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Unveiling The American Dream In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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Unveiling the American Dream. All humanity struggles with striving to be a superior version of oneself. Displayed through movies, novels, and everyday life, the sought-after American Dream conveys this idea and consumes many people’s lives. It embodies the ideas of determination, perseverance, and the ability to achieve one's deepest aspirations. Through the novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald traces the life of Jay Gatsby from the eyes of Nick Caraway to display the struggle and longing that comes with the desire for unattainable goals. Although the American Dream is viewed as an attainable goal for all, the novel highlights the emptiness, corruption, and isolation that come with pursuing wealth and material success. A certain aspect …show more content…

Even Nick notices, “there was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars” (Fitzgerald 43). The constant flow of people in and out of Gatsby’s party gives the impression that he, and his party, are sought-after. The desire for approval and validation engulfs the vain people of society, so when Gatsby is regarded as this prize for people to be won he begins to move up in the public view. Despite the fame that Gatsby appears to have, this facade of importance is misleading. The reality of the social gatherings Gatsby hosts is that no one truly knows who their mysterious entertainer is. Nick mentions how “I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited”. “sometimes they came and went without having met Gatsby at all” (Fitzgerald 45). No one truly knows who Gatsby is, although it may seem like he has a plethora of friends and acquaintances, it appears as if the only one who truly knows him is Nick. This alludes to the idea that the precedent of achieving recognition and the need to be desired in the American Dream is meaningless if no one truly knows

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His lifestyle, characterized by indulgence and opulence, starkly contrasts with Gatsby's pursuit of success. Despite their differences, both men harbor insecurities about their social status. Gatsby's new found riches fail to integrate him into the circles of East Egg dominated by old money. As Nick reflects on Gatsby's perpetual outsider status; "It is always disheartening to see things through your eyes after you've made your own adjustments''(Fitzgerald, Chapter 9). This highlights Gatsby's enduring position, as an outsider despite his efforts to belong.

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In Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, the author tells an intriguing tale about the hollowness of the upper class, thwarted love between a man and a woman and the rapid decline of the American dream. Although all of the chapter’s work hand in hand to explore these themes, three of the nine chapters hold the most significant turning points in the novel. One of them which includes chapter three. In this chapter, Nick attends Gatsby’s party.

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Nick’s impression of Gatsby is ironic for it is not Gatsby’s wealth and social status that fascinates him but instead his foolish emotion of love. Through his secret, most likely illegal scandals, he pretends to belong to the same social class as Tom Buchanan and his wife Daisy, Gatsby’s one love. If he wants a girl like Daisy Buchanan, he knows he could not be the broke farmer from Minnesota he once was. His poverty stricken prior life holds no value for him and his dream. His penniless past fueled his entry into the army.

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Throughout The Great Gatsby, Gatsby threw extravagant parties where people could mask their true selves - although they tried to screen their truths with keen mystery it was ultimately revealed. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby probes truths from Nick, as a narrator who initially presented himself as an honest, nonjudgmental man overlooking the events unraveling in the West Egg. Furthermore, unfolding Gatsby's legitimacy to his extravagant life and lavish parties, we lead deep into the realities of the characters' connection to the theme from Nick's standpoint. Nick's judgments as well as Gatsby's profound love / desperation lead both men to have some keen mystery, revealing the theme of people not being who they’re supposed to be. Nick's judgmental attitude towards Gatsby and his self reflections take to the theme of people not always being what they’re supposed to be, thus Nick

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In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, there is no question that Jay Gatsby, West-Egg nouveau riche and mysterious host of frequent, extravagant parties, is wealthy; nevertheless, few of his guests understand how he became so. Preoccupied with the festivities, other newly-rich party-goers neither know much about their host nor appear interested in finding out. Nick’s sincere request to meet the man who sent him the invitation is met by amused replies that Gatsby does not exist. In large part, this statement is true; for Gatsby hardly exists beyond his guest’s fantasized perceptions of him. Because of Jay Gatsby’s ambiguous past, Rumors prevail as a common theme of conversation among Gatsby’s guests, as they speculate how he acquired such material wealth.

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Nick thought of himself as poor compared to Gatsby. However, he looked up to Gatsby, he looked upon him as an idol. Initially, he thought Gatsby was a perfect, wealthy man, but he didn’t know how he got all his money. Nick saw all of people coming and going from Gatsby’s house, and one day Nick got invited to a party of Gatsby’s. The crowd that attended Gatsby’s parties did not care about Gatsby or even know Gatsby.

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The spectacle of the party is filled with such exuberance and excess that Nick perceives Gatsby to be a respectable figure. The party’s excess of food and drink project an air of success and opulence onto Gatsby. This excess demonstrates to Nick the money that Gatsby has in a way that simply telling him cannot because he has experienced the richness. Also, because no one else has an invitation, but Nick does, this creates a notion that he is the only one that Gatsby cares about that is there. This suggests to Nick that Gatsby genuinely wants to see him, and creates a positive view of Gatsby in his mind.

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Furthermore, Gatsby’s epithet is inapt as he fails to attain the American Dream. During his lifetime, he seems like a prominent member of his community because he hosts so many parties. Ironically, at Gatsby’s funeral barely ten people make appearance. Nick even mentions, “But [looking around for visitors] wasn’t any use. Nobody came” (Fitzgerald 174).

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When Nick meets Gatsby for the first time, he has no idea who he just met. When he discovers who he spoke to, he is dumbfounded. Nick says, “Precisely at that point it vanished — and I was looking at an elegant young rough-neck, a year or two over thirty, whose elaborate formality of speech just missed being absurd,” (page 25). This surprises both the reader and Nick because Gatsby’s age is quite a shock; normally people of age showcase their money in such a fashion. The reader gets to see the epitome of the opulent lives of the Roaring Twenties, and this is awe-inspiring.

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The plot of The Great Gatsby deals with the thwarted love of Gatsby, a wealthy West Egger of humble origins, and Daisy, who comes from a traditionally wealthy background. Although the novel elaborates on the story of Gatsby, a broader interpretation of The Great Gatsby reveals F. Scott Fitzgerald’s critique of both the opulent lifestyles of the American elite in the 1920’s and the unfeasible nature of the American Dream. Through the perspective of the narrator, Nick, the reader experiences many of the excesses such as Gatsby’s parties that characterized the 1920’s elite, which Fitzgerald portrays as superficial. For example, Gatsby tries to exhibit his education through a large library, which may seem impressive until Owl Eyes points out that none of the books have been opened.

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Jay Gatsby, one of the main characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, is a wealthy man with dubious sources of money; Gatsby is renowned in New York due to the lavish parties he holds every friday in his mansion. These are spectacles that fully embody the wealth and glamour of the roaring twenties, and are narrated through the eyes of another character Nick Carraway, an ambitious 29 year old man that recently moved back to a corrupt new york in a cramped cottage next to Gatsby’s palace. After admiring the careless behaviour of the parties from a distance, Nick gets a personal invitation to Gatsby’s next party, he promptly becomes infatuated by the extravagant and frivolous lifestyle the parties portray, along with the superficial

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