Ambition In The Great Gatsby

The book “The Great Gatsby” was written in 1925 by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story is recognized as one of the greatest representations of the Roaring Twenties in literary fiction despite its sales when first published. There are many reasons for why it is held at such a high standard. Reasons such as how the American Dream is represented in the story or the way each character develops throughout the story. The Roaring Twenties was an era full of money, crime, greed, ambition, rebellion, and excess. The story depicts this perfectly as each character holds some if not all of these qualities. As well as how the time period is surrounded with wealthy people, big parties, drinking, music and dancing. Gatsby holds three of the characteristics such

As for Nick Carraway, the narrator of the story, his qualities are quite different. Nick has little money, he has committed no crime the reader knows of, does not show off any greed nor rebellion and excess. Instead, we are left with a character with only ambition to create a life for himself at West Egg. A possible reason for why Nick shows little influence from the Roaring Twenties is to not take the attention from Gatsby as the protagonist. Next is Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby’s lost love and Wife of Tom Buchanan. Daisy has many of the characteristics of the Roaring Twenties, including greed, crime, ambition, and excess. Her greed is evident in how she loves being wealthy and was one of the reasons she moved on from Gatsby and married Tom. The crime she commits is killing Tom’s lover Myrtle in a hit and run. Although Daisy is not a character who shows it much she does have ambitions in life outside of wealth. Her excess for materialistic desire is shown by how she reacts to the beautiful clothes in Gatsby’s house. The antagonist of the story is Tom Buchanan, a wealthy man and husband of Daisy. Tom is a character with characteristics such a money, greed, and excess. In the

He uses the American Dream in various situation throughout the story. Such as when Gatsby looks across the bay and sees a green light. The green light is coming from Daisy’s and Tom’s dock at East Egg and is described as being barely visible from Gatsby’s West Egg lawn. It represents Gatsby’s hopes and dream at attaining a future with Daisy in it. Gatsby’s character sees the green light and imagines Daisy and how she is close but still out of his reach. It’s a guiding light for Gatsby hence why he stares at it and reaches out as if to grab it. The Valley of the Ashes serves as another symbol for how Fitzgerald uses the American Dream to connect to his audience. The Valley of the Ashes in the Great Gatsby is an industrial area that when described in the story sounds depressing. The character’s cross along this path several times throughout the story and is where Myrtle and George Wilson live. The Valley of Ashes represents how the American Dream can lead to ugly consequences and Americas obsession with wealth. The way that the Valley of Ashes is used in the Great Gatsby shows it as what many Americas found it to be in their life that being just a dream that they could never actually reach. This makes for a direct connection to some of the people reading the Great Gatsby. This in turn makes those reader remember this novel and how it spoke