The Great Gatsby's American Dream
The Great Gatsby's American Dream Corrupption “There are those, I know, who will reply that the liberation of humanity, the freedom of man and. mind, is nothing but a dream. They are right. It is. It is the American Dream.” (Archibald MacLeish). This quote talks about how the American Dream is only a dream. The American is a life of personal happiness and material comfort, and is traditionally sought by the individuals in the U.S. It is only a fantasy. Author F. Scott Fitzgerald shows a great example of the causes and affects the American Dream has on people during the 1920s in his novel, The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald explains that the American Dream is unattainable through the characters and their actions and the symbolism throughout the novel.
In the novel Fitzgerald indicates that the American Dream is unachievable through Gatsby’s unrealistic image of the dream. Gatsby has been in love with daisy for years and spent his life proving that he was worthy enough for her to leave her husband and take him back. Gatsby believed money could substitute for time: “Can’t repeat the past?[…]why of course you can[…] I’m going to fix everything just the way it was before[…]shell see”(Fitzgerald 117). Although Gatsby recreated his past environment with money, he could not recreate the past feelings that were destroyed by time. Gatsby’s dream is bigger than himself. Critic Casie E. Hermanson writes: “it is the attempt itself and the firm belief that he can achieve the impossible that makes Gatsby more than the sum of his reality” (Hermanson 78). Gatsby’s dream was more than his own reality. It was too big of a dream for him which is why he was not able to achieve it. After Gatsby’s was killed nick realizes that Gatsby’s dream of the East Egg was not all that it was set out to be. Nick says: “After Gatsby’s death the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes’ power of correction” (Fitzgerald 185). Nick later on in the novel realizes that Gatsby’s dream of
In the novel Fitzgerald indicates that the American Dream is unachievable through Gatsby’s unrealistic image of the dream. Gatsby has been in love with daisy for years and spent his life proving that he was worthy enough for her to leave her husband and take him back. Gatsby believed money could substitute for time: “Can’t repeat the past?[…]why of course you can[…] I’m going to fix everything just the way it was before[…]shell see”(Fitzgerald 117). Although Gatsby recreated his past environment with money, he could not recreate the past feelings that were destroyed by time. Gatsby’s dream is bigger than himself. Critic Casie E. Hermanson writes: “it is the attempt itself and the firm belief that he can achieve the impossible that makes Gatsby more than the sum of his reality” (Hermanson 78). Gatsby’s dream was more than his own reality. It was too big of a dream for him which is why he was not able to achieve it. After Gatsby’s was killed nick realizes that Gatsby’s dream of the East Egg was not all that it was set out to be. Nick says: “After Gatsby’s death the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes’ power of correction” (Fitzgerald 185). Nick later on in the novel realizes that Gatsby’s dream of