The pursuit of any success in life is a complicated journey. Only a handful of people make it to the big time. The challenge is even more difficult because the amount of people trying to achieve the same goal when only a selected few can. Corruption and deceit are inevitable in a dream driven by money. The Great Gatsby examines and critiques the vision of the American dream. Jay Gatsby is a man whose life was comparable to the American dream. He was a well-known man, had the best parties, lives in a beautiful home, drove the finest cars, and had a closet full of clothes. All these materialistic belongings paint a picture of beauty for those chasing this fictitious happiness. In reality they bring a life full of stress, jealousy, and corruption. …show more content…
In the Roaring Twenties, people from all the social classes suddenly became aware of the class differences. This may be the effect of the jump on the stock market or the aftermath of a world war. It was apparent that the social classes were clearly divided by location, amount of material possessions and the way one person acts. Fitzgerald illustrates these class differences by introducing to us different characters of different social classes and distinctly describes them in the way they act belonging to that of one class. Fitzgerald also introduces to us a setting that was designed to show these class differences by placing them in different locations with a basic layout (Mega essay 2015). For example you have West egg, East egg, and the Valley of ashes. Now while West and East egg are not really different in form of size but more in social class. The East was old money, money that carried on for generations and those people had established lives. Usually grandsons of oil tycoon or 5th heir to a billion dollar company. People on this side were considered flashy and selfish. Ungrateful if you ask me. While over in the West, which was new money and middle class. For those who have just started to acquire money. They could have harsh ways buy I feel they were a little more down to earth being that their money wasn’t for sure. It could all be gone tomorrow. Now aside from the eggs, you have the Valley of ashes. The valley of ashes is bounded on one side by a small river. A fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges, hills, and grotesque gardens. Overseeing the valley are the eyes of Doctor T.J Eckleburg. Big eyes looking out of yellow glasses, almost as God looking over them (Fitzgerald, F. 1925). Valley of Ashes represents absolute poverty and hopelessness. The lower classes who inhibit this region all want to leave but cannot. This illustrates how the American Dream is impossible to
Many historians think about how Pennsylvania had a big impact on the United States that we call home today.Pennsylvania was one of the first thirteen colonies which also means it was one of the first states to come up with laws.The reason Pennsylvania had such a big effect on the United States history is that our ancestors made fairly good decisions but they also made bad decisions.When William Penn founded Pennsylvania in 1681 on what was known as the Quaker religion. When people look at the history Pennsylvania they see the good things our ancestors chose to do when it came to setting up the thirteen colonies, but what most people overlook is the bad things they chose to do like how they slaughtered thousands of Indians at one time.So with
During the Roaring twenties, social class was an important aspect of society. All different classes were for the most part separated by where people lived. In other words, by no means would anyone from a lower class be caught in an uptown setting. There are a variety of characters in the novel that come from different economic backgrounds. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald successfully uses location to differentiate social status amongst his characters while the weather and seasons of those locations help guide them. Each character helps represent and support the differences of social class and the four main locations, The East Egg, the West Egg, the Valley of Ashes, and New York City.
Class structure in the 1920s was synonymous to prejudice. The 1920s was known as a period of wild excess and great parties with excitement arising from the ashes of the wars in America’s history. It was a period in history where rapid materialism and narcissistic ideals grew uncontrollably, and it was the days where Jay Gatsby, illegally, rose to success. Having social classes was the same as segregation, except it was through economic standings, the two both instil injustice within social standards. Class structure was used to describe the difference between the new money and old money. The Great Gatsby by Francis Scott Fitzgerald, written during the 1920s, emphasizes the division between the social classes and the reasons behind why they
The Pursuit of Satisfaction: An Analysis of How Chasing the Ideas of the American Dream Leads to the Characterization of Prominent Figures in The Great Gatsby.
F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of the finest American authors of the twentieth century wrote The Great Gatsby during the Jazz Age to critique the distortion of the American dream, and his work has lasted long past his lifetime. Fitzgerald discusses the nature of love and wealth and stresses the importance of defining a person beyond their external position. In his novel, letter to his daughter, and the screenplay adapted from the novel, it is clear that F. Scott Fitzgerald utilizes exposition, narration, and imagery to illustrate how people in the 1920s did not understand the meaning of true love and worried about superficial characteristics, thus resulting in the corruption of the American dream from the pursuit of true love and equality to the pursuit of wealth and discrimination; however, he moralizes that human beings are capable of emotional growth and of escaping the illusion of wealth.
In the past the American Dream was an inspiration to many, young and old. To live out the American Dream was what once was on the minds of many Americans. In The Great Gatsby, the American Dream was presented as a corrupted version of what used to be a pure and honest ideal way to live. The idea that the American Dream was about the wealth and the possessions one had been ingrained, somehow, into the minds of Americans during the 1920’s. As a result of the distortion of the American Dream, the characters of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby along with many others, lived life fully believing in the American Dream, becoming completely immersed in it and in the end suffered great tragedies.
