How 'The Great Gatsby' Criticize Consumerism and the American Dream Essay

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Introduction

Fitzgerald explicitly explores the desolation and despair of the hedonistic Jazz Age in the tragedy The Great Gatsby through society’s plunge into moral decay. The widespread corruption of the essential foundations of the American Dream, usurped by excessive materialism and consumerism, is at the heart of the novel as success becomes synonymous with immorality. The Great Gatsby details the catastrophic downfall of the once social and generous gentleman – Jay Gatsby, due to his inability to control his monstrous excess to attain his perverted version of the American Dream. Through exploring how the American dream is unachievable by some people like Nick Carraway, the separation of the people in the valley of ashes from the American dream, and Gatsby’s relentless pursuit to reinvent the past, Fitzgerald explicitly accentuates those who are obsessed with hedonism are destined to die alone and unfulfilled, desolate and despondent.

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The Valley of Ashes symbolizes a demoralized hopelessness and the death of dreams covered in the waste of capitalism. It is a poverty-stricken area where people like George Wilson work hard but never get ahead enough to pursue their dreams. Their dreams have been quashed by the bleak reality of their situation and lay dormant under the ash and grime that covers everything in their midst. This is revealed through the use of a metaphor where Nick Carraway claims: “Move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air”. Their situation is made worse by the wealthy people who pass through ignore them and treat them with disrespect. The demoralized society is further portrayed through the surrounding setting of the Valley where Nick Carraway claims the valley as a: ‘farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke.’ The use of a polysyndeton symbolizes that the American Dream is shattered in the Valley of Ashes. It also reveals that such a desolate place does not exist by mistake. Rather, it was created by the wealthy populations surrounding it and those who pursue materialistic goals. Furthermore, the aspiration of the American Dream is furthered exemplified in chapter 2 when Myrtle decides to choose the most expensive taxi. Through the use of visual imagery, Nick claims: ‘Upstairs, in the solemn echoing drive she let four taxicabs drive away before she selected a new one.’ Myrtle’s desire to flee her ‘stultified and anemic’ husband exemplifies the seduction of the American Dream. However, Nick mocks her failure as a society hostess with the adverb of her moving “haughtily” inside the apartment. There is a tragic consequence to her murder by Daisy, and her destroyed body is described in the graphic, visceral image of “her life violently extinguished…her left breast swinging loose like a flap” highlighting that she could not escape the wretchedness of The Valley of Ashes despite her energetic determination and inherent vivacity. Through examining the desolation of the Valley of Ashes, it is clear Fitzgerald is implying the inaccessibility of the corrupted American Dream to individuals like George Wilson.

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The American dream which is obtainable by some but not all, is a fallacy in terms of leading a morally upright existence where there is a sense of opportunity for prosperity and success. This is perceived through the unscrupulous and decadent behavior of those attending Gatsby’s extravagant parties, which became a weekend playhouse for the lost generation. The desolation and disparity can be foreshadowed in chapter 1 through the usage of a motif where Nick Carraway claims: ‘There was music from my neighbor’s house…The Party had begun.’ The party symbolizes the conspicuous consumerism and the decadence of the affluent people in the 1920s. The extravagant parties in The Great Gatsby represent superficiality, due to Gatsby’s extensive efforts to impress his guests. However, Gatsby’s ostentatious display has not bought him the status he desires but has instead made him an outsider. Hundreds come to his lavishly catered parties to enjoy manifesting in ‘no thin five-piece (orchestra) but a whole pitful of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets and piccolos and low and high drums’, Fitzgerald’s polysyndeton reinforcing the sheer excess of the 1920s. These same hoards, which include opportunistic European aristocrats and corrupt politicians, also see Gatsby’s guests conduct ‘themselves according to the rules of behavior associated with amusement parks’ connotating Gatsby’s lack of social elevation through the desolation and disparity that he experiences. However, the fallacious nature of Gatsby’s party is further revealed through the arrival of the party’s food catering where ‘every Monday these same oranges and lemons left his back door in a pyramid of pulpless halves.’ The oranges act as a metaphor for moral emptiness and spiritual destitution, implying that they are all carefree and careless. It temporarily covers the void with their hedonistic pursuits, but it eventually becomes empty and hollow. The futility of the American Dream is further analyzed through the use of a tragic simile of Gatsby “running down like an overwound clock”. The interplay of the motif of confusion and destruction represented by clocks and cars emphasizes that Gatsby’s despair is borne from his subversion of the intrinsic ideals of the American Dream, ultimately negating any potential he may have had for greatness. Thus, the empty promises of prosperity are foreshadowed by America’s spiritual impoverishment, reducing the society to the graveyard of desolation and disparity.

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Fitzgerald effectively utilizes the tragedy of Jay Gatsby and the emptiness of Daisy Buchanan to illustrate the idea that the pursuit of the American Dream is a Sisyphean task where individuals are tethered to their past and history. Narrator Nick portrays Gatsby as a deeply flawed, dishonest, and vulgar individual, whose extraordinary optimism and power are unable to transform his dreams into reality. Drawing from the rampant influence of materialism and economic prosperity of the Jazz Era, Fitzgerald embeds the recurring motif of a “green light”, with its green color symbolizing money, wealth, and the ultimate American Dream. The high modality in “anything can happen now… even Gatsby could happen, without any particular wonder” initiates an optimistic perspective of the American Dream where individuals from any background can build a fortune for themselves, including Gatsby who climbed the socioeconomic hierarchy. However, Nick Carraway praises Gatsby as “a son of God,” using the biblical allusion to celebrate Gatsby’s power to recreate his own identity from poverty to fortune through his relentless pursuit of wealth. Furthermore, Fitzgerald dispels the promise of the American Dream by posing its “green light” as “minute and far away,” metaphorically positioning it beyond Gatsby’s reach to highlight the futility of his moral sacrifices and the unattainable reality of the American ideal. The Novel further disillusions the audience from the opulent vision of the American Dream by exposing the amorality of the wealthy. Through casting Tom and Daisy, the synecdoche of “old money”, as “careless people ” who “smash up things… and let other people clean up the mess they had made”, reveals that a materialistic lifestyle can render one as cynical, sardonic and morally empty. Gatsby’s failure to breach this divide is fully realized in the novel’s climax when Tom sardonically denies that: ‘I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife.’ The extended metaphor reveals Tom’s affirmation that Gatsby will never be able to be a part of their old moneyed world and that Gatsby will never be able to reach the ‘cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion, overlooking the bay.’ Through exploring Gatsby’s relationship with Daisy, Fitzgerald asserts that the illusion of the American Dream cannot be achieved by all due to the insurmountable divide between classes.

Conclusion

In conclusion, The Great Gatsby explicitly reveals the desolate and despondent American Dream through the society’s plunge into moral decay. By exploring Gatsby’s tragic ending, the most significant statement Fitzgerald addresses is the devastation caused by pursuing what cannot be a reality. However, The Great Gatsby reminds the readers that rather than reaching for materialism, an individual should focus on more important things such as relationships, that will bring true happiness.

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How ‘The Great Gatsby’ Criticize Consumerism and the American Dream Essay

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