The Great Gatsby: Themes/Main Ideas

The American Dream

Fitzgerald weaves an important theme in the novel through the characters: the American Dream’s disintegration in the face of material excess. The 1920s for many were an era of displaced social and moral values, and greed and cynicism dominated society.

Gatsby’s dreams of becoming wealthy and reuniting with Daisy are symbolic of the American Dream. Gatsby’s opulent parties, symbolic of the recklessness of the Jazz Era, is what led to the corruption of the dream. The unrestrained desire for money superseded other drives. It made people selfish and self-consumed.

Originally, the American Dream was about the potentially limitless possibilities America could offer. It was about discovery, being an individual, and pursuing happiness. However, Fitzgerald highlights that in reality the American Dream had been equated with the desire to acquire wealth. He also shows that there existed a class divide, and not everyone could “afford” to dream in America. Gatsby loves Daisy, but they can never be together owing to the difference in their social status. Gatsby is forced to resort to crime in order to gain great wealth; however, this wealth is not enough when there exists a gap in class and upbringing.

Gatsby’s death and his inability to reunite with Daisy shows us the disintegration of the American ideal.

Upper-Class Hollowness

The Great Gatsby offers some very useful insights about the social inequities of the time. People were divided not only on the basis of wealth but also on the question of the means employed to acquire wealth. There existed a wide gap between those who had “new money” and “old money.” In the novel, people with old money occupied East Egg and those with new money inhabited West Egg. The former had more refined appearances but the morality, or the lack of it, was a constant across the two groups. The West Eggers were mostly conceived as vulgar and lacking in social grace.

Gatsby is wealthy. He throws lavish parties, but he is still looked down upon for lacking social manners. Those who attended his parties and met him at other events later refused to attend his funeral. Relationships and friendships were rare, and connections forged with people lacked sincerity in this world divided by classes. Gatsby is unable to realize his dream of reuniting with Daisy owing to this class divide. He had acquired wealth, but that was not enough to win Daisy back. She chose social station over sincere love.

Love and Marriage

The ideals of love and marriage are problematized in The Great Gatsby. The novel shows us two marriages: one involving Tom and Daisy, the other George and Myrtle. Infidelity is at the heart of both these loveless marriages, which seem to be merely marriages of convenience. Myrtle mentions she married George because she thought he was “a gentleman,” suggesting that she hoped he’d raise her class status. Daisy nearly backed out of her marriage to Tom the day before her wedding, and Tom had an affair within a year of the wedding, but the couple remains married because of the importance of keeping up appearances and shared class values.

Gatsby, however flawed, seems to truly love Daisy. However, Daisy soon becomes more of a dream, a passion, and ceases to be someone with whom Gatsby can have a real relationship with. Gatsby is earnest in his quest of Daisy: he acquires wealth and makes the right social connections hoping that Daisy will return to him. Unfortunately, he is unable to accept the reality that Daisy will never leave her husband to be with him. Social class and expectations are more important to Daisy than true and meaningful companionship.

The relationships in the novel also highlight the tension between the old and new America that developed during the 1920s. There was a quest for material gain as well as a nostalgia for a simpler life.