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Corruption of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald gives the reader a glimpse into the life of the high class during the 1920’s through the eyes of a man named Nick Carraway. Through the narrator's dealings with high society, Fitzgerald demonstrates how modern values have transformed the American dream's ideas into a scheme for materialistic power and he reveals how the world of high society lacks any sense of morals or consequence. In order to support his message, Fitzgerald presents the original aspects of the American dream along with its modern face to show that the wanted dream is now lost forever to the American people. Jay Gatsby had a dream and did everything he could to achieve it however in the end he failed to. This reveals …show more content…

The first hint of tragedy begins when the Buchanan's daughter is brought into the salon and Nick observes an obvious disturbance in Gatsby's attitude and thinking, "Gatsby and I in turn leaned down and took the small reluctant hand. Afterward he kept looking at the child with surprise. I don't think he had ever really believed in its existence before" (117). Daisy then calls her child an "absolute little dream", crushing all of Gatsby's hopes of recreating the past. Then the transition of the American dream with materialism is pointed out moments later when Nick and Gatsby try to distinguish the charm in Daisy's voice. At that moment Gatsby says, "her voice is full of money", and Nicks reaches a revelation about society: "That was it. I'd never understood it before. It was full of money that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it…. High in a white palace the golden girl" (120). With this revelation all of Daisy's charm and beauty is stripped away and only money is left to be admired.
Afterwards, when Gatsby dies, any chance of the old American Dream of surviving in the dehumanized modern world is destroyed with him. All of the hopes and dreams that strengthened and uplifted Gatsby are shattered as he lies in his pool, dazed and confused about the world he is living in and about to leave. After shooting Gatsby, George

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