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The Great Gatsby Analysis

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In the article “The Great Gatsby” written by John A. Pidgeon, includes an intricate assessment of the American psyche and “The American Dream” and how Jay Gatsby represents both. Pidgeon provides a history lesson on the Calvinist beliefs that Puritan settlers brought with them to America. The idea that everyone will suffer eternal damnation as is already determined, with the exception of a few wealthy members dubbed, “The Elect.” Some time later, Pidgeon claims, that the idea appeared where when more wealth was gained, then the poor may be accepted rather than turned away and damned forever. This idea of gaining wealth is found in Gatsby throughout the story. Later Pidgeon describes how Gatsby personifies a dying American Dream and a fight …show more content…

Nick tells him that you “can’t repeat the past,” in which Gatsby replies, “why of course you can!” (Fitzgerald 122). Every time Gatsby looks at Daisy, he sees her as something she is not. Gatsby's dream is blinding him from the fact that Daisy is not the person she used to be. He slowly starts to realize this on his journey, though he does his best to ignore it due to the fact that all of his years dreaming would have been seemingly wasted. As Pidgeon states, “In the end, Gatsby’s insistence on maintaining the dream kills him. It is obvious that Gatsby is aware that Wilson will come to kill him. He can run away, but he chooses to stay because he really prefers to die rather than face up to the fact that his dream was not worthy of him,” (Pidgeon 181). Nick Caraway explains the relationship Daisy and Tom Buchanan have with their wealth towards the end of the novel. “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness … and let other people clean up the mess they had made,” (Fitzgerald 172). Which explains why Daisy never answered the phone in the end of the story, she and Tom are explained“as sophisticated, heartless, [and] cold,” (Pidgeon 181). As stated earlier, the complete opposite of what Gatsby dreamed Daisy had

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