American Dream in The Great Gatsby

“The American Dream is invariably seen to fail. Discuss”
The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald is seen as one of the greatest American writers, admired by his contemparies and by modern audiences of today. Fitzgerald was very much in tune with the early twentieth century American culture. He is credited with capturing the ‘Jazz Age’, which he described as “a generation grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken”. Fitzgerald observed the culture around him with a critical eye. Despite being able to depict America like few others could, many see Fitzgerald’s writing as an indictment on its values.
Works such as The Diamond as Big as the Ritz and Absolution (said by Fitzgerald to be an introduction to The Great Gatsby ) are regarded as attacks on the concept of the American Dream and that Fitzgerald believed it to be futile. This disillusionment is most starkly and tragically explored in The Great Gatsby.

The character of Jay Gatsby could be perceived as the embodiment of the American Dream. He comes from a poor working background, where he is James Gatz, and reinvents himself into the wealthy popular figure of Jay Gatsby. He represents the idea that “anybody can make it in America”.
After Gatsby’s death, his Father shows Nick his ‘schedule’ from when he was a boy;

SCHEDULE
Rise from bed 6.00 A.M
Dumbbell exercise and wall-scaling 6.15 – 6.30 “
Study electricity, etc. 7.15 – 8.15 “
Work 8.30 – 4.30 P.M
Baseball and sports &nb...

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...dreams – not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion.”

The American Dream is simply that; a dream. Through the tragedy of Gatsby, Fitzgerald shows us what happens when fantasy and reality are brought together. Despite seemingly having everything, Gatsby has nothing. His material wealth cannot compensate for what he lacks emotionally. Like Jay Gatsby, the American Dream will always fail when it is shattered by reality.

Bibliography

Deborah L. Madsen, American Exceptionalism, Keele University Press, 1998

Leslie Fieldler, Love and Death in the American Novel (3rd Edition), Penguin, 1982

Thomas Stavoli, Scott Fitzgerald: Crisis in American Identity, Vision Press, 1979

Brian Way, F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Art of Social Fiction, Arnold, 1986

Neil Campbell and Alisdair Kean, American Cultural Studies: An Introduction to American Culture, Routledge, 1997

Ann Massa and Scott Donaldson, American Literature: Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries, Newton Abbot, 1978

Marius Bewley, The Eccentric Design: Form in the Classic American Novel, Columbia University Press, 1959

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1993