What Is The Turning Point In The Great Gatsby

Growing up as an American there are simply certain concept that are instilled upon you, such as the country being the land of opportunity. In reality, many do not know that they will barely be able to grasp what they aspire in betterment, even when it seems rather close. The American dream is merely a concept whereupon high hopes are placed. It is in contradictory to the brutal reality that is truly waiting. A lifetime may be plentiful with constant dissatisfaction, instead of opportunities to all greatness. F. Scott Fitzgerald explored this deep message discreetly in one of the most well-written novels, The Great Gatsby. On the surface Nick Carraway the narrator is retelling during the Roaring Twenties a turning point in his life regarding …show more content…
The wealthy were glorified to the point others believed money could produce happiness. Nick was on the outside of the wealthy characters that including Jay Gatsby and his second cousin Daisy with her husband Tom Buchanan. Tom and Daisy were born in wealth, having it extensively go back into their family history. Gatsby was on another spectrum having earned it through hard work. People like Myrtle and George B. Wilson, on the other hand, were not so fortunate in the financial manner. They lived in an extremely poor neighborhood, “This is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air”(Fitzgerald, 26). Furthermore, the use of a simile and imagery captured the area was dark and gloomy. The conditions were rough and unwanted, showing Myrtle and George wanted to have better living conditions, like that of the very wealthy. Little did they know for people in their social standing times would get even worse. When the Great Depression rolled around it was a failure, “Although most would call it a consolatory idea, the phrase ‘American dream’ was in fact created to describe not America’s success stories, …show more content…
Gatsby fell victim always making it his goal to do so. He worked towards self improvement beginning since his younger years, placing immense pressure on himself. He wanted to rise from his background in all respects. Gatsby with desperation became involved with organized crime, more specifically bootlegging. However there was a difference between his new money and old money like the Banchans in society’s eyes. It was represented by living in West or East Egg, “I lived at West Egg, the—well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them. My house was at the very tip of the egg, only fifty yards from the Sound, and squeezed between two huge places that rented for twelve or fifteen thousand a season”(Fitzgerald, 7). To explain simpler the use of imagery showed that both were very extravagant, with a slight differ in their perceptions. West Egg was for those who were not born into money, while East Egg was for the wealthiest of all. Through working hard the level of old money social class could never be met. Gatsby wanted to achieve it, in any possible way he could. He thought he could do so in marrying Daisy, to become part of that world. She felt he was unfit and would have rather been with Tom since he had more money. It meant more to her than being happy.