Belonging Great Gatsby

In the novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald presents the pursuit of hope for an unattainable dream. During childhood, Jay Gatsby felt driven away by his parents. Gatsby soon fled away from his constricted circumstances to focus on his American Dream. He became a millionaire with a fixation for his social status, past lover, and overall success even though he had everything he could ask for. Jay Gatsby embodies Fitzgerald's theme that the American Dream fails to provide a true sense of belonging. Gatsby molds himself into a superior society, yet it leaves him unfulfilled and disconnected from sincere connections. Gatsby's neighbor, Nick Carraway, attends one of Gatsby's extravagant parties in his mansion. Carraway describes the atmosphere

Gatsby's parties are portrayed to be filled with lovely music, gardens, drinks, lights and people. Gatsby's parties are materialistic and over the top, pursuing a social status to achieve his American Dream. Guests coming in and out whispering form a sense that these guests are primarily there to enjoy the luxurious environment and most are not interested in Gatsby as a person. This highlights the difference between the external liveliness to Gatsby's parties and the internal themes of emptiness and loss of belonging. Although these parties help Gatsby gain a higher social status to overall achieve the American Dream, he truly feels empty with no real human relationships. Gatsby's relentless efforts of material wealth to impress Daisy ultimately never win her over. For five years, Gatsby prepared his mansion for a past lover, Daisy Buchanan. He gathers his most luxurious possessions in a desperate manner to relive their romance, despite the fact Daisy is married. The narrator, Nick Carraway, describes the lengths Gatsby goes through and quotes “he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved