Regionalism In The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald, the icon of beautiful lyricism, uses many intriguing patterns within his novel, The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald, in his writing of the 1920s, introduces the reader to the world after the Great War; a world of overindulged wealth, unrealistic dreams, and undeniable poverty. Where there is wealth it is not used in an honorable way; where dreams may form, they are impossible to accomplish due to their exorbitant standards; and where dust accumulates, there poverty gathers as well. Throughout his novel, Fitzgerald uses the pattern of dust and ashes to display his essential themes of immorality, poverty, and death. The relationship between Tom and Daisy Buchanan is not one of love and understanding, but one destined for discontentment

Jay Gatsby and Mrs. Wilson are examples of two types of people who have great, unfulfilled aspirations. Gatsby, a man of large fortune and desire, dreams that through his parties and extravagance he will win back the love of Daisy Buchanan. While this goal is ultimately achieved, Gatsby’s need for a complete resolution of Daisy’s love brings him to his death. Through the hands of Mrs. Wilson’s husband, Gatsby is shot and killed. All of Gatsby’s dreams and hopes collapse because of the actions of Mr. Wilson. Likewise, Mrs. Wilson’s hopes collapse, because of her husband’s vapidness, and are re-formed into the effigy of Tom Buchanan. Mr. Wilson instigates the desperation felt by his wife, which causes her to run in front of Tom Buchanan’s speeding vehicle and promptly perish. Throughout this unfortunate chain of events, Fitzgerald uses the symbol of dust and ash to signify the recurring themes of unfulfilled dreams and death. As Nick narrates the shot that killed Gatsby, he describes the bullet as, “...that ashen, fantastic figure gliding toward him” (161). The descriptive ash Fitzgerald uses gives the reader the sense of all that was lively now falling to disrepair. In the same way, after the death of Mrs. Wilson, Fitzgerald writes, “...mingled her thick dark blood with the dust” (137). Again, the symbol of dust emphasizes the disintegration of