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The American Dream in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

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The American Dream in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a brilliant illustration of life among the new rich during the 1920s, people who had recently amassed a great deal of wealth but had no corresponding social connections. The novel is an intriguing account about love, money and life during the 1920s in New York. It illustrates the society and the associated beliefs, values and dreams of the American population at that time. These beliefs, values and dreams can be summed up to what is termed the 'American Dream'; a dream of money, wealth, prosperity, and the happiness that supposedly came with the booming economy and the get-rich-quick schemes that formed the essential underworld of …show more content…

Her deranged husband George Wilson discovers that it was Gatsby?s car that hit wife; as a result, he seeks out Gatsby and kills him. ?When a man gets killed I never like to get mixed up in it any way. I keep out. When I was a young man it was different? I stuck with them to the end? Let us learn to show friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead?? (Chapter 9, pg.173). Consequently, The Great Gatsby represents mankind?s feebleness by illustrating its blind struggle to find acceptance within society, it?s materialism, and its naturally sinful disposition through the characterization of Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanan, and Tom Buchanan.

The Great Gatsby is a beautifully written story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is narrated by the simple Nick Carraway and tells of the intricate lives of Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan. Fitzgerald creates a perfect mix of love, happiness, wealth, betrayal, and suspense. The novel explores the life of the wealthy and hopeful J. Gatsby as he pursues his love, Mrs. Daisy Buchanan. Through the narrative of the gentle and levelheaded Nick, we learn to love Gatsby and to loathe those who cause his downfall. ? Gatsby turned out all right in the end; it is what preyed Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elation?s of men? (Chapter 1, pg.6-7). Yet, through many understated, despicable acts, there is a light of goodness and

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