The Green Dream in the Great Gatsby
The Green Dream in the Great Gatsby
When was the last time you looked at something so hard, hoping you would get something out of it? Well, that's what Gatsby does in this novel. In the Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the green light to represent Gatsby’s longing for Daisy and the fact that the American Dream can not be achieved because of the structured class system. In this book, it shows that you can not move up and down in class ranks. Once you are in one rank, then you stay in that one. Gatsby tries to move for Daisy, but really never does accomplish it.
Gatsby looks at the green light on Daisy's dock representing his lost love with her. He yearns to see her once again. He tries to get to her through her cousin Nick. But Nick doesn't realize this until later on in the book. His American Dream wont let him in different class ranks. He is in one that at least he's trying to be in is the higher rank. The one that he thinks Daisy wants. He throws a bunch of parties with a nice house to show off to Daisy hoping that should would come. He would never actually come down to the party, he would look around to see if she appeared or not. “Sometimes they came and went without having met Gatsby at all, came for the party with a simplicity of heart that was its own ticket of admission.” (pg. 41)
Gatsby thought he achieved his American Dream because he met Daisy. Since he finally reunited with her, he thought he achieved it all. He thought that was why the green light went away. That's not actually the reason why. He still hadn't achieved the dream because his money wasn't all real. “Gatsby, his hands still in his pockets, was reclining against the mantelpiece in a strained counterfeit of perfect ease, even of boredom. His head leaned back so fat that it rested against the face of a defunct mantelpiece clock, and from this position his distraught eyes stared down at Daisy, who was sitting, frightened but graceful, on the edge of a stiff chair.” (pg. 87)
The Class system in the Great Gatsby doesn't have...