Category: The Great Gatsby

Introduction

All people dream as this ability is human. Each nation dreams, but only one nation made up the dream that contains the way how to reach it. Of course, this is the American Dream. American Dream is the belief that if you work hard, you are creative and persistent; you will succeed and achieve prosperity.

To my mind, the reason why the American Dream is not dead is that it works. And there are a lot of examples of the American Dream realization in real life. Of course, it is also reflected in American literature, for example, F. Scott Fitzgerald paid a lot of attention to this in his Winter Dream and The Great Gatsby.

The American Dream in Fitzgerald’s Novels

At the very beginning of The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald (through the narrator) claims that American Dream invented by our great-grandfathers is still in our minds. The narrator, Nick, mentions his “great-uncle” who “started the wholesale hardware business,” which

Nick’s father proceeded to carry on (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby 4).
Nick’s great-uncle worked very hard and, finally, made the American Dream come true. And even after his death, his descendants benefit from his deeds. The other story beginning also reveals the success story of the main hero, who followed the American Dream.

He started his business: he bought “a partnership in a laundry” and studied thoroughly every detail which improved services he provided. He worked hard; he even “made a specialty of learning how the English washed fine woolen golf-stockings without shrinking them” (Fitzgerald, Winter Dream 7). And in a few years he achieved prosperity, his persistent work led to the American Dream realization.

It is necessary to point out that there are different ways to achieve the American Dream realization. For example, Fitzgerald provides two separate stories: one story shows a transparent and quite exact way to succeed, and the other one shows an obscure way of gaining prosperity. However, the person made a lot of effort to have everything he (and many others) wanted.

To my mind, Winter Dream is a perfect example of the American Dream, since the main hero, Dexter, implemented each point of it, he was persistent and very hard-working, he was a very sensible and pleasant young man.

From his very childhood, everyone used to say that Dexter was “the best” in everything he did since he was “willing,” “intelligent,” “quiet,” “honest,” and “grateful” (Fitzgerald, Winter Dream2). Even being a caddy, he was very precise in his work; he didn’t skip from work and “never lost a ball” (Fitzgerald, Winter Dream 2).

The boy understood the importance of education and was a very assiduous student, and after graduation, he started his business at once. Dexter did everything thoroughly, and that is why in 4-5 years after buying a “partnership in a laundry,” he had a net of very profitable laundries.

All this makes Dexter an embodiment of the American Dream. Dexter was successful and respected. His clients insisted “that their Shetland hose and sweaters go to his laundry just as they had insisted on a caddy who could find golfballs” (Fitzgerald, Winter Dream 7).

Not only his clients respected him, everyone who knew his story recognized him for his persistent work. To my mind, this respect came from understanding that Dexter implemented the American Dream: he worked persistently, and he deserved to be prosperous. This example, people wanted and still want to follow because the American Dream is a perfect story of success, which can be real.

Gatsby can be suggested as another example of the American Dream, though in his case, his story is far from perfection. His way to prosperity is quite obscure. No one really knows the source of his income, no one knows what exactly he did to achieve such wealth, and no one knows whether he worked hard to win the prize.

I think that is the main reason why people thought Gatsby was connected with the criminal world. For example, one woman said that “he killed a man once” (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby 29). Some other people thought he was “some big bootlegger” just like other “newly reach people” (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby 69). And this is another side of the American Dream when some people also do their best to achieve success; they are very persistent, though they take some illegal actions.

This, of course, is not praised, this cannot be the genuine American Dream, that is why people don’t like Gatsby, don’t trust him; they only envy him. Such kind of deviated American Dream can do no good for anyone; that is the reason why, to my mind, Gatsby is murdered at the end of the book. Fitzgerald showed that such prosperity is a false one; only good deeds can bring good to one’s life. Though I would like to add that Gatsby was quite a good person, he was kind and sincere with Nick, and he was a good friend.

The only thing Gatsby wanted was that the woman he loved was with him. He earned all those money for her. That justifies Gatsby in a way, and Nick even understands that all those people who accused Gatsby of being a criminal but still visited his parties and enjoyed his generosity, were even worse than Gatsby, they were “a rotten crowd” (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby 98).

Thus, such an obscure example of gaining prosperity is not often called the American Dream, since this example doesn’t reveal one of the constituents of it, which is hard work, and criminal efforts can’t substitute honest work. To my mind, The Great Gatsby is a sad story of how the American Dream, being inverted and misunderstood, led to the death of a person.

Conclusion

The two fiction writings by F. Scott Fitzgerald prove that the American dream is still in our minds, and it is inspiring. Reading these great stories makes the reader learn what the American Dream is to be, what one should do to achieve success, and what mistakes one should never stay safe.

Of course, Fitzgerald is not the only one who reveals this idea in his works; a lot of different writers, poets, musicians, politicians, and many others keep mentioning it. The American Dream is not dead since every day we witness new stories of hard work and success in every field of our life.

Moreover, my firm belief is that the American Dream can never fade away since it gives us hope in success and shows the way how to reach it. Young people see that it is possible to reach the top by persistence and hard work; thus, they go on trying and never quit their efforts in achieving success.

Works Cited

Fitzgerald, Francis Scott. The Great Gatsby. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions, 2001.

Fitzgerald, Francis Scott. Winter Dreams. Whitefish, MY: Kessinger Publishing, 2004.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby has captivated readers for centuries and is often regarded as a semi-autobiographical masterpiece. The story is set during the roaring twenties, a period of significant social and cultural change, and it incorporates many of the author’s personal experiences, feelings, and perceptions of the time. It reflects the author’s struggles and goals and reflects society’s superficiality and moral decadence (Eleftherakis 17). By drawing extensively on his thoughts, impressions, and experiences, Fitzgerald uses characters to build a story that portrays the spirit of the time. In numerous aspects, The Great Gatsby is an autobiographical book. The author accurately captures 1920s life based on what he saw and experienced. Fitzgerald’s own conflicted nature is revealed through the difference between Nick Carraway, the book’s narrator, and Jay Gatsby, the book’s hero.

The narrator, Nick Carraway, illustrates how Fitzgerald incorporates autobiographical elements into his work. Carraway, like Fitzgerald, is a young, aspiring writer from the Midwest who is attracted to the East Coast’s world of the affluent and glamorous elite (Fitzgerald 12). Much like Fitzgerald did during his time in New York City, Carraway allows readers to witness the excesses and moral decline of the time. This adoption of a character closely matching the author allows Fitzgerald to portray his sentiments and experiences of the historical period more directly and authentically.

Additionally, Jay Gatsby is a significant example of how the author incorporated his emotions and perceptions into the novel. Similar to Fitzgerald, Gatsby is a self-made man from a humble beginning who climbs to great fortune and success before being undone by his unrequited love for a woman from a higher social class (Fitzgerald 12). Gatsby’s tragic tale mirrors Fitzgerald’s personal experiences, notably his unfulfilled love for Ginevra King (Qin 3). The author’s use of a character based on his own experiences allows him to exploit the theme of unrequited love in a more intimate and relevant way.

Fitzgerald’s own conflicted nature is revealed in the novel through the contrast between the characters of Nick Carraway, the book’s narrator, and Jay Gatsby, the book’s hero. Gatsby is depicted as a rich, secretive, and passionate guy who is desperately in love with Daisy Buchanan, a woman from his past (Qin 4). He organizes lavish parties and is adamant about winning Daisy back, even though she is already married. Gatsby represents the affluent elite’s excess and irresponsibility, and his tragic demise reflects the era’s superficiality and moral decadence. Gatsby’s character is a representation of Fitzgerald’s desires, as well as his disappointment with the world of the privileged elite.

