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Essay on The Great Gatsby

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Texts can be valued and appreciated for numerous reasons, and this is particularly apparent in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby. The novel is a great part of 20th century literature and is valued for the themes and ideas which Fitzgerald presents, such as the importance of dreams in peoples’ lives, the myth that is the ‘American Dream’, Fitzgerald’s perspective of 1920’s life, and the style in which he portrays his ideas. It is also valued simply as a love story – as an entertaining narrative.

In The Great Gatsby, dreams and their importance play a major part in the plot and underlying themes. It is seen that Gatsby himself presents this idea the most; this is because Gatsby is different to all the other characters in the …show more content…

The parties continue this theme as they take on dream-like qualities. This is seen in Nick’s descriptions, which are very colourful, “blue gardens” and “yellow cocktail music” which helps them resemble dreams. There are constant references to dreams, such as his description of the moonlight, “Whisperings and champagne and the stars” and “the Earth lurches away from the sun” as well as comparisons, which all give the impression that the parties are just a dream or an illusion and not actually reality. Nick’s descriptions also change very quickly from one idea to the next, as well as to different times, which is also similar to dreams.

The contrast to the theme of dreams is also seen in the characters of Tom, Daisy, Nick, Jordan and the people attending Gatsby’s parties, as they show that the ‘American Dream’ is a myth. This is seen through Gatsby’s attempts to repeat the past, and other evidence that proves the incapability of the American Dream such as George Wilson, the social classes of East and West Egg and Tom’s racist comments.

Throughout the whole novel, there are attempts to repeat the past, particularly in Gatsby’s case. There are repeated references to clocks, symbolising the want for repetition, such as Gatsby nearly breaking Nick’s clock, representing his want to stop time or bring back feelings from the past. Also during the meeting set up for Gatsby and Daisy, Nick says to Gatsby, “you can’t repeat the past,” and Gatsby replies

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