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Comparing The American Dream In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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At the very end of The Great Gatsby, Nick perceives the difference between the American Dream of the early explorers who stood in a new, green, flawless world abundant in its promise, spiritual in its beauty, and the illusionary and materialistic dream of the Jazz Age. Although Gatsby’s wealth shows that he achieved the American Dream. Ultimately, F.Scott Fitzgerald uses light and dark imagery and diction of defeat in order to suggest that Gatsby’s obsession with the past has built his dream, while conveying Gatsby’s battle with his past is what made him lose.
Fitzgerald uses dark imagery to illustrate that Gatsby’s visions are not possible.
For instance, Nick Carraway describes Gatsby’s garden as a cemetery: “Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby's house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams”(180). Fitzgerald's use of “vanished” and “whispers” shows that Gatsby’s life, including wealth and character, is forgotten and it has vanished from the society. It also suggests darkness and depression Gatsby experienced, while everything around him was crumbling. He also refers Gatsby’s vision to the discovery of North America: “I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors' eyes – a fresh, green breast of the new world. [...] for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into …show more content…

The Great Gatsby ends with this line: “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past”(180). Fitzgerald is saying “life moves on.” But the current is against us even as we try to move forward. By using words like “against the current,” “borne back,” and “ceaselessly,” it suggests that if we live in our past, the current will pull us back ceaselessly. Fitzgerald is saying that we should leave the past behind and move ahead, even if it will hurt to let

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