In contrast, Nick Carraway is presented as a more restrained, honest, and moral individual. He is a critical observer of the affluent elite’s excess and depravity, and he acts as a juxtaposition to Gatsby’s character (Yan 4). Furthermore, in contrast to Gatsby’s aggressive pursuit of his aspirations, Nick’s status as an observer and narrator represents Fitzgerald’s battles with self-doubt and inactivity. This contrast reveals the author’s ambivalence towards the lifestyle and ideals of the wealthy elite, which he both envied and condemned.

In conclusion, The Great Gatsby is an autobiographical book in which the author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, accurately captures the life and culture of the 1920s based on what he saw and experienced. Overall, The Great Gatsby serves as a reflection of Fitzgerald’s own experiences and emotions, and the contrast between the characters of Nick and Gatsby represents his inner conflicts. The novel is a commentary on the superficiality and moral decay of the era and a reflection of the author’s struggles and aspirations.

Works Cited

Eleftherakis, Antonios. “The Roaring Twenties as Depicted in Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby.’” University of Piraeus, 2022, pp. 3–69.

Fitzgerald, Scott F. The Great Gatsby. Scribner, 2018.

Qin, Zhang.” A Deconstructive Analysis of The Great Gatsby.” Journal of Literature and Art Studies, vol. 8, no. 12, 2018, pp. 1–5.

Yan, Wang. “Discovering Nick: An Analysis of the Narrative Features in The Great Gatsby.” Psychology, vol. 12, no. 8, 2022, pp. 1–4.

Introduction

Every human being is born with unique character traits. Even identical twins cannot have similar characters. Despite the uniqueness, some people may exhibit related characteristics to some extent. This paper compares the characters of Gatsby and Eponine. Gatsby is the main character in the book “The Great Gatsby,” while Eponine is one of the characters in the book “Les Miserables.”

Gatsby and Eponine

Gatsby is a noted habitual liar. Even his closest associate, Nick, and his girlfriend, Daisy, were equally victims of his lies. One of his apparent lies was that “he studied at Oxford University” (Fitzgerald, 156). The truth is that Gatsby worked as “an army man, sailor and bond seller” after he dropped out of St. Olfa’s college, where he had learned for only two weeks (Fitzgerald, 153).

Eponine’s character was filled with malice and perception. At the age of eighteen, she would fight much like men older than herself. She chose not to disclose anything about her past. Gatsby, at the same time, kept lying to his friends about his past (Roche, 161).

Gatsby struggled from a poor background and eventually became a wealthy man. The much wealth he amassed through illegal means made him proud and flashy. Jay liked showing off with his money. The author narrates how he kept on organizing brilliant parties for strangers. He lived in the class of the rich; his mansion was built with expensive construction materials with a luxurious “tower on one side” (Fitzgerald, 152).

The nicely finished compound had a swimming pool lined with marble and enclosed in a large parcel of land on which he tended a lawn and flower gardens. Eponine was also proud, just like Gatsby. She was very proud that she knew how to write and read. “I am going to write something to show you,” this was her statement to express her feelings about her literacy (Hugo, 112). Her literacy placed her in a different social status with the rest of the women.

Gatsby was quite a gentleman. He extended his generosity to everyone he came across. When Daisy, his girlfriend, was accused of killing Myrtle, Gatsby stood by her side and defended her throughout the case (Fitzgerald, 151). He was kind to everyone and was ready to use his money to please people.

In one of the parties he organized, he gave a new gown to one of the guests whose dress was accidentally torn while at the party (Bohlin, 162). Eponine was emotional and fearful. All of her songs are emotional (Roche, 162). She cried so often as a way of expressing her emotions.

Because of his cheating nature, Gatsby was a susceptible character. He embraced lies as a strategy to protect himself and perpetuate his “great name” (Bohlin, 220). This character made him loose all his close friends. He also used the lies to convince her girlfriends in romance. Eponine acts more like a boy than a lady. She is associated more with barricade boys and fought just like men. She bears the brand of “on my own” attitude, which is more of a man’s character than a woman’s one (Hugo, 109).

Conclusion

This essay made a comparison of the characters of Gatsby and Eponine as detailed in the books “The Great Gatsby” and “Les Miserables.” The two personalities were effectively used by the writers to bring out the themes of romance, social class, and struggles of life.

Works Cited

Bohlin, Karen. Teaching Character Education through Literature: Awakening the Moral imaginations in Secondary Classrooms. New York: Routledge Falmer. 2005. Print

Fitzgerald, Scott and Prigozy, Ruth. The Great Gatsby. New York: Oxford University Press Inc. 1998. Print.

Hugo, Victor. Les Miserables. Fairfield: 1st world Library. 2007. Print

Roche Isabel. Character and meaning in the novels of Victor Hugo. New York: Purdue University.2007.Print.

Introduction

Written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and first published in 1925, the setting of The Great Gatsby is an island, which is dominated by prosperous, wealthy, and poor communities of East Egg and West Egg. Nick Caraway, a native of Minnesota and an advocate of Midwestern values, narrates it in the first person. In the novel, he later relocates to New York where he gets involved in bond business. In the era of writing The Great Gatsby, cultural conventions, which were perceived as out of date died to usher new ones from1920 to 1930s. Women were granted the right to participate in voting. This provision made them perceive themselves as equal to men.

They even went to the extent of assimilating masculine ways and fashions into their lifestyles. In The Great Gatsby, Scott Fitzgerald documents these changes through an in-depth exploration of cultural changes such as the rise in consumerism, materialism, greed for wealth, and the culture of loosening morals in the 1920s American society. This paper discusses these aspects as essential constituents of 1920s American culture as revealed in The Great Gatsby.

The Materialist Culture

Scott Fitzgerald uses symbols sufficiently to give the novel a more vivid description of the American culture. Such symbols reflect social challenges such as corruption that arose from the emergence of materialist and capitalist cultures. For instance, East Egg depicts places where Buchanans live. In real life, this represents aristocracy, which took a long time to establish. Symbolically, the author denotes aristocrats as “old money” (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 54). They are conventionally characterized by corruption. They are highly materialistic in nature. West Egg residents or “new money” (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 54) are perceived by East Egg counterparts as upstart outsiders. Nick and Gatsby live in this community. A close look at these two distinct societies gives an image of a future fictional American society culture, which is free from corruption and largely not driven by individualism.

Scott Fitzgerald criticizes the culture of materialism and greed amongst people in the higher social classes. Samkanashvili reckons that Scott Fitzgerald’s novel has the lesson of the need to subscribe to a firm belief that people must work hard to achieve their goals of becoming rich and prosperous, rather than following short-cut routes that often prompt corruption to take place (73). Materialistic nature of the characters in the novel validates this claim. Many of them cannot proactively grasp the concept of working hard to build their material wealth base. No people in The Great Gatsby get rich by working hard. Jordan does not understand the concerns of the need to work hard and genuinely. Although she is a famous player of golf, she can do anything on the loose to have her right always. In fact, Nick says,

“Jordan is “incurably dishonest. She was not able to endure “being at a disadvantage, and given this unwillingness, supposedly she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was unusually young in order to keep that fresh insolent smile turned to the world, and yet satisfy the demands of her hard jaunty body” (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 63).

Being dishonest makes her (Jordan) incredibly uncomfortable with life. She has it exceptionally clear in her mind that her success is not honestly acquired, and that it can depart from her any time. Unlike Jordan, Mytle possesses little material items. Although her husband is immensely loyal to her, she possesses a strong desire to have everything else. She indeed admires East Egg’s people with mega envy together with intense animosity. She fails to comprehend why East Egg’s people live materially well while she, together with her husband, still remain engulfed in “the valley of ashes” (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 76).

