Dreams in the Great Gatsby
The Broken American Dream of the 1920s
An accurate name for the 1920s is the roaring twenties. This was a decade full of social transformation and industrialization. Through this shift, a degradation in social moral occurred. A victim of this shift is the character J. Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Gatsby is “corrupted by values and attitudes that he holds in common with a society that destroys him”(44). Through this mutual and obscured social moral, Gatsby seems to obtain a destructive view of his “American Dream”. Where the American Dream once “consisted of the belief that people of talent in this land of opportunity and plenty could reasonably aspire to material success if they adhered to a well-defined set of behaviors”(Trask). These behaviors were actions such as working hard, staying honest, and better educating ones self; much like the list that Gatsby made as a young boy. But with the boom of industrialization, came a trend of bootlegging and get rich quick schemes and unfortunately Gatsby became a victim of the era. As a matter of fact, Gatsby is not the only one who has suffered from this time of moral deterioration. Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby’s object of obsession, also is a victim of a society that allows her to not take responsibility for her actions. Daisy hides behind her public facade and her innocent carefree charm. Her husband Tom Buchanan has also manipulated the greedy, selfish social society that exists on East egg. Tom has no dreams or aspirations and “seeks excitement first in sport, then in infidelity, seeking identity in a book of racist political philosophy”(Wershoven). In a time of moral peril, each character is corrupted by a societal idea that taints their grasp of the “American Dream”. During Gatsby’s adolescent years, he has a clear and healthy mindset about what he wanted to accomplish in his life. Gatsby was self-motivated to make something of his life. But once he meets Daisy, Daisy becomes the embodiment of his
An accurate name for the 1920s is the roaring twenties. This was a decade full of social transformation and industrialization. Through this shift, a degradation in social moral occurred. A victim of this shift is the character J. Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Gatsby is “corrupted by values and attitudes that he holds in common with a society that destroys him”(44). Through this mutual and obscured social moral, Gatsby seems to obtain a destructive view of his “American Dream”. Where the American Dream once “consisted of the belief that people of talent in this land of opportunity and plenty could reasonably aspire to material success if they adhered to a well-defined set of behaviors”(Trask). These behaviors were actions such as working hard, staying honest, and better educating ones self; much like the list that Gatsby made as a young boy. But with the boom of industrialization, came a trend of bootlegging and get rich quick schemes and unfortunately Gatsby became a victim of the era. As a matter of fact, Gatsby is not the only one who has suffered from this time of moral deterioration. Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby’s object of obsession, also is a victim of a society that allows her to not take responsibility for her actions. Daisy hides behind her public facade and her innocent carefree charm. Her husband Tom Buchanan has also manipulated the greedy, selfish social society that exists on East egg. Tom has no dreams or aspirations and “seeks excitement first in sport, then in infidelity, seeking identity in a book of racist political philosophy”(Wershoven). In a time of moral peril, each character is corrupted by a societal idea that taints their grasp of the “American Dream”. During Gatsby’s adolescent years, he has a clear and healthy mindset about what he wanted to accomplish in his life. Gatsby was self-motivated to make something of his life. But once he meets Daisy, Daisy becomes the embodiment of his
Cited: Trask, David F. "A Note on Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby." University Review. 33.3 (Mar. 1967): 197-202. Rpt. in Novels for Students. Ed. Diane Telgen. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1998. 197-202. Literature Resource Center. Gale. 12 Oct. 2009 http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p=LitRC&u=a04fu Wershoven, Carol. "Insatiable Girls." Child Brides and Intruders. Bowling Green: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1993. 92-99. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Linda Pavlovski. Vol. 157. Detroit: Gale, 2005. 92-99. Literature Resource Center. Gale. 12 Oct. 2009 .