Keeping the American Dream Alive in The Great Gatsby
Keeping the American Dream Alive in The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby, a novel by F.Scott Fitzgerald, is about the American Dream and how it remained as one. The American Dream is to have a lot of money and material objects. To the eyes of the world, the Americans were wealthy and there was no poverty. This however was not true. Many interpreted the American Dream as being a passage to high social status, an opportunity to get what they wanted, and through wealth and power, one could gain happiness. Fitzgerald through his novel shows how aimless the American people were and how downfall fell upon the Americans who tried to reach this illusionary goals of the American Dream. Fitzgerald uses the character Jay Gatsby to show how people in the 1920’s were. Gatsby was born in a low social class. He has dreamt of being rich and famous since he was young. He fell in love with Daisy, a girl from the higher social rank, and tried to match up to her status. Daisy however rejected his marriage proposal because he was not wealthy enough and their difference in social status. He leaves her in order to earn enough money to reach her economic standards. He is said to have joined the army but he earned his money through bootlegging and involvement in criminal activities. ‘ “He’s a bootlegger,” said the young ladies moving somewhere between his cocktails and flowers. ”One time he killed a man who had found out that he was nephew Von Hindenburg and second cousin to the devil’ “ (Fitzgerald 67).
When he finally attains enough wealth, he moves back close to Daisy. “ Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be across the bay (Fitzgerald). He throws extravagant parties hopping by chance Daisy would turn up for any one of it. When this did not happen, then he started to ask around if anyone knew her. This is how he met Nick, his neighbor and Daisy’s second cousin. Nick agrees to set up a meeting between Daisy and Gatsby. He shows of his wealth that he has attained to impress her. He brags about his nice house, big cars and all the nice shirts he has. He uses his appearance to further convince her while greeting her at the door when she came. He chooses to wear his best outfit and later shows her...