She thinks that she deserves to be with Tom whose money, influence, and power provide answers to her (Mytle) problems of poverty. Indeed, Tom Buchanan believes that he needs additional power and influence despite being already powerful and blessed with a beautiful daughter and wife. Fitzgerald and Bruccoli reckon, “Tom would drift on forever seeking a little wistfully for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game” (10). He is guided by a culture of gathering more wealth for individualistic gains than he already has (Zeitz 13). One woman is not just adequate. His desire entails acquiring all that is available at disposal.

Daisy is coercive and manipulative. She is conversant with her possession of the charm that she uses maximally to maintain security for her lifestyles. Similar to other characters in The Great Gatsby, she has an intense greed for money (Leader 13). Gatsby admits this fact (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 127). Daisy and Tom have similar traits, which support materialist culture that was prevalent in the 1920s American society as portrayed in The Great Gatsby. They have an immense belief in the capacity of money to make them look superior to other people who are short of it. Fitzgerald and Bruccoli write, they “smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together” (187-188). This claim implies that they thought that money could make them more authoritative than other people. Thus, possession of material wealth was important for the placement of people in a given social class and status.

The Consumerism Culture

The Great Gatsby reflects the emergence of a culture of increased consumerism that is driven by increased economic prosperity. According to Zeitz, 1920s marked an era in which Americans began to reap from the benefits of increased consumerism (21). Unfortunately, the depression of 1929 led to a loss of such gains (Romer 598). The novel’s narrator illustrates well the increased consumerist culture. Gatsby’s house that was located in the seashore was characterized by immense lavishness and luxury. He also threw parties now and then, which were equally characterized by high consumptions.

When describing Gatsby’s parties, Caraways says that there was frequent musical noise emanating for his neighbor’s house throughout all nights in summer (Zeitz 22). He further states that people who came to the party in Gatsby’s house arrived and left in the fashion of months. The sheer number of the party participants implies that the 1920s American culture was characterized by indiscriminate spending in an increasing number of products that were availed for sale by the rising manufacturing capacity of the nation. This situation is well supported by the fact that after the party and with additional of extra workers, Gatsby’s gardeners “toiled all day with mops and scrubbing-brushes and hammers and garden shears, repairing the ravages of the night before” (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 121). These gardeners cleaned the leftovers of the products that had been consumed during Gatsby’s parties that were dominated by haphazard expenses.

In the era of writing The Great Gatsby (1920s), America had experienced an immense economic growth. Therefore, it is not surprising that the consumerist culture, which Scott Fitzgerald criticizes, had emerged. In 1921 to 1924, the American GDP grew from $ 69bilion to about 93 billion (Woods 213). The aggregate wages had also risen from $36.4 billion to the tunes of 51.5 billion (Woods 213). The public benefited from this increased success. Hence, consumer spending increased tremendously since more people gained access to the well-paying job opportunities. Tracing historical development in the US, Scherer and Ross inform that only 16 percent of homes in America had electricity by 1912 (82).

In 1920s, this figure rose to more than 75 percent. This implied that people had substituted responsibilities that were done by hand such as maintenance with technology such as vacuum cleaners and washing gadgets. Before the end of 1930, 12 million homes in the US had already bought radio cassettes while the numbers of those who were connected with telephones increased by 50 percent (10.5 million in 1915 to more than 20 million by the end of 1930) (Scherer and Ross 93). All these developments illustrated increased consumer spending as noted by Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby.

Increased availability of products for purchasing in the free market led to the widening of the gaps between people of different social economic classes. Scherer and Ross remark that Americans purchased durable goods in the 1920s, thus increasing their spending on clothes and various mass-produced items (105). The availability of mass-produced items among majority Americans led to the erosion of the existing mechanisms of differentiating people based on their social economic classes. In this sense, better economic fortunes in America, together with the rising mass production in the 1920s normalized the culture of consumption so that products that were consumed by the wealthy members of the society became now affordable to persons in the lower social economic classes.

The Culture of Loosening Social Morals

The jazz age was born during the 1920s era in the American history. As Caraway describes the nature of Gatsby’s parties, it is clear that even though Americans enjoyed prosperity that was associated with the jazz age, they also feared its social implications. Zeitz remarks, taking advantage of prosperity that was experienced in a decade, youths threw lucrative parties, got excessively drunk in illegal liquor, and used sexually arousing dancing styles in the vast number of established jazz clubs (23). Scott Fitzgerald mentions in her novel an incident of prohibition of sale and the production of liquor to tame youths who had become overindulged in alcoholism. However, drawing from her work, these prohibitions seemed to have little implications (Zeitz 23). The overindulgence is perhaps well reflected in The Great Gatsby in Gatsby’s parties that are analogous to those that were thrown by the American youths in the 1920s.

Flappers emerged in 1920s. Women who were never contented with pleasure wore knee-length skirts, overly long draping necklaces, and rolled stockings (Leader 14). Despite the fact that only few women precisely fitted this description of 1920s flapper, such a description was common in the media. The aim was to provide a vivid description of the rebelliousness that is associated with the youths of the time. Characters such as George and Tom’s wives exemplify the rebellion that is characterized by dwindling moral standards. Nick laments, “I stared at (Wilson) and then at Tom, who had made a parallel discovery less than an hour before-and it occurred to me that there was no difference between men” (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 158).

In this phrase, Nick talks about Tom and George upon realizing that their wives are cheating on them and that they had a sort of terminal sickness. In this context, The Great Gatsby, which is a novel about the 1920s lifestyles, portrays the American culture as one that eroded the traditional morals and social norms such as denouncing the moral responsibility to remain faithful in marriage. Upon noting the degradation of morality among youths in the 1920s, Samkanashvil claims that the American youths were incredibly concerned with nobility (75). This claim suggests that 1920s were marked by the coming out of an impatient society that was led by the adolescents who opposed honorable margins that were constant in the previous age group.

The rising immorality also explains the cultures of loosening morals in The Great Gatsby. Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted havening sired a child with a house help, even though he was still married. Gatsby and his associates such as Wolfsheim engage in illegal dealings (Silver Para. 2). For instance, rumors exist that Gatsby is involved in the importation and ferrying of illegal liquor amid the existing ban. This revelation marks a society that embraces and protects a culture of impunity that is driven by both greed and erosion of social morals in the 1920 American society. Economic and social immoralities in The Great Gatsby reveal the lost American dream.

The concept of the American dream as developed in chapter nine of The Great Gatsby revolves around the concepts of moral values that have been used to pursue happiness. However, the quest for contentment changed with time to become the search for wealth through excessive insatiability. This situation resulted in corruption of the ideal American dream. Upon renouncing his parents, Gatsby is considered a child of a supernatural being (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 98), with the only thing that he believes in being money. In this context, Gatsby is a representation of a fallen American dream due to the rising immorality that characterizes the culture of the 1920s America.

Conclusion

Colonizers arrived in the US with similar dreams of a healthier life for all people. The aftermath of this desire was the American dream that entailed the search for riches, equal opportunity, independence, and devotion. Unfortunately, with regard to The Great Gatsby, this dream dwindled, as materialism, consumerism, and the culture of loosening social morals became the order of the day in the 1920s America. The outcome of these cultures was the decaying American dream. A new version of the dream emerged. Materialism led to the increased corruption and breakage of the law at will among the rich in pursuit of money.

This situation created opportunities to satisfy the undying appetite for consumption, opulence, and immorality. Youths challenged the existing social norms since they got jazzed (drunk) with illegal liquor while at the same time engaging in sexual immorality. These practices gave rise to a culture of immorality, which opposed the traditional moral and social norms of the past generations.

