The Great Gatsby Literary Essay

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The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is set in 1925, and it revolves around a mysterious young millionaire, Jay Gatsby, and his obsession to pursue his former debutante Daisy Buchanan. It is widely considered to be a literary classic and explores themes of decadence, social turmoil and how the American Dream has faded. This paper analyses the themes, characters, and literary devices used to show Fitzgerald’s opinion on the state of the American Dream and how it has affected those who pursue it.
Fitzgerald suggests that the American Dream and the people seeking it rest in hollowness when such ideas focus on material acquisition as opposed to something more real and noble. One can see this in the characters who search for it. Gatsby’s ability to obtain his wealth makes him an embodiment of the American Dream. He struggles to create his wealth so that he may become the perfect man for his former debutante, Daisy. He obtains his wealth in illegal ways and does not consider the moral consequences of his actions. His reinvention from Jimmy Gatz to Jay Gatsby is symbolic of his pursuit of the American Dream, which corrupts him and eventually leads to his death. In his quest, he is constantly thinking of what next instead of enjoying what he already has. For example, he plans to get the members of the New York elite club (the East egg residents) to accept and respect him. Gatsby is a personification of the so-called American dream showing how although he was able to accomplish his goal of getting Daisy back he is still unsatisfied and continues to seek for something to make him happy.

The quote at the end of the book shows how people will never be satisfied with what they have but will continue to search for that which they do not have. “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.” (Fitzgerald 193).
Tom and Daisy seem to live their dream only at the cost of other people. Tom seeks out Myrtle, even when he knows that she is married to George so as to fulfill his personal pleasures. Daisy thinks she has everything that fits her American dream only to realize that she is married to the wrong man when Tom receives a call from his lover. “The telephone rang inside, startlingly, and as Daisy shook her head decisively at Tom the subject of the stables…” (Fitzgerald 19). Jordan suggests to Daisy that the woman calling Tom is his lover, a secret Tom is hiding from Daisy. When reunited with Gatsby, Daisy realizes that she could have gotten the perfect American dream with Gatsby and this breaks her heart.
In pursuit of the American Dream, Myrtle Wilson becomes Tom’s lover to better her life. Her actions of infidelity lead her to her death. Myrtle is drawn into an affair with Tom because of her quest for a better life. She wants a perfect, wealthy, and glamorous life. She envies the lives of the rich as she reads magazines filled with gossip. The magazines depict her hopes for an improved life filled with wealth and glamor. To her, Tom represents money and the fame she genuinely covets. She recounts her early days in her courtship and marriage to George saying that she was crazy about him. “The only CRAZY I was was when I married him. I knew right away I made a mistake” (Fitzgerald 38). Myrtle narrates to one of her friends how she found out that George Wilson had borrowed someone’s suit to get married in a show of how ungrateful and materialistic she is.
Some of the symbols that have been utilized illustrate the American Dream include the light that is green, which embodies Gatsby’s aspirations. Gatsby sees the green light as a beacon to Daisy. “Involuntarily I glanced seaward — and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and faraway, that might have been the end of a dock.” (Fitzgerald 24). The light represents the future that is forever elusive. It also embodies society’s desire and the never-ending need to obtain material things.
The valley of ashes consists of a large piece of land covered with industrial waste. It represents absolute poverty, hopelessness and the moral decay of the rich who in pursuit of wealth dump waste from their industries on the land having no regard for nothing else but their pleasure. “The valley of ashes is bounded on one side by a small foul.” (Fitzgerald 27). This region also symbolizes just how impossible the American Dream is, as the lower class people living in this area want to leave but cannot. An example is when Myrtle tries to abandon her life here but does not succeed and ends up dead.
The fading bespectacled eyesight of T. J. ECkleburg shown on the advertising board at the valley of ashes symbolize the eyes of God and the extent to which humans have strayed from their spiritual beliefs. “But his eyes dimmed a little by many paintless days under sun and rain; brood on over the solemn dumping ground” (Fitzgerald 26-27). They represent how meaninglessness the world is regarding morals and interests in their monetary gains. The billboard was intended for business promotion showing the commercialism of America and relation of a man’s worth to his wealth rather than his morals.
George Wilson’s grief-stricken mind demonstrates the interconnection of the eyes of the doctor with God after the death of his wife, Myrtle who was having an affair with Tom. “God knows what you’ve been doing…You may fool me, but you can’t fool God!” (Fitzgerald 170). Additionally, the eyes are symbolic of the dishonesty by Americans. They watch as the lead characters make their way across as they head to New York City where Gatsby has planned a meeting between Nick and Meyer Wolfshiem. Tom carries on the extramarital affair and Daisy goes to meet with her lover, Gatsby. The eyes show the emptiness of the American Dream as it might have provided massive wealth for Gatsby but at the cost of his moral values.
Through the characters and literary devices used, Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby has portrayed Americans as people with decayed social and moral values who only value their wealth and pleasure. The Great Gatsby show how Americans’ greed for money and pleasure supersedes honorable goals. It is evident from the points discussed in the easy that the American Dream only truly caused disruption, deception, and which leads to the death and destruction of some of the characters such as Gatsby, Myrtle, and Daisy.This paper has analyzed the themes, characters and literary devices used to show Fitzgerald opinion on the state of the American Dream and how it has affected those who pursued it.
Work cited
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 1995. Print