Overruling In The Great Gatsby Essay

The theme that is overruling in The Great Gatsby is the downfall of the American Dream. Throughout the story, Fitzgerald has Caraway portray the American Dream in the 1920’s as being corrupted by “new money” and all the material things people strive to have. We are able to see the corruption in the actions of Gatsby as he turns to criminal acts to make his beloved Daisy fall back in love with him because he knows that she is accustomed to the lavish things her husband provides for her. Gatsby throws parties to show how rich he is in the hope that Daisy will come to them. The point is also made that these characters give certain places and objects meaning that would not necessarily have any meaning at all. They are obsessed with having the

material things in life.

The scene where Daisy spends time at Gatsby’s and throws his expensive shirts around and says, “They're such beautiful shirts," she sobbed, her voice muffled in the think folds, "It makes me sad because I've never seen such – such beautiful shirts before"(118). This shows how much Daisy thinks of material things, and how she gives them more value and meaning than they should have. Another theme that is not as prevalent but can also be seen is family relationships. The relationship between husband Tom and Daisy is a very rocky relationship. Tom is unfaithful and has been the whole marriage. Even when Daisy was giving birth he was nowhere to be found. She states,” I woke up out of the ether with an utterly abandoned feeling, and asked the nurse right away if it was a boy or a girl. She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept. 'All right,' I said, 'I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool – that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool” (118). This shows that she hopes her daughter can be oblivious to all the bad things in the world and just live her life as happy as possible. Unlike Daisy, who is not happy in her marriage but stays because she knows she will have her American Dream fulfilled with Tom as her

husband. Daisy’s dream and Gatsby’s dream are close to the same; they both dream of riches but have different reasons for these dreams. Daisy has a dependency on living with the nicest things and Gatsby just wishes to be loved by her.
Fitzgerald uses remarkable symbolism in the story showing connections to the theme of the American Dream. He uses the light at the end of Daisy’s house as the symbol of hopes and dreams that Gatsby has. The light is what has made Gatsby become so successful by always being a sign of how close Daisy is. However, Nick Caraway has this to say about it “Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby's house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder” (182). Earlier he talks about how this must be what the Dutch sailors saw and how they had these big dreams for their new world. This dream is totally different from the time they lived compared to that of the 1920’s. The American Dream to them was having a home, family, freedom and becoming successful, unlike what was the current dream in the story. Gatsby was not focused on what we see as the American Dream today because he lived in the time when everything was flashy and enticing. His American Dream was focused on attaining the wealth required to get Daisy back. His parties were symbols of his wealth and the ultimate fulfillment of the American Dream. Ultimately his dream took him on his downward spiral that led to his death; it was not beneficial to him at all. Another of the symbols that are tied to the theme would be the Valley of Ashes and the billboard of Dr. Eckleburg. The Valley of Ashes represents how society and the American Dream are decaying because of the constant wanting of wealth by the people. The Valley was where all of the poor and lower class people lived. To some it was a constant reminder of reality. The billboard was in the valley and is seen by the characters in the story to be “watchful” and George Wilson even sees them as God’s eyes. Eyes that can see all the worries of the world, how society is crumbling and the lives that start to take downward spirals.
Foreshadowing and symbolism work hand in hand throughout this story. Foreshadowing occurs before all the major events in this story. Gatsby’s reunion with Daisy was on a day that was pouring down rain; this symbolizes and foreshadows how dreary the relationship will be. The scene described earlier about Daisy crying over how beautiful Gatsby’s shirts is a foreshadowing of how superficial her love is for him. She only loves the materialistic parts of Gatsby’s life. However, she is hesitant to love him because he has such a shady past anyway. He receives strange phone calls from business partners and others and when he takes these calls he seems to become more anxious and on edge. Another moment that foreshadows important events would be the argument at the suite that left Gatsby’s past actions and present action as well out in the open. The reader is able to see how Daisy becomes less interested in being with Gatsby by the end of it. Tom is livid when he finds out his wife is being unfaithful, but lets her leave with Gatsby anyway because he knows she will never leave him. On the car ride home Mr. Caraway states, ”So we drove on toward death through the cooling twilight”(136) as they head straight for the horrific scene that will soon lead to more.
Irony runs rampant throughout the novel.

The American Dream to those of the 1920’s was painted as such ritzy, wealthy, and lavish life, when in reality those in the story are not happy with their life at all. They are each putting on a superficial front to make it seem that they are content with their lives. When they are all eating lunch at the Buchanan home, Daisy brings out her daughter to meet Gatsby but when in reality she just wants to show off her daughter. This is ironic because she wants to complain about how horrible of a father Tom is but she is not as good of a mother as she should be. Dramatic irony is seen when the readers know that Daisy is having an affair but Tom doesn’t realize it. It is also ironic that Daisy makes a huge deal about Tom being unfaithful and then she does the same thing. An example of situational irony is seen when Gatsby is outside of Daisy’s house making sure that she is okay after the incident with the car and then she ends up making up with Tom instead of going back to Gatsby. This is in relation to the downfall of Gatsby’s American Dream. The car incident causes Tom to accuse Gatsby of killing his mistress which is another example of irony, because it was actually Daisy that was operating the vehicle at the time. The reader knows all of these facts and the characters do not. Gatsby’s death is very ironic considering that he was waiting to hear from Daisy, who was the actual killer, when he is shot and killed by George Wilson. It would

be an example of situational irony.
Flashbacks are used by Fitzgerald to show the past lives of his characters to give insight. Jordan Baker, the friend of Daisy and love interest of Nick Caraway, uses a flashback to tell about how Daisy and Gatsby met. This incident gives insight into not only Jordan Baker’s past but also Daisy’s and the previous individual, Jay Gatz, later known as Gatsby. This was before he set out to fulfill his life-long American Dream that had Daisy as the center of it. The reader then learns how he was able to become so wealthy and how it eventually leads to his downfall. Another example of a flashback would be when Gatsby starts to remember back on some of the better parts of his relationship with Daisy. Nick tells him that you can’t repeat the past, and his immediate response is of course you can. This foreshadows how the relationship eventually folds out. And unfortunately, Caraway is very right. These flashbacks are very helpful to the reader because they fill in missing information.