Works Cited

Fitzgerald, Scott, and Matthew Bruccoli. The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2000. Print.

Leader, Zachary. “Daisy Packs Her Bag.” London Review of Books 22.18(2000): 13-15. Print.

Romer, Christina. “The Great Crash and the Onset of the Great Depression.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 10.5 (1990): 597-625. Print.

Samkanashvili, Maya. “What Makes the great Gatsby by F.S Fitzgerald Great?” Journal of Education 1.2(2012): 73-78. Print.

Scherer, Frederick, and David Ross. Industrial Market Structure and Economic Performance. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990. Print.

Silver, Steph. Immorality, 2011. Web.

Woods, Clyde. Development Arrested. New York, NY, and London: Verso, 1998. Print.

Zeitz, Joshua. F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Age of Excess. New York, NY: Institute of American History, 2005. Print.

Introduction

Francis Scott Fitzgerald is a renowned American writer of the Jazz Age. He wrote about the disconcerting time in which he lived, where people were either rich or dreamt of wealth. Just like the majority of Americans, Fitzgerald could not resist the urge of wealth accumulation; unfortunately, this quest brought misery and devastation.

Fitzgerald’s life is an example of both sides of the American Dream: the joys of young love, wealth and success, and the tragedies associated with success and failure. His prodigious literary voice and style provide remarkable insight into the lifestyles of the rich and famous, as well as himself.

Early Life

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in “St. Paul, Minnesota, the U.S. on 24 September 1896 (Edward 5). His father, Edward, was a nobleman from Maryland. Francis’ mother, Mary McQuillan, came from a wealthy background. Fitzgerald first attended St. Paul Academy, in 1908-1910, before joining the Newman School, a Catholic preparatory school in New Jersey, in 1911-1913.

His dreams of fame came close to reality later in 1917 at Princeton University, where he became a member of the prominent Princeton Triangle Drama Club. Fitzgerald made a significant contribution to the club, by writing scripts and lyrics for the club’s music, and contributed to The Princeton Tiger Humor Magazine and the Nassau Literary Magazine(Broom 65).

Fitzgerald struggled with his academics and finally dropped out of the college of Princeton and joined the army in November 1917, where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the junior team. Fitzgerald “fell in love with Zelda Sayre, the youngest daughter of an Alabama Supreme Court Judge while in Camp Sheridan, near Montgomery, where he had been assigned, in June 1918” (Curnutt 96).
He had grand hopes of marrying Zelda Sayre, who was eighteen years old then, in a few years (Bryer and Barks 36). After discharge from the army, in 1919, he involved himself in advertisement work, in New York, to in a bid to get money for marriage.

In July 1919, Fitzgerald quit from advertisement work and engaged in writing the novel “This Side of Paradise,” which made Zelda famous almost overnight on 26 March 1920 as one of the characters in his publication (Donaldson 56). They had a reunion and had a marriage a week later in New York, where they got on as young celebrities with expensive living.

His wife Zelda became pregnant during his summertime in Westport, where he was writing his second novel, and they had the first trip to Europe in 1921 before settling in St. Paul for the birth of their only child, Frances Scott, in October 1921 (Prigozy 96).

Literary Career

The literary works of Fitzgerald include the novel “This Side of Paradise” that he begun in Princeton. He wrote the book after breaking with fiancée Zelda Sayre and returning to St. Paul, Minnesota. The inspiration for writing this novel was to highlight both sides of youth in the U.S., morality, and immorality.

The novel was published in 1920, which made him famous. Within no time, Fitzgerald could make publication in prominent literary magazines like Scribner and other high paying popular publications, which included The Saturday Evening Post.

“The Beautiful and Damned” was his second novel, which he wrote in New York City, where he had rented an apartment after riotous summer in Westport, Connecticut. The book gives a picture of the immoderation of the Eastern Elite, during the Jazz age, through the characters Anthony and Gloria Patch, who end up to carefree life, as they wait for the young man to inherit wealth. The novel, a collection of short stories, “Tales of Jazz Age” in 1922, sold remarkably well, and Fitzgerald rented a house on Long Island.

Fitzgerald went to Europe for over two years, where he made publication “The Great Gatsby” in 1925 and began companionship with Ernest Hemingway of Scott. His first movie assignment was in 1927 in Hollywood and afterward went abroad several times. “Tender Is the Night” was his other novel based on his wife, Zelda, who had a main nervous breakdown in 1930 and her treatment in a Swiss Clinic. It describes his futile fight to save their marriage.

The novel describes his failure to marriage through the description of a psychiatrist, who gets used up after marrying one of his patients and exerting his vitality on her. “Tender is the Night” expresses Fitzgerald’s downright hopelessness and struggle caused by depression and Zelda’s sickness.

Critical Review

His fellow authors Ring Lardner and Ernest Hemingway, were critics of his first novel, “This Side of Paradise,” who appreciated his work (Eble 84). The book brings out the theme of romantic egoism, which he uses to enlighten his fellow America’s youths. The understanding of this novel, though outdated in the current generation, is that money should not be the only factor to determine love.

In the novel “Tender is the Night,” Fitzgerald describes the society in Riviera where he and his family had moved to live after his misfortune of late inheritance. They had joined a group of wealthy American expatriates whose life was profoundly influenced by Gerald and Sarah Murphy.

This gives a description of his struggles due to depression and economic failure in a bid to save his marriage. Following the challenges in life, Fitzgerald became an alcoholic (Canterbury and Birch 17). In real life, people have cases or even indulge themselves in irresponsible behavior because of marital problems and financial failure in a bid to avoid stress and depression.

“The Beautiful and Damned” novel was criticized by his friend Edmund Wilson and editor Marx Perkins who made the editorial suggestion (West 29). The book brings out social concerns of the quest for the status quo, through the life of Anthony and his wife Gloria, whose main work was to go down into laziness and alcoholism, while Antony awaits inheritance. Fitzgerald’s sluggish background affected his spending, which led him to deteriorate to a middle class, as he expected inheritance. They moved to Riviera to escape the misfortune.

Later in Life

Fitzgerald was despaired, by failure to save his marriage, and became an addict to alcohol. Nonetheless, he managed to secure a job as a scriptwriter in Hollywood in 1937. It was during this time Fitzgerald fell in love with Sheila Graham, whom they lived peacefully despite his moments of bitterness and violence due to alcoholism. He occasionally traveled to the east to visit Zelda or his daughter Frances. He finally wrote, “The Last Tycoon” in October 1939 based on renowned Hollywood producer, Irving Thalberg.

Analysis of the Themes

The Great Gatsby brings the theme of social standing through Gatsby, who spends his whole life to attain financial and social status in life. The desire to win Daisy back and achieve a social status motivated him to move to West Egg and make money by any necessary means. This shows his determination in life to reach a specific position in life through hard work.

Contrastingly, Daisy and Tom bring the theme of misuse of their position to despise others and lead an extravagant life, through Nick Caraways’ story. Jay Gatsby is a farmer’s son who turns a fraudster, due to his romantic illusion about the power of money to win wealthy Daisy. This story reveals a change in culture and lifestyles amongst the Americans. This helps to bring out heartlessness and immorality of the prosperous American society of the 1920s.

Economically there was an increase in the stock market, and the rich spent a lot of money on parties. This wave of prosperity is symbolized, in World War 1, whose fatal mission, and violent death, explains the collapse of the era and beginning of disillusionment, with the American dream of prosperity. The difference between “Gatsby’s dream, vision, and reality are prominent themes of the quest for social classes” (Prigozy 63).

