The Great Gatsby
Paul Long
Dr. Dennis
Eng. 3
Gatsby Research Paper
People from all over the world come to the United States all seeking to better their lives by gaining this so-called “American dream.” There is no clear definition of this dream, and everyone’s idea of it is different. In the story The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald makes one thing very clear about the dream, and that is that it is destroyed by money. The dream cannot survive if the pursuit of wealth and riches is also in the agenda of the dreamer. Fitzgerald uses character and color as representation of the destruction of the dream. The dream is pursued by many of the stories characters, but none as much Jay Gatsby. He dedicated the majority of his life to become wealthy so he could get his American dream, and that was Daisy. They had known each other in the past yet Daisy could not be with him because he was poor. Daisy was Gatsby’s ultimate dream, he did what ever it took to get her and he did what ever he could to protect her including taking murder charges for it. Gatsby represents the purity of the uncorrupted society around him and his dream of Daisy is tainted by his pursuit of money. Gatsby even goes on to tell Nick that when he spoke with Daisy, “Her voice was full of money.” Gatsby gains wealth for Daisy, but all Daisy wants is the wealth not Gatsby, she loves his money and not him. In the book Daisy kills Myrtle but for some reason Gatsby tells Nick, “Of course I’ll say it was me” (151). The willingness and purity of the uncorrupted dream, Gatsby, eventually gets caught up in the mess of the corruption, Daisy, that surrounds the dream. Fitzgerald plays on these two contrasting characters to show how they get tangled up and how the corruption spreads to those with initially good character. Even the smaller characters in the book get brought into this struggle between the corruption of the wealthy and simple people. Mr. Wilson can be compared to Gatsby in a sense that they both
Dr. Dennis
Eng. 3
Gatsby Research Paper
People from all over the world come to the United States all seeking to better their lives by gaining this so-called “American dream.” There is no clear definition of this dream, and everyone’s idea of it is different. In the story The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald makes one thing very clear about the dream, and that is that it is destroyed by money. The dream cannot survive if the pursuit of wealth and riches is also in the agenda of the dreamer. Fitzgerald uses character and color as representation of the destruction of the dream. The dream is pursued by many of the stories characters, but none as much Jay Gatsby. He dedicated the majority of his life to become wealthy so he could get his American dream, and that was Daisy. They had known each other in the past yet Daisy could not be with him because he was poor. Daisy was Gatsby’s ultimate dream, he did what ever it took to get her and he did what ever he could to protect her including taking murder charges for it. Gatsby represents the purity of the uncorrupted society around him and his dream of Daisy is tainted by his pursuit of money. Gatsby even goes on to tell Nick that when he spoke with Daisy, “Her voice was full of money.” Gatsby gains wealth for Daisy, but all Daisy wants is the wealth not Gatsby, she loves his money and not him. In the book Daisy kills Myrtle but for some reason Gatsby tells Nick, “Of course I’ll say it was me” (151). The willingness and purity of the uncorrupted dream, Gatsby, eventually gets caught up in the mess of the corruption, Daisy, that surrounds the dream. Fitzgerald plays on these two contrasting characters to show how they get tangled up and how the corruption spreads to those with initially good character. Even the smaller characters in the book get brought into this struggle between the corruption of the wealthy and simple people. Mr. Wilson can be compared to Gatsby in a sense that they both