Theme Of The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is a famous novel that seemed to be about romance and drama, but the theme of the book was actually about the American Dream and how it declined during that time period. The “American Dream” is about being able to have an occupation you love so that you would never work a day in your life. The theme ties to the time era of the book which it took place in the Jazz age. The Jazz age is a little self explanatory, it was right after the war. The younger generation, who fought in the war, became distracted with the need for money or beer and having parties. During this time it became easier for a person of any class to become wealthy. Since the time era was the jazz age I felt it really supported the theme of the book. The

In chapter 1 Gatsby points our attention to a green light which located at the end of Daisy's east egg dock and is barely visible from Gatsby's lawn located in west egg. “But I didn't call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone- [....] and far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling [...] I glanced seaward- and distinguished nothing except a single green light.”(25) The green light symbolizes Gatsby's dreams for the future, which he plans to have Daisy in his future. In ch. 1 he uses this green light to guide him through his misery, which is a life without Daisy. But the story is not complete if you just have Gatsby and Daisy, Tom Daisy’s husband, does not only play a big role in the romance part but he makes an

"Civilization's going to pieces,[...] I've gotten to be a terrible pessimist about things. Have you read The Rise of the Coloured Empires by this man Goddard?"(17) The book is about the increase in the black population and decrease in white and how the white man shall not take over. Unfortunately Tom thinks of it as world domination for the whites. In this allusion it's similar to what's happening in this time period because in both time periods they are either slowly decreasing in the separation of class or the separation of color. In conclusion The Theme of this Novel is how the American dream declined, especially in the jazz age. The American dream was declining due to the war. The younger generation who took part of this war wanted to get their minds off of the war so they got busy with parties and beer and new technology. Also people like Gatsby cheated their way into the higher social class, which they cheated their way in the American dream because you are suppose to work hard to be in the higher class. Also Gatsby wasted his money throwing parties and hoping Daisy would be impressed by his