In this novel, Fitzgerald uses figurative language to bring out his theme. Excessive images bring out idealism and illusion. The green light, which shines off daisy clock, shows the birth of a dream that, in the future, may not be a reality. Bright sunlight represents wealth and good scenes, as well as corruption and moral decay.

The author also uses personification when he says, “the sun smiled” to the children to depict the perspective of children towards the American Dream. The irony is noticeable in the party’s scene, and in Jordan’s observation in her assessment of Gatsby’s party, that to her seems small contrasting to the big parties she likes. The drunk scene in which Daisy destroys a letter from Gatsby and marries Tom the next day is central to irony (F. Scott 58).The theme of this story is the American dream that brings out moral corruption, deception, and delusion.

Fitzgerald’s Lifestyle: My Impression

Fitzgerald’s lifestyle makes an impression of my life’s quest for prosperity. His life is portrayed with struggles from the death of his noble father to his death. In spite of him be a robust literary legend, he had a battle in his academics that led him to join the army where he met the love of his love, Zelda. Later in life, he struggled to maintain his marriage after his wife succumbed to sickness. Fitzgerald became an alcoholic to overcome the stress and depression that made him have struggles in his work life.

Despite his struggles in life, Fitzgerald had exceptional talent in literature and became a prominent literary figure in the university. His notable works include five novels, and numerous publications are still inspiring to date. In his social life, he was unpopular to the other students due to his immense enthusiasm in life.

He became a prominent member of the Triangle club in pursuit of his ambitions and had a lifelong relationship with Edmund Wilson and John Peale. Fitzgerald was in love with Zelda Sayre that made him work hard to maintain the relationship due to his dismal financial income. His wife, Zelda, is used, in his novels, to bring out themes of the quest for the status quo. “The Lost Paradise” is a story after their breakup before their marriage because of his low income.

In the second novel, “The Beautiful and Damned,” her wife is portrayed as less understanding as to the two collapses into middle age life as they awaited him to inherit wealth and become rich.

The third novel, “Tender is the Night,” describes his struggle to maintain his marriage due to his failure over Zelda. “The Great Gatsby” is a novel, which describes how Fitzgerald spends the rest of his life struggling to work to maintain his marriage. His last book, The Last Tycoon, was incomplete by the time of his death, and his wife had returned to her matrimonial home.

Conclusively, Fitzgerald is a great writer with his novels and short stories having a substantial impact on addressing socioeconomic issues in the current life. His stories address the issues of social classes in society and the way the rich take advantage of the poor. He brings out the theme of the status quo- who should provide in a family.

Works Cited

Broom, Harold. F. Scott Fitzgerald. London: Chelsea House Publications, 1999. Print.

Bryer, Jackson, and Cathy Barks. Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2002. Print.

Canterbury, Ray, and Thomas Birch. F. Scott Fitzgerald: Under the Influence. St. Paul: Paragon House, 2006. Print.

Curnutt, Kirk. A Historical Guide to F. Scott Fitzgerald, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. Print.

Donaldson, Scott. Critical Essays on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Boston, MA: G.K. Hall, 1984. Print.

Eble, Kenneth. F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Collection Of Criticism. New York: Mcgraw-Hill, 1973. Print.

Edward, Rielly. F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Biography. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2005. Print.

Prigozy, Ruth. The Cambridge Companion To F. Scott Fitzgerald. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Print.

West, James. The Question Of Vocation In This Side Of Paradise And The Beautiful And Damned. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Print.

Introduction

The role played by a character in any play defines his or her traits. These roles depend on the themes that the writer wants to discuss throughout the play. The writer could talk about love and compassion, greed and injustice. The theme of the play brings out the main traits of character revealed within the play.

A positive theme shows positive traits whereas a negative theme highlights negative ones. Different styles become necessary to help represent better the traits designed for the plays. This essay compares and contrasts the characters of Gatsby and Jean Valjean in the Les Miserable novels and films.

Gatsby was a young man whose life got transformed from poverty to riches. He grew up under sheer impoverished circumstances as a young boy but became extremely wealthy. He should be about thirty years old and full of life.

Raised from a struggling family, Gatsby desired riches and hated the miserable life his family lived. He became obsessed with seeking shortcuts or a quick way to gain some fortune and wealth. He was eager to get power that came with being wealthy. He hated processes and procedures. He could not keep up at school because he did not see how the school curriculum could get him out of poverty.

He dropped out of school barely two weeks after admission because of dissatisfaction with the duties assigned to him at school – janitorial duties. He could not bear the shame of the assigned duties. This was also his only way of paying his school fees. Stopping to do the chores meant that he would have to leave school. That is what he did by expelling himself (Fitzgerald, 2008).

Left with no other choice, Gatsby resorted to criminal living. He formed a gang engaging in several organized criminal activities including the sale of illegal brews (alcohol) and stolen securities. The decision by Gatsby to live such a life came as a need to be loved by a lady Daisy Buchanan.

The obsession for riches and wealth got fueled by the desire to have this woman as his wife. He wanted to make a great impression on this lady with his wealth and would not give up until he acquired everything he wanted. The lady Daisy was from a rich family with an elegant background. Gatsby lied about his own background in order to prove that he is worth this lady.

The writer of the novel, The Great Gatsby, deliberately delays the information about Gatsby’s obsession with lady Daisy until the end of the novel. He presents him rather as a flamboyant man who loved to throw opulent parties at his luxurious mansion. He paints him living a luxurious life surrounded by powerful men and gorgeous women (Bloom, 2010).

Jean Valjean is a central character in Les Miserables who became the main figure of love and compassion as highlighted in the Gugo’s trials. He was a criminal whose life got transformed by the deplorable conditions and experiences acquired at the prison. He went into the prison naïve and emerged as a hardened criminal with immense hatred for the church and society. He did not care about respect and greeted even the bishop with much contempt and hatred.

His meeting with Myriel Digne changed his life. He was forced to make a promise to become honest in all his undertakings. The once hardened and desperate criminal was influenced by love and yielded to its redemptive power and compassion. His diligence helped him to become a symbol of change within his hometown. Jean Valjean ended up as a philanthropic wealthy man (Hugo, 2006).

Discussion

The stories of the dominant Gatsby and Jean Valjean show some similarities concerning their characters. Both of them have lived criminal lives even though fueled by different passions. They are both conquered by love. Gatsby and Valjean end up wealthy and powerful.
On the contrary, the two characters differ in their personality and strength. Gatsby strikes the readers as a naïve and lovesick individual though his character is negative. His desperation is clear.

He is a cheat who tells lies about his background. He is selfish. He only thinks of himself and what he wants as opposed to what can benefit the others. When conquered by love, Gatsby resorts to criminal activities to sustain it. On the other hand, we see Valjean who is physically strong and hardworking. He is an honest man who keeps his word (promises). His life is transformed by love and compassion.

He becomes visionary and philanthropic. Gatsby spends his money and wealth only on himself. He is evil and lacks a vision. Valjean is a symbol of hope. The factual changes that occur in the life of Valjean prove that anyone can experience a better life after a negative experience. Gatsby is a symbol of evil and discontentment. He is constantly in pursuit of what he lacks for. He is not willing to discover and do what is right while Valjean seeks to do what is right.

Conclusion

Gatsby and Valjean have similarities and differences. Valjean’s life changes for the better in the face of love unlike that of Gatsby. Their stories highlight the fact that these individuals are unique and different.

Works Cited

Bloom, Harold. The Great Gatsby. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2010. Web.

Fitzgerald, Scott. F. The Great Gatsby. USA: NuVision Publications, 2008. Print.

