the face of modern society. The product of hard work is the wistful Jay Gatsby, who epitomizes the purest characteristic of the American Dream: everlasting hope. His burning desire to win Daisy’s love symbolizes the basis of the old dream: an ethereal goal and a never-ending search for the opportunity to reach that goal. Gatsby is first seen late at night, “standing with his hands in his pockets” and supposedly “out to determine what share [is] his of our local heavens” (pg 25). Nick watches Gatsby’s movements and comments: “-he [stretches] out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and as far as I [am] from him I [can swear] he [is] trembling. Involuntarily I [glance] seaward-and [distinguish] nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might [be] the end of the dock.” (pg 25) Gatsby’s goal gives him a purpose in life and sets him apart from the rest of the upper class. He is constantly striving to reach Daisy, from the moment he is seen reaching towards her house in East Egg to the final days of his life, patiently waiting outside Daisy’s house for hours when she has already decided to abandon her affair with him. Gatsby is distinguished as a man who retains some of the purest traits of the old dream, but loses them by attempting to reach his goals by wearing the dream’s modern face. Fitzgerald attributes the depravity of the modern dream to wealth, privilege, and the void of humanity that those aspects create. Money is clearly identified as the central proponent of the dream’s destruction; it becomes easily entangled with hope and success, inevitably replacing their places in the American Dream with materialism. This replacement is evident in Gatsby’s use of illegal practices and underground connections to attain his enormous fortune. His ostentatious parties, boundless mansion, and lavish clothing are all signs of his unknowing corruption. His ability to evade the law, demonstrated when his traffic violation is ignored by a police officer, reveals his use of status and privilege to get what he needs. Although Gatsby’s rise to prominence is symbolic of the nature of the new dream, the most odious qualities of that dream are evident in Daisy and Tom Buchanan, who live their lives with no hopes and no regrets because the true foundation of their characters is their opulence. While Daisy is never heard from again after Gatsby’s death, Nick confronts Tom one last time, at which point Gatsby’s rival responds: “‘I told him the truth… What if I did tell him? That fellow had it coming to him’” (pg 187). Tom admits to the fact that he is responsible for Gatsby’s murder and Wilson’s suicide, but continues to claim innocence because he has never known guilt nor shame as a member of the established elite. Through Nick, Fitzgerald pinpoints the effect of the modern dream on the upper class, thus condemning an entire people and its revered society: “It couldn’t forgive him or like him but I saw what he had done was, to him, entirely justified… They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made… ” (pg 187) Nick realizes that Tom and Daisy represent a class of heartless citizens who have attained success at the cost of dehumanization. Their vast wealth blocks out all inspiration and all true emotion, resulting in a void of apathy buttressed by status and power. At the end of the novel, Fitzgerald creates a sense of utter hopelessness to prove that the purity of the American Dream is dead with the examples Daisy’s baby, Gatsby’s death, and Wilson’s suicide. The first hint of this tragic loss is the introduction of the Buchanans’ daughter, whom Daisy refers to as “Bles-sed pre-cious.” When the girl is brought into the Buchanans’ salon, Nick observes an obvious disturbance in Gatsby’s attitude, thinking, “Gatsby and I in turn [lean] down and [take] the small reluctant hand. Aft