Examples Of Disillusionment In The Great Gatsby

“The Great Gatsby” by Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald brings a picture of the American society during the 1920's. The 1920`s were a time of parties, drinking and having fun.  Many longed to be rich and to become a member of the upper class. Although this was the dream for many Americans of this time, it seemed almost impossible to become a part of this social elite unless born into it. Fitzgerald criticizes the American Dream by creating characters from new money, old money and the working class, who all fail in gaining life, freedom and happiness. This is a critical period where the view of the American Dream has been transformed from the ideal dream to a materialistic dream.

The Great Gatsby, a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a story of misguided love between a man and a woman. Fitzgerald takes his reader through the turbulence and trials of Jay Gatsby’s life and of his pining for the girl he met five years prior. The main theme of the novel, however, is not solely about the love shared between Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. The main purpose is to show the decline and decay of the American Dream in the 1920’s. The American Dream is the goal or idea which suggests that all people can succeed through hard work, and that all have the potential to live happy, successful lives. While on the surface, Gatsby

The Great Gatsby portrays the decline and loss of the 1920’s American Dream. F. Scott Fitzgerald reveals the wealth and greed that led to the corruption of the American Dream during this period. Jay Gatsby, who has risen from a poor childhood to being a millionaire, embodies the idea of self-made success. All of the wealth that Gatsby had acquired appeared to be the definition of the American Dream, but were actually the exact reason of the demise of the American Dream. The Great Gatsby displays how the American Dream was destroyed by the pursuit of wealth.

The Great Gatsby Analysis The elusive American Dream—the quintessential stereotype that supposedly depicts the idealized American life: success, personal fulfillment, and wealth. A long-debated concept that author F. Scott Fitzgerald brought to light in his novel The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald himself lived and breathed the American Dream during the Roaring Twenties. He searched for the American Dream only to discover that the “dream” was merely a cyclical illusion as part of the search for the pursuit of happiness as implied in The Great Gatsby; for example, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.

The American dream was originally about discovery, individualism and the pursuit of happiness. However, in the 1920s depicted in the Great Gatsby easy money and relaxed social values have corrupted this dream. During the Roaring Twenties when the ideal American lifestyle was being portrayed and everything was at an all time high. After the end of the First World War, moral and social values diminished and portrayed the Jazz age in which moral degradation and the recklessness of the 1920s. As a result, loneliness, disillusionment and loss were being portrayed throughout this period. In the Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby is an average man who falls in love with an unattainable society. As long as Gatsby has faith in life’s possibilities and regaining Daisy’s love he continues to strive until eventually he does not succeed and ultimately dies. Furthermore, Fitzgerald manages to portray modernism by presenting the flaws in society during the 1920s such as the wasteful lives of the wealthy in the novel, as none of them were portrayed as people who wanted to achieve something worth fighting for and rather were portrayed as people who would spend money for the sake of portraying themselves as wealthy and superior to the other classes in society. This novel is a symbol of the American Dream being disintegrated through the desire of money and pleasure, which overtook more noble goals. Through, the analysis of the main character, Jay Gatsby and the journey of his past,

However, Gatsby’s desire for success and to lead a prosperous life can be seen as early as his childhood with his “schedule” for success written on the back of his book. One of Gatsby’s more positive qualities, as Fitzgerald subtly includes, is his drive and passion, and the past serves as a backbone for what he wishes to achieve. While such ambition can be a positive trait, Gatsby’s crass materialism reflects poorly on his character. The fact that he purchased a grand house just to live near Daisy and that he no doubt spent millions of dollars in attempt to see her at one of his parties makes Gatsby seem shallow and extremely naive. Fitzgerald includes his nice shirts and large parties to emphasize his lust for wealth and success, desires that can be traced back to the success he saw in Dan Cody, the future he saw in Daisy and the potential he saw in himself.

In the novel, The Great Gatsby,written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a man named Jay Gatsby uses his own American Dream from being penniless to wealth, to get the golden girl of his dreams. The American Dream in the novel shows how someone can rise up from being a poor worker to a successful rich man. Through the character of Gatsby and Wilson, it shows how through hard, honest work, you can have almost anything you want.

Although setting life goals is important, once it consumes your personal thought, romance can become a dangerous pressure. In The Great Gatsby, the theme of romantic pressure is introduced with Gatsby 's fixation of Daisy. The influence of wealth and social status cause distress in relationships. Elements of Fitzgerald 's personal life are represented through the characters of Nick and Gatsby. Through these two figures, the audience is shown two sides of Fitzgerald, the outsider and the dreamer. Through characteristics of Nick, we are reminded of Fitzgerald 's constant fascination with the wealthy lifestyle and the perspective of the wealthy through the eyes of an “outsider.” Gatsby suggests an extravagant and influential side of Fitzgerald. Gatsby characterizes a financially reckless and showy side of Fitzgerald. His relation regarding an attraction to unattainable women and the hope for an imaginary goal describes both Fitzgerald and Gatsby. The novel itself influenced the world of literature by providing it with an accurate depiction of life in the 1920s and is commended for its captivating style and romantic interest. The 1920’s were a time for hard working individuals to search for a social standing in hopes to obtain wealth and success. The promise of the American Dream and the pressure of timeless love cause the downfall for both Gatsby and Fitzgerald, causing them to finally realize that their simplistic view on love was irrational. (“The Great Gatsby’s Betrayed

Teeming with underlying symbolism and an array of thematic ambivalence, The Great Gatsby prevails today as one of America’s most iconic literary works. Set during the boisterous and seductive period known as “The Roaring 20’s,” F. Scott Fitzgerald vividly depicts an era whose daring youth strived to acquire the unattainable in pursuit of the popular cultural myth known as the American Dream. However, under closer examination, it becomes evident that the characters in Fitzgerald’s novel are chasing a dream that is far from ideal. In the 1920’s setting that Fitzgerald illustrates, the concept of the American Dream, although still alive, is corrupted through the idealization of monetary possessions, improper morals, and a yearning for

“Gatsby is in modern times the central artistic expression of the American experience.” According to Ross MacDonald, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book, The Great Gatsby, was about “American idealism destroyed by American greed”. (Thompson p.152) This theme of a misinterpreted American Dream was portrayed throughout what is said to be one of Fitzgerald’s most influential works, The Great Gatsby.

The Great Gatsby is a tale of of the rich and their fantastical fancies. This novel has become representative of America’s roaring twenties and Fitzgerald praised posthumously for his work. However, Sven Birkets states that The Great Gatsby is a story of disillusionment and hope and I must say that I agree with this assertion. By reading carefully and looking into the hidden messages of The Great Gatsby, readers will begin to have a glimpse into the heads of the rich, seeing and feeling their outlandish problems and pastimes. Jay Gatsby is a prime example of these fevered dreams and the Buchanans represent how deceiving these illusions can be at their point of culmination.

The novel “The Great Gatsby” written by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a story that follows a cast of characters living in the fictional town of West Egg on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922. The story primarily concerns the young and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his quixotic passion and obsession for the beautiful former debutante Daisy Buchanan. The Great Gatsby explores themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval, and excess. This novel is shown as a cautionary tale regarding the American dream. The Idea of the of the American Dream appeared in the middle of The Great Depression, a time of economic recession following the stock crash of 1929.

While there are many works of literature that can be deemed good, only novels that tell a cautionary tale can be significant. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” provides this and so critics will point to it when asked about the American Dream. However, “The Great Gatsby” has achieved that place in literature history- with its story being one of ‘rise and fall’ while chasing the impossible goal of the American Dream. The novel’s cautionary tale is centered around the character Jay Gatsby and his rise from a poor farm boy to extravagant, new money business man. Gatsby’s tale seems one fit to encompass everything the American Dream stands for. However, it is revealed that his rise was only possible with unethical business practice being a bootlegger and working with other shady “businessmen”.

The Great Gatsby is a highly symbolic piece of literature, representative of life in America during the early 20th century. In particular, however, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel represents the overall failure of the American Dream in an era seemingly known for its economic prosperity. His main argument is that in the end, the American Dream will always be known as a failure; unattainable to almost all who seek it. Fitzgerald argues that the ideals of the American Dream at the time of the so-called “Roaring Twenties” and the “Gilded Age” were more destructive to someone’s overall character than beneficial to their happiness and socioeconomic status. Throughout the course of the novel, the author attempts to uncover the more negative aspects of life in the 1920s and ‘30s, suggesting that dancing flapper girls, luxurious parties, and the growth of the American economy all helped to hide the corruption, cynicism, greed, and dishonesty going on behind the scenes. The American Dream is what its name suggests—simply a dream—and one that Fitzgerald argues won’t ever come true.

Since its was published in 1925, F. S. Fitzgerald ‘s novel The Great Gatsby has become one of the most cited and analyzed pieces of fiction in the history of American literature. It is a great presentation of an age in American history when everything was possible, or at least people thought it was. In his novel, Fitzgerald does not just describe the social, historical and economic conditions which drive his characters, but he also provides us with an insight into the souls of his characters and the reasons which they use to justify their behavior and actions. The fundamental cause for everything that happens in the novel is an idea towards which everyone strives and dreams of. This idea is none other than the American Dream.