Hugo, Victor. Les Miserables. Objective Systems Pty Ltd, 2006. Web.

The Great Gatsby: Abstract

This Great Gatsby essay explores one of the greatest novels written in the 1920s. It was created in the days when the society was by far patriarchal, and the concept of the American dream was different. Essays on The Great Gatsby usually explore how much men had dominated society, which led to women discrimination and objectification; the novel will help us understand the concept of feminist critique.

Introduction

The feminist critique is an aspect that seeks to explore the topic of men domination in the social, economic, and political sectors. It aims to expose how much women characters have been discriminated in the society through the study of literature. This sample essay on The Great Gatsby will apply the concept of feminist critique with reference to the F. Scott Fitzgerald’s work to expose some of the aspects of patriarchal society as revealed in the novel.

The Great Gatsby: Summary and Analysis

The Great Gatsby starts by bringing in a male character, Nick Carraway, as the narrator. First, the narrator is just from the First World War and seeks to settle and takes a job in New York. Searching for wealth and happiness, he rents a bungalow in West Egg next to a generous and mysterious bachelor Jay Gatsby, who owned a mansion.

Nick describes the mansion as “a colossal affair by any standard – it is an imitation of some Hotel de villa in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden” (Fitzgerald 1).

The introduction analysis brings out a theme of male occupying a more significant portion of wealth. These two men were relatively young and yet so rich to own such property at their age. The mentioned women, Daisy, Jordan, and Myrtle, are just an attachment to the men in the society since they all at some level depict an aspect of lack of independence since men dominate every aspect of life.

Socially, men seem to dominate in the relationships in The Great Gatsby. Tom’s financial power sets him way ahead of that he can afford to have an affair outside marriage. That’s what he does in an open way as he invites Nick, Daisy’s cousin, to meet his mistress Myrtle Wilson. Nick’s reflection on the relationship between Tom and Daisy, Tom, and Myrtle shows a break of social norms.

Tom’s relationship with the two women is abusive and of so much control. He abuses Myrtle publicly in the name of making her straight by even beating her. Tom comes out as a man who has so much power to bully everybody, including Myrtle’s husband Wilson, he also has so much control in Daisy, his wife.

Usually, one will expect that Nick being a cousin to Daisy, will resist seeing their close relatives get involved in extra-marital affairs. Nick being a man, supports other men, Tom and Gatsby, in their moves. After knowing that Gatsby had been in love with Daisy before she got married, he allows reconnection to happen in his own house although Gatsby’s credibility was still in question to him.

He admires Gatsby’s having “an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness he had never found in any other person and which it was not likely he could ever find again” (Fitzgerald 1). This admiration overpowered his questions on Gatsby’s character and that of his company. This shows that men’s dominance was critical since women were to follow what the men wanted them to, not their choices.

The novel was written in a time when men could batter women if dissatisfied by their actions, absolutely ignoring women’s rights. In the meeting with Myrtle, when an argument ensued between Tom and the mistress, Tom broke her nose to shut her up. The whole thing looks normal and even when George complains to him, he is not moved by his cry.

Tom is the dominant character in the novel. He harasses people starting with his wife, his mistress, George and even Gatsby. Tom is seen doing the same thing Gatsby does, dating a married woman, but he has the guts to confront him on his affair with Daisy. When Myrtle died, he fires a battle between Gatsby and George by convincing him that Gatsby had an affair with Myrtle.

George kills Gatsby before killing himself as a sign of revenge. The revenge was purely egotistic to reclaim his position as Myrtle’s husband since his status as a man on top of the relationship had been invalid. This leaves a mark in moral decadence, which only happens in a patriarchal society that cannot be controlled by any other voice than the male voice.

The novel has so much influence geographically and culturally due to the approach used and the structure itself. Tom Buchanan’s treatment of his wife and mistress and Gatsby’s manipulation of Daisy, Tom’s wife, brings out the aspect of male domination.
The male has a dominant part in the exploitation of power in the relationships, and marital status is nothing of a worry when one wants to pursue their mistresses. Men in the text have idolized women, and they justify their reasons for the exploitation of women.

For example, Gatsby’s life is made true by the fact that he managed to have a relationship with a lady he had loved before. He does everything to get her, which include him “buying a house in West Egg just so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (Fitzgerald 1). This was a crucial sport in being strategic in his plans.

Tom, on the other hand, uses his physical and financial powers to prove that he is in control. He and Gatsby set social structures that attract women to them. However, Nick, the narrator, was not able to relate with the unpredictable and manipulative Jordan Baker. Jordan Baker’s character of believing that she could do as much as a man could do scared him away. She is unlike Daisy, who chose to stay with Tom, although she was in the relationship for financial gains.

Gatsby describes her as one with “voice is full of money” (Fitzgerald 1). For Jordan’s belief in herself, Nick later blames his failure to cope with her on her partying, smoking, and drinking character without really revealing that he had the same character as being pragmatic.

Women in the great gatsby had been accustomed to so much submission; an example is in Daisy’s character. She has a complacent kind of character that makes it difficult to make her own decisions.

She exhibits incapacity to have an independent sense of self-will that Gatsby takes advantage of to win her by flattering her with words like “You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock” (Fitzgerald 1). The fact that she had a relationship before with Gatsby was enough to lead her in deciding to have an affair with him.

Myrtle also belongs to the same types of women as Daisy as she engages in a relationship with another woman’s husband just because they met and liked each other. This aspect manages to bring out a clear definition of gender roles and identity in the earlier days when the novel was written. Men ask, and women respond without looking at what could be affected in their decisions.

Conclusion

The Great Gatsby sample essay shows how the novel brings out an aspect of both genders reclaiming their positions in society in terms of gender relations. Though the male has dominated, and the female has proven to be dependent on men, they both need to redefine themselves as the victims of social norms.

The male gender has dominated the economic and social part of the society making sure that the role of women is reduced to being subjects to the male exercise of power. This has been shown clearly by women getting trapped in the misogyny and manipulation set by men hence making it hard for them to stand by their choices. Their gender nature dictates the character choice in the male-dominated world.

The male exercise their power over the significant female characters by ensuring that they remain the sole financial sources, and the women exercise their dependence by remaining in their marriages despite their involvement in affairs outside marriage. Though there are men like George, who have lost their position, they still exhibit their ego by defending their marriages.

Work Cited

Fitzgerald, Scott. The Great Gatsby. University of Adelaide, 2005. Web.

‘‘The America Dream’ is a longstanding common belief of the American population that in the United States, people are free to realize the full potential of their labor and their talents and every person in the United States has the opportunity to become wealthy. This belief sprang from the idea that the American society is an egalitarian society where the strictures of the class system hold no power, in contrast to the traditional societies of the Old World where those of the highest social status were those with ancestral titles to vast landholdings, the American society is held to be a strict meritocracy where hard work, ingenuity, and innovation is rewarded.

The foremost exponents of the American dream are the novels of Horatio Alger. Alger’s novels tell the story of poor but hard-working and honest pubescent boys who manage to become well-off through their honesty, effort, and determination against odds. In contrast to the naïve optimism of Alger’s works, many other authors have brought forth a more jaded and cynical view of the American dream in their works of fiction. Two of these works of fiction, which depict the American dream in a negative light, are John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.

Of Mice and Men is the story of the shattered dream of two poor friends George and Lennie who travel from place to place working for low wages in horrible conditions. Their dream is to have enough money to buy a ranch and “live off the fatta the lan’” (Steinbeck 15).

