The Great Gatsby Destruction of the American Dream Essay Example

American Dream The Great Gatsby, a book relative to many different time periods and has shed light on many with its realistic tragedy. What makes this book great is its’ excellent depiction of life in the Roaring Twenties. These themes in the book parallel many generations and topics brought up in World and US History. One of the more relevant and apparent themes is corruption of the American Dream. As in the real world, the characters in The Great Gatsby find out that the American Dream is not just about having riches and being the select few but putting effort into something in order to reap the benefit. The failure of the American dream can be seen through the main characters Gatsby, Daisy and Myrtle and Tom Buchannan. Gatsby is obviously the most important of the four, due to his significant roll in the book. Jay Gatsby is bent on getting his love interest, Daisy, his girlfriend before the war. Ironically, Gatsby, a decorated military officer, is so intent on getting Daisy back he involves himself in organized crime and bootlegging (Callahan 2). He moves in across the river from Daisy and throws lavish parties to try to get her to come and try to woo her back to him. These lavish parties and Gatsby’s inability to move on will ultimately lead to his downfall. Baska 2
Gatsby’s personality parallels with many items brought up in the book. Fitzgerald uses Nick to describe Gatsby mansion,
“The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard—it was a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden. It was Gatsby’s mansion” (Fitzgerald 7).
When Nick enters Gatsby’s house to attend one of his parties he also describes its grand rooms with high empty ceilings. Gatsby, much like his mansion, puts of this elegant appearance but on the inside he is hollow and tiring to find people to fill that hollowness