Great Gatsby: American Dream
McKenna Walquist
Period 1
Gatsby Essay
As time flows everlastingly on, the dreams which man builds its self upon are prone to change. Throughout American history the American dream has changed from being one which inspired and fed the hopes of people all over the country, to the twenties’ mangled interpretation of it, where everything revolved around money and status. This theme is expressed in multiple characters and more specifically Gatsby who is a prime example of such corruption. The untimely demise of Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, signals the unraveling of the American dream. In the beginning of the novel Gatsby’s dream is pure in its initial form. Starting out his dream is just like any other’s, one with glory and a better life for himself as he believed he deserved. Eventually he gain his dream of riches, this being reflected in his new life in the West Egg with his mansion being brand new apart from the ivy coating it possesses along with his vast amount of lawn area. (Fitzgerald 9) Gatsby pays special attention to his lawn also, cultivating it as he did with his rise to fortune and controlling most details apart from one section allowed to grow wild, which was a window to see the inner turmoil of Gatsby. This anxiety within is helped by the fact that one of Gatsby’s driving notions in the book was to When the realization hits that Gatsby’s dream is becoming a false sense of its self, the reader is forced to look deeper into the character of Gatsby and who he really is. This leads to the discovery of Gatsby continually living in the past, often times fabricating a story to make himself seem more outgoing and distanced from what he truly is, leaving the reader wondering “if there wasn’t something a little sinister about him after all.” (Fitzgerald 69) These tendencies led Gatsby to boast about what materialistic items he has today and what he can give himself and others. Such as when Gatsby is feeling anxious about
Period 1
Gatsby Essay
As time flows everlastingly on, the dreams which man builds its self upon are prone to change. Throughout American history the American dream has changed from being one which inspired and fed the hopes of people all over the country, to the twenties’ mangled interpretation of it, where everything revolved around money and status. This theme is expressed in multiple characters and more specifically Gatsby who is a prime example of such corruption. The untimely demise of Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, signals the unraveling of the American dream. In the beginning of the novel Gatsby’s dream is pure in its initial form. Starting out his dream is just like any other’s, one with glory and a better life for himself as he believed he deserved. Eventually he gain his dream of riches, this being reflected in his new life in the West Egg with his mansion being brand new apart from the ivy coating it possesses along with his vast amount of lawn area. (Fitzgerald 9) Gatsby pays special attention to his lawn also, cultivating it as he did with his rise to fortune and controlling most details apart from one section allowed to grow wild, which was a window to see the inner turmoil of Gatsby. This anxiety within is helped by the fact that one of Gatsby’s driving notions in the book was to When the realization hits that Gatsby’s dream is becoming a false sense of its self, the reader is forced to look deeper into the character of Gatsby and who he really is. This leads to the discovery of Gatsby continually living in the past, often times fabricating a story to make himself seem more outgoing and distanced from what he truly is, leaving the reader wondering “if there wasn’t something a little sinister about him after all.” (Fitzgerald 69) These tendencies led Gatsby to boast about what materialistic items he has today and what he can give himself and others. Such as when Gatsby is feeling anxious about