The Great Gatsby is the story of a poor man of ignoble birth named Gatsby who becomes obsessed with an aristocratic woman named Daisy Buchanan and spends years acquiring great wealth through illegal means to acquire her for himself, even though she has already married someone else from her social class. In the words of Fitzgerald “the whole idea of Gatsby is the unfairness of a poor young man not being able to marry a girl with money” (Turnbull 150).

In Of Mice and Men Lennie is a large and strong man-child, George is physically weaker and smaller but the more intelligent of the two. George realizes that it is the company of the child-like Lennie and their love for each other that keeps them together like a family that keeps the dream alive in him and without him he would be just another wastrel blowing out his money on drink, gambling, and prostitutes (Steinbeck 15); however, in times of self-pity and frustration, he regards this as a curse rather than a blessing (Steinbeck 101).

Mentally retarded Lennie on the other hand does not understand all that, he is obsessed with petting soft, smooth, and furry things (Steinbeck 87). Lennie’s foremost interest in acquiring the ranch is because George promises him they would keep rabbits at the ranch and Lennie would get to tend them (Steinbeck 6). The rabbits are foremost in Lennie’s mind, he keeps asking about them; “George, how long’s it going to be till we get that little place an’ live off the fatta the lan’an’ rabbits?” (Steinbeck 55).

George knows that their chances of acquiring a ranch on their labor’s wages are slim. He hopes to save up enough money to join the California gold rush “We can make maybe a couple of dollars a day there, and we might hit a pocket” (Steinbeck 33).

Besides the main characters, a number of the minor characters in the two novels also seek the American dream. Curley’s wife, a good-looking and flirtatious young woman, had a dream of being an actress, once when she was fifteen an actor in a traveling theatre asked her to join them but her mother wouldn’t let her go. Another time she went to a dance with someone who claimed to work in Hollywood and he promised to write to her after he had gotten her a part in a movie but she received no letter. Believing that a letter had been sent but her mother had hidden it, Curley’s wife, resolved to leave her mother’s home and get married as soon as possible. Her marriage to Curley was borne of that rash decision, and she regretted marrying him (Steinbeck 85, 86).

Another character who dreams the American dream is “Crooks the negro stable buck” (Steinbeck 65). Crooks is called ‘Crooks’ because of his crooked back. He got the crooked back as a result of a horse at the farm kicking him (Steinbeck 20).

Crooks being Black is shunned by everyone else; all he wants is to be accepted in the society of the other farmworkers, he says to Lennie “Maybe you can see now. You got George. You know he’s goin’ to come back. S’pose you didn’t have nobody. S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunk house and play rummy ‘cause you was black. How’d you like that? S’pose you had to sit out here an’ read books. Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books ain’t no good. A guy needs somebody—to be near him.” (Steinbeck 71).

The precariousness of Crooks’s existence in the social order of the farm is revealed when Curley’s wife threatens him with lynching when he attempts to get her to stop flirting with them (Steinbeck 78, 79).

Lennie’s naïve belief in the dream briefly entrances Crooks and old Candy, the one-armed ranch worker, in reply to Curley’s wife’s threats Candy says, “S’pose you get us canned. S’pose you do. You think we’ll hit the highway an’ look for another lousy two-bit job like this. You don’t know that we got our own ranch to go to, an’ our own house. We ain’t got to stay here. We gotta house and chickens an’ fruit trees an’ a place a hunderd time prettier than this. An’ we got fren’s, that’s what we got. Maybe there was a time when we was scared of gettin’ canned, but we ain’t no more. We got our own lan’, and it’s ours, an’ we c’n go to it.” (Steinbeck 77).

Curley briefly shares in the dream but when he witnesses George’s anger at Lennie for telling everyone about their secret dream he realizes that because he is Black, even people like George who are lowest of the low in terms of social standing, do not want to associate with him, he extracts himself out the dream of the others:

’Member what I said about hoein’ and doin’ odd jobs?”
“Yeah,” said Candy. “I remember.”
“Well, jus’ forget it,” said Crooks. “I didn’t mean it. Jus’ foolin’. I wouldn’ want to go no place like that.” (Steinbeck 81).

In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is like a reverse Horatio Algernon character. He is considered great by the narrator Nick Carraway because of his optimism and his “romantic readiness” (Fitzgerald 8). Unlike a Horatio Algernon character, Gatsby’s aims are met not through hard work and honesty but through bootlegging and consorting with the Fagin-like Meyer Wolfshiem who is portrayed as a corrupting influence (Fitzgerald 60).

According to Gatsby’s version of the American dream, if a person of ignoble birth gathers enough money, through fair means or foul, he will, as a result, be accepted into the ‘old money families and will be considered a suitable match for their girls. He gives large and lavish parties every weekend, hoping to draw to them, the love of his life Daisy Buchanan (Fitzgerald 64).

Nick admires Gatsby greatly for his dream and his capacity to fulfill his dream. Nick, being from a staid and sober, upper-class family can never envision accomplishing what Gatsby accomplished. In Nick’s adoration of Gatsby, there are traces of envy and the desire to have all that Gatsby has.

Myrtle Wilson is a lower-class married woman who has an affair with Daisy’s husband Tom Buchanan. Myrtle is depicted as a vulgar, mercenary woman, unsatisfied with her lot in life. She denigrates her husband as a “little kyke” (Fitzgerald 31). She puts up with the unpleasant Tom, because of his money even though at one point in the novel Tom is shown to be physically abusive toward her, breaking her nose with a slap (Fitzgerald 33).

Daisy Buchanan is another character in the novel with a set of dreams. Daisy lives the life of a socialite but underneath it, all is bored with her life. She is depicted as having no interest in raising her little daughter. She seeks to relieve her boredom by rekindling the relationship with Gatsby but when Tom tells her the reality about Gatsby’s wealth in his confrontation with them; she immediately abandons him (Fitzgerald 97).

Daisy is a symbol of rampant consumerism and the commodification of human relationships. Nick gives us a clear picture of Daisy and Tom Buchanan when he says, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (Fitzgerald 142).

In The Great Gatsby, the author attempts to show us the futility of believing poverty to be a curse and sin and wealth to be a blessing. Gatsby is a ‘true believer’ in the American dream and his vulgarity is made apparent. He shows Daisy his masses of suits, dressing gowns, and shirts to impress her with his wealth (Fitzgerald 75). Even his words of praise for the love of his life are tinged with a mercenary flavor, he says to Nick that Daisy’s voice is “full of money” (Fitzgerald 97).

Steinbeck too shows disdain for the American dream. In the United States, the “American dream” is often just a means of perpetuating the wealth and the power of the wealthy and the powerful. Steinbeck shows how the American dream is just a cover for the Darwinian struggle for existence, the poor are unable to change their lot in life and are cursed to remain poor, while the wealthy continue to prey upon them.

The reality of the matter was that in the early part of the twentieth century when these two novels were written, the chances for any poor American to become rich through honest means were slim, much as they are today. Today, racial discrimination against ethnic minorities no longer has any legal basis, while in the early twentieth century, local governments and private employers could discriminate against ethnic minorities with impunity, giving them a much lesser chance at improving their lot in life.

Did the American dream ever exist? It is certainly true that the poor white colonists and immigrants from Europe had better opportunities to improve lives in the United States than in their home countries, but the idea that everyone can be wealthy and those that aren’t wealthy are just not trying hard enough is an idea that is not grounded in reality. The reason for this is that people are considered wealthy or poor concerning their peers in society; it is mathematically impossible for everyone or even most people to be rich.

In the United States, well-off people commonly suffer from the delusion that their wealth is a result of their hard work and that the poor are lazy. If the wealthy just looked around themselves they would see many people who work just as hard as themselves but do not earn as much and they would realize that historical and random factors play great importance in their wealth.

