Examples Of Pessimism In The Great Gatsby

The American dream has been passed down from generation to generation in hopes that they can be one of the people to achieve it. If I were to describe what the American dream is, I would say it differs from person to person, but an example that is commonly used is a house with a white picket fence. I would also say that people commonly assume that, with hard work, anyone can obtain the American dream. In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, he expresses his pessimism about the American dream through his writing and characterization of people, mainly Gatsby. This book was written to show the distaste he has toward the 1920s spirit that hard work makes anything possible.

Gatsby's love for Daisy was his whole reason for becoming rich

The green light represents Daisy and how close she is, as well as how far away she is at the same time. He writes about Gatsby and how he can see the green light from his dock and how he reaches out across the water in hopes to grab it. "He stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward—and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been at the end of a dock." (p. 21-22). I think this quote is the best way to show how much Gatsby loved Daisy and wanted her to love him. It also shows the beginning stages of his true American dream and how he had a ton of hope that he could get it, even if it was far

When he finally has Daisy, his one dream, right in front of him, he must face reality and not the imaginary one that he had created inside his head all of these years. "It had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever." (p.100). The farther into the book the reader gets, the more they notice that this dream that Gatsby, himself, holds on to is becoming more and more unrealistic to reach. Even though Gatsby has yet to acknowledge the fact that his dream is unrealistic, He had complete faith that Daisy would love him and that his dream would become a reality. "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us." (p. 180) I think this quote shows how everyone around Gatsby can see that his goal is getting farther and farther away, even though he fully believes Daisy will love