East Egg and West Egg are "identical in contour and separated only by a courtesy bay ... They are not perfect ovals ... but their physical resemblance must be a source of perpetual wonder to the gulls that fly overhead. To the wingless a more interesting phenomenon is their dissimilarity in every particular except shape and size."(9) In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald creates different worlds, where many different people live amongst each other. The areas of East Egg and West Egg in Long Island find isolation not just geographically, “separated only by a courtesy bay” (9), but more significantly in the way the two societies contrast. Along with East and West Egg, Fitzgerald creates another symbol
Supporting sentences: Its occupants represents those confined in their pursuit of the American Dream meanwhile the rich enjoy their wealth and success in East and West Egg. In reality, the valley of ashes is described as a grey, desolate and filthy motor road, lodged between West Egg and the rest of New York. It
Fitzgerald’s novel, the Great Gatsby is one of the most meticulously written story of all time. This book incorporates different themes, yet the shadiness of the American Dream is the most significant one. The American Dream designates that one starting very low on their economic or social status and getting success and wealth trough their arduous work. Having a big house, a nice car and a happy family show the success of the American Dream. This dream is also shown by the concept of a self-made man, who struggles through life to get successful and wealthy. This dream does not only cause corruption but also destruction.
Although "The Great Gatsby" is filled with multiple themes such as love, money, order, reality, illusion and immorality, no one would probably deny that the predominate one focuses on the American Dream and the downfall of those who attempt to reach its illusionary goals. The attempt to capture the American Dream is the central of this novel. This can be explained by how Gatsby came to get his fortune. By studying the process of how Gatsby tried to achieve his own so-called American Dream, we could have a better understanding of what American dream is all about, in those down-to-earth Americans' point of view. The characterization of Gatsby is a representative figure among Americans as he devoted his whole life to achieve his dream.
Throughout the novel The Great Gatsby, there is a constant theme present: social class. Fitzgerald makes a connection between the theme of social class, and the settings in the novel for example The Valley of Ashes which is described as a “desolate area of land” (p.21) and a “solemn dumping ground” (p.21) which is where the poor people live. The Valley of Ashes is situated between West Egg and New York, West Egg being the place where the aspiring classes are situated, which is the “less fashionable of the two” (p.8), this is where Gatsby lives. West Egg is the place of ‘new money’, Fitzgerald shows this by the idea of the main character Jay Gatsby, rumoured to be selling illegal alcohol (prohibition) which means he is quickly making vast
Ambitions are an integral aspect of human culture. They motivate us in a ceaseless pursuit of constant success. However, humans are truly not contempt with their successes, and perpetually dream for more success in a never-ending spiral of greed. Jay Gatsby’s character throughout F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, is an ideal epitome of human greed, or as we can refer to it, the American dream. Fitzgerald is able to foster a culture within the novel where dreams seem unreachable, despite the amount of hunger, or greed, one may possess in aim of fulfilling their desires. A sense of elitism is also present within the novel as Fitzgerald ably crafts astounding discrepancies within the social structure of the era fondly
Rich and upper class live in East and West Egg and poor, almost peasant appearing individuals live in the valley of ashes. Fitzgerald making these living arrangements almost mocks at how vulgar Marxists believe working classes will keep the superstructure together. These working class individuals are portrayed throughout the book as being hardworking and looked down on by upper class. In the book Tom walks into George’s shop and talks down to him about buying the car and even makes passes at his wife as soon as he leaves the room. In other parts of the books as Daisy and Jordan Baker are mentioned they are always lying around, at luncheons or attending parties, and trying to find activities to do. The upper class characters are being supported by working class or people they can merely pay. Gatsby is rejected it seems from both upper and working classes. Daisy rejects him because of how he came into his money and when they were younger because of his social class. Tom rejects anyone in the book because of social status, looks, education, wealth, and even his wife; he rejects Gatsby for being inferior in many of these ways. Gatsby is rejected by working classes because he has money and nice possessions, which they can not afford.
The word ‘Egg’ in West Egg symbolises new life and renewal, the word ‘New’ in New York also symbolises similar ideas of a young, modernistic place. This is appropriate as the valley of ashes is the geographic midpoint between the suburbs and the city, between the two yet not part of either; as it is the home of the people left behind in the Roaring Twenties.
“I am still a little afraid of missing something if I forget that, as my father snobbishly suggested, and I snobbishly repeat, a sense of the fundamental decencies is parceled out unequally at birth” (2). So speaks Nick in the beginning of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. This exemplifies how people born into different social classes are not born with the same character and ethics. Since people from different classes think so differently, this may cause conflicts between them and might prevent them from having substantial relationships with each other.