Many people today, whose wealth comes from exploitative means or merely the result of their being born in a rich family, oppose any organized efforts from the government to improve the lot of the poor. They oppose the redistribution of wealth from the super-rich to the poor but are in favor of the redistribution of wealth which makes the rich ever-richer and the poor ever-poorer. The culture of the United States is possibly unique in world cultures in the extent to which the poor and poverty are looked down upon and wealth and the pursuit of wealth are glorified.

Works Cited

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Sioux Falls, SD: NuVision Publications, LLC, 2008.

Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 1994.

Turnbull, Andrew. Scott Fitzgerald. New York, NY: Grove Press, 2001.

In his novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald pays much attention to the behavior and attitudes of women. In particular, the author describes them as subordinate figures whose choices are not fully independent. It is possible to look at such characters as Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker, and Myrtle Wilson. Overall, their choices are driven by the desire to belong to the world of elite.

Moreover, men can use and manipulate them by showing that they can bring them into this world. Overall, the author introduces these characters in order to describe the experiences of women during the Roaring Twenties. To some degree, this issue is explored in the film adaptation of this novel. These are the main questions that should be discussed more closely.

First, one can describe the behavior of Daisy Buchanan. This female character wants to shows that she belongs to the higher classes of the society. Nevertheless, this woman is very vulnerable, and she is strongly dependent on the wealth that men can offer to her. This is one of the reasons why she chooses to marry Tom Buchanan.

Moreover, she confesses that she “never loved him” (Fitzgerald 103). On the whole, she understands that her sophistication does not enable her to feel self-sufficient. This issue is also explored in the film adaptation of this novel that was released in 2013 (The Great Gatsby). Overall, this example is important because it shows that many women, who lived during the Roaring Twenties, did not receive liberation that they could crave for.

It is also possible to mention such a character as Jordan Baker who is both cynical and self-centered. This woman enjoys the idea that she can manipulate men. Nevertheless, she does not want to accept that her life has been mostly driven by deception. For example, she chooses to avoid men who attach much importance to the inner world of a woman.

This is one of the reasons why she does not want to continue her relationship with Nick. Overall, this woman wants to demonstrate that she is a successful person, but she understands that her behavior is a form of pretence. Her tragedy is typical of many women who lived during the Roaring Twenties. This is one of the aspects that can be distinguished.

One can also discuss the behavior of Myrtle Wilson since she reflects the values of some women who lived in America at the beginning of the twentieth century. For instance, she wants to gain access to the elite world. This is one of the reasons why she despises her husband. Moreover, she is attracted to Tom because he can enable her to achieve her ambitious goals.

This is one of the details that can be identified. The screen version of the novel demonstrates that this woman is unhappy. One can say that each of these three characters is important for the writer because they enable the viewers to understand the values of many women living at the time when the novel was written. This is one of the issues that can be singled out.

On the whole, these examples show that women in the novel cannot act in an independent way. To some degree, their behavior is a response to the actions of males. However, at the same time, they emphasize that they belong to the elite world. This is one of the reasons why men are able to manipulate them. These are the main arguments that can be put forward.

Works Cited

Fitzgerald, Scott. The Great Gatsby, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Print.

The Great Gatsby. Ex. Prod. Lucy Fisher. New York: Warner Brothers, 2013. DVD.

Introduction

The movement towards equality and fair opportunity in America is reflected in various literary works. The 1920s, often regarded as the most prosperous years for the spread of the American dream, can also be considered prominent evidence towards the decline of the discussed idea and the social morals of that age. The possibilities provided by the concept and the claim for equal opportunity, although bearing positive intent, had also contributed to the decline of personal values. The novel The Great Gatsby, written by Francis Scott Fitzgerald, perfectly captures the decay of the principles of liberty and fair opportunity, demonstrating the change from individualism to monetary corruption through the main characters’ behavior.

Towards a Better Future: The Significance of Equal Opportunity

The Great Gatsby elaborates on the changes to the original notions of the American dream established after the First World War. Although the initial ideas behind this concept embraced equality and the possibility of happiness for each American citizen, these elements were altered tremendously in the 1920s. The availability of fair opportunity for everyone and the potential to acquire a better social status for lower classes have originated the search for easy wealth, corrupting social values and numerous individuals. Instead of seeking happiness or improving their communities, the characters of The Great Gatsby pursue the ideas of financial affluence and strive to achieve a better social status regardless of the immorality of their actions.

Fitzgerald elaborates on the negative changes in American society through the American dream. Carraway notes that “Americans, while occasionally willing to be serfs, have always been obstinate about being peasantry” (Fitzgerald 68). Thus, discovery and liberty are replaced by a desire for monetary wealth through any means possible. Poverty is now viewed condescendingly, and financial prosperity, rather than morality and personal integrity, are presumed one’s positive qualities. Gambling, bootlegging, and adultery, evident in the behavior of Jay Gatsby and Myrtle Wilson, become the primary strategies to accomplishing the necessary goals, and the American dream itself becomes the symbol of corrupted social values.

The Illusions of the Past in the American Dream

Young Jay Gatsby, the protagonist of the novel, is a manifestation of the accessibility of success for people who were not born into the upper class. Having personally established his affluent social and financial status, he can be considered a beacon of hope for those who desire to alter their standing. Nevertheless, as it becomes known that Gatsby had secured his profits through illegal means in an attempt to impress Daisy Buchanan, the beauty of his American dream starts to vanish (Fitzgerald 100). Through Gatsby, Fitzgerald explains how the American dream was initially supposed to symbolize success and equality but was later deformed, demonstrating the flaws of the society and its corruption.

The results of pursuing the American dream are also depicted in the work, evident in the behavior and attitudes of wealthy characters. The Buchanans, who have inherited their possessions, signify the outcomes of obsession with money and social status. Nick Carraway argues that “Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money of their vast carelessness […] and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (Fitzgerald 137). Even though the American dream should represent a better and happier life, in reality, it illustrates the decaying values of the upper class, who have no regard for individuals with lower social statuses.

Another aspect of the American dream, excellently depicted in the novel, is its glorification and inaccessibility. Throughout the story, Jay Gatsby and Myrtle Wilson are highly enthusiastic about their future, which is marked by wealth and improved social status. Jay Gatsby is infatuated with the idea of Daisy from the earlier years, which is an illusion that is no longer true. In reality, the young woman is only interested in financial prosperity, and the future that Gatsby imagines is impossible. His desires are perfectly illustrated by the green light: “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic 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 138). Incapable of realizing that his goals are unachievable, Gatsby is, in fact, using the American dream in an attempt to return to the past.

Similar to the young man, Myrtle also imagines a perfect future with Tom, failing to grasp his true intentions. From Myrtle’s perspective, there is a perfect opportunity for her to become a representative of the upper class. However, Myrtle’s future is nothing more than a dream inspired by the notions of equal possibility and wealth, as Tom has no interest in fulfilling her aim (Fitzgerald 118). Altogether, Jay and Myrtle’s constant pursuit disclose how fragile the American dream actually is and how heavily it impacted the society of the 1920s.

Conclusion

To conclude, the theme of the American dream and its significance in the novel The Great Gatsby was discussed thoroughly in this essay, elaborating on the corruption behind this idea evident in 1920s America. The alterations of social trends from the upheaval of individualism to financial greed have distorted the positive intentions behind the American dream. Through the concept of equal opportunity and the characters’ pursuit of financial affluence, the author portrays how morality and individualism, which initially represented this notion, were altered in favor of prosperity.

Work Cited

Fitzgerald, Francis Scott. The Great Gatsby. Scribner Book Company, 2004.