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The Great Gatsby Foil Essay

810 Words4 Pages

The ‘American Dream’, at its core, is an idealistic belief that anyone, regardless of their background or circumstance, can achieve great success in life through hard work alone. It’s now regarded as a national disillusionment, and yet it still pushes the consumerist and materialistic ideals of America. This is something that is commented on and critiqued in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”. Fitzgerald’s novel, published in 1925, follows the perspective of Nick Carraway, who serves as both a narrator and witness of the story's events and a foil to two other characters, Gatsby and his love, Daisy. Gatsby and Daisy personify the American Dream, with Gatsby being the pinochle of a ‘self-made man’. A bootlegger turned millionaire who assumed great wealth in pursuit of his ultimate goal: winning back the love of his life. Gatsby throws lavish parties and lives extravagantly as a symbol of his success. However, beneath the orchestras and real brass and caterers and bright lights and hundreds of guests each weekend is a profound …show more content…

He provides a critical perspective on the illusions of the American Dream. As an outsider who does not hold the same ideals for grandiose as all his peers, Nick can see through the facades of glamour and see the hollowness within. Nick reflects on Fitzgerald’s own skepticism towards the American Dream and all its empty promises. We can see Fitzgerald’s rich symbolism throughout the novel in his attempts to pull back the curtain on the American Dream. The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock symbolised Gatsby’s hopes and aspirations being forever out of reach, yet tantalisingly close. The Valley of Ashes, the wasteland of industrial decay, serves as a contrasting reminder of the reality underneath the surface of the American Dream, and the people in it who desperately cling to and pretend that they have even a wisp of the richness that those like Gatsby

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