How Does Fitzgerald Present The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s acclaimed American classic The Great Gatsby takes place in New York City during the roaring 20’s. The novel tells the story of Jay Gatsby, a man who orders his life around one desire: to be reunited with Daisy Buchanan, the love he lost five years earlier. Gatsby's quest leads him from poverty to wealth, into the arms of his beloved, and eventually to death. Critics viewing the book through the New Historical theory connect Gatsby to the “American dream.” In the definition of the American dream, life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement regardless of social class or circumstances of birth. Fitzgerald depicts end of the American dream by descriptive

Carraway views Gatsby in a different light than others, he attempts to understand the mythic person. During their first interaction, he regards Gatsby as having an” elaborate formality of speech just missed as absurd” and received “a strong impression that [Gatsby] was picking his words with care” (Fitzgerald 48). Readers later learn that Gatsby came from an impoverished background which indicates his actions reflect insecurity about his past. His careful word choice, in Gatsby’s eyes, gives the impression of a well educated man which he is not. He fears that his success could vanish if his true upbringing is revealed because no one would respect him. The critic John A. Pidgeon states “The dream is essentially anti–puritanical (to go from rags to riches and therefore from rejection to acceptance)” (179). According to that definition, Gatsby has accomplished the first half, but acceptance alludes

Daisy symbolizes money, greed, and everything wrong about American society. She is an entitled, selfish woman that Gatsby falls hopelessly in love with but fails to see her shortcomings. Gatsby attributes “glamor and wealth to goodness” and so he attributes goodness to Daisy, because he sees her as an embodiment of glamor and wealth” (Pidgeon 181). The mistake Gatsby makes is due to the material nature of the American dream. He believes items will win her love because Daisy would have no reason to reject him since he becomes affluent. The critics, Kimberly Hearne, summarizes Gatsby’s mistake by