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The Great Gatsby Close Reading Analysis

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Great Gatsby Close Reading
America is known as the land of opportunities and achieving dreams. People have been migrating to America ever since it was discovered, however, the major wave of immigration occurred from the 1880s to 1920. The American dream is the belief that if someone tries hard enough, then they can reach their dream and attain their own version of success in society, it is achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking and hard work. However, this is not always the case. In 1925 the famous American author F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the novel the great Gatsby, which illustrates the corruption of the American Dream. Jay Gatsby is the protagonist of the story and he is holding on to an unattainable dream. Throughout the book, Fitzgerald …show more content…

The last line is one of the most popular lines in literature, it is written in iambic form because Fitzgerald wants the reader to think carefully about every single word. In the line that concludes the novel, Fitzgerald is returning to the theme of human beings struggle to achieve their goals by re-creating the past. In the metaphoric language used here, “boats against the current” shows that the current draws them backward as they row forward toward the green light. People try to move forward, but they are pushed “ceaselessly into the past” unable to move beyond that one happy point. Fitzgerald's writing reveals the eagerness of the people that are trying to transform their dreams into reality. They are never losing hope, “tomorrow we will run faster,” expending all of their energy trying to pursue a goal that keeps on moving farther and farther. By using metaphor, Fitzgerald characterizes both Gatsby’s struggle and the American dream itself. Another poetic effect Fitzgerald uses in the last line is the alliteration of the “B” sound. The point of alliteration is to make the reader focus on a particular text. The “B” sound indicates the existence of a conflict or struggle since there is a collision of forces between the boat and the

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The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, is a novel that is known for its focus on the idea of the American Dream. The Great Gatsby has a relatively negative viewpoint, and revolves around the idea that the American Dream is indeed dead. In the 1920s the American Dream was corrupted due to the idea of easy money, and relaxed social values. The pursuit of happiness, was quickly replaced by the desire to strike it big, and get rich. For example, in the novel we are introduced to Gatsby's dream of having Daisy, and being dissatisfied with who he is.

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The Great Gatsby is an American novel written by Scott Fitzgerald. On the surface, the book revolves around the concept of romance, the love between two individuals. However, the novel incorporates less of a romantic scope and rather focuses on the theme of the American Dream in the 1920s. Fitzgerald depicts the 1920’s as an era of decline in moral values. The strong desire for luxurious pleasure and money ultimately corrupts the American dream which was originally about individualism.

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America has always lured people with an unfulfilling promise of more; people come to America with nothing to try and gain something that’s unobtainable; Unfortunately, what they find is far from what they wanted to gain. F. Scott Fitzgerald expressed just how much of a lie the American dream was in The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald lived as a captive of the dream 's unlawful grip that promised so much but gave so little. He was born middle class and tried his hardest to become more than what his father was, but as ambitious as he was he never gained the wealth and elite status that he desired. The Great Gatsby was his way of stating the way that things were at the time, and he writes about how the American dream is unobtainable through symbolism.

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And one fine morning— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past" (Pg. 182). Dreams tie to places or people previously in everyone’s lives, or tirelessly enduring optimism that blinds and obscures the truth. However, Gatsby shows that although these qualities may hold people back, it is one’s past that shapes their future. Through the love, heartbreak, money, fame, liquor, and revelry, Gatsby keeps hope for his future with Daisy. It is the disconnect between dreams and reality that causes the wishes of the past to swell up like waves on the bay and threaten to capsize the vessel of hope bearing the emblem of

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The novel concludes “So we beat on, boats against the current borne back ceaselessly into the past” (108). This means as we keep trying to move forward we are still restricted and defined by our past. Throughout the book Gatsby could not let go of the past and Fitzgerald related this to society. America was meant to be the new world filled with potential but this idea was soon ruined by old aristocratic values, like the Buchanans represent in the novel. To Fitzgerald, America is not full of possibilities, its frontier that failed to rise above its aristocratic European origins, just as Gatsby failed to escape from his

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The 1920’s was a very interesting time in United States history. After all World War I had ended and many Americans did not realize that the Great Depression was in the near future, so the 1920’s fell between these two dramatic events. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby teaches many morals, but none more important than the duality of the 1920’s. Duality is evident in Gatsby's dreams, his death, his lover Daisy, his wealth, and his parties, which all reflect the duality of the 1920’s. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald makes the concept of achieving the American dream seem improbable.

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