The Great Gatsby Theme Essay

Everyone believes the Great Gatsby to be a story of romance and the thwarted ways of what that love means. However, the main themes and the message that Fitzgerald wishes to portray is much less simple. The Great Gatsby, although set in a limited time and area, is symbolic of the 1920’s and the United States during that time. I have decided to write about the message that The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald portrayed. I will focus on the themes that he showed throughout his novel. Two of the main themes that I found were the decline of the American Dream during the 1920's and the hollowness of the upper class. The Great Gatsby portrays the 1920‘s as an era of decayed social and moral values. This is shown in the opulent parties thrown by Gatsby which is attended to by cynical, greedy, and empty people who are only in pursuit of pleasure. The jazz, money, alcohol, and more are primarily the representation of the American Dream which is only, through Fitzgerald’s descriptions, the empty desire for money and unattainable goals. The “20s” generation is ruled by men returning from WWI and who are disillusioned by the ravages of war. This leads them to be cynical and hypocritical. In addition, the rise of the stock market made more people want

Nick, for instance, believes that the ability to create meaningful symbols is related directly to a central meaning to the American Dream. Simple symbols throughout the novel end to create a similarity between the American Dream and Gatsby. For example, the light at the end of Daisy’s dock represents the seemingly unattainable dream that all American’s first have. Eventually money takes over, and one thing leads to another, and those original dreams have been overtaken by a corrupt system. This is displayed throughout the story of Gatsby, even to his murder, when a corrupt system takes over his