On the surface, The Great Gatsby is a story of the impeded love between a man and a woman. The main theme of the novel, however, surrounds a much larger, less romantic outlook. Though all of its action takes place over a few months during the summer of 1922 and is set in a confined area in the proximity of Long Island, New York, The Great Gatsby is a reflection on 1920s America as a whole, in particular the erosion of the American dream in a time of remarkable prosperity and material overload. Jay Gatsby’s views on the past help develop this theme and the theme of escape throughout the story. Fitzgerald portrays the 1920’s as a time of social disrepair and moral values. The reckless joy that led to over the top parties and wild jazz music, shown in The Great Gatsby by the lavish parties that Gatsby throws every Saturday night as a way to draw Daisy back to him, resulted in the disintegration of the American dream, as the endless need for money and pleasure outweighed more noble goals. All of this can also …show more content…
By the end of the story Nick Carraway says that we are all “borne back” into the past meaning that there is always something pushing us back to our pasts that we must overcome. Gatsby is driven by his memory of the past and cannot escape it and this leads him to tragedy. In The Great Gatsby, the American Dream is supposed to stand for independence and the ability to make something of one's self with hard work, but it ends up being more about the selfish pursuit of money and material items. No amount of hard work can change where Gatsby came from. Determination and hard work aren't enough, and so the American Dream collapses, just like” the ballooning dresses” of Jordan and Daisy when Nick sees them that first day in Daisy’s