American Dream in The Great Gatsby Essay example -- essays research pa

The American Dream is invariably seen to fail. DiscussThe Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald is seen as one of the greatest American writers, admired by his contemparies and by youthful 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 Fitzgeralds 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 inca rnation 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 Gatsbys death, his Father shows Nick his schedule from when he was a boySCHEDULERise from bed6.00A.MDumbbell exercise and wall-scaling6.15 6.30 get electricity, etc.7.15 8.15 Work8.30 4.30 P.MBaseball and sports&nb... ...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 ever fail when it is shattered by reality.BibliographyDeborah L. Madsen, American Exceptionalism, Keele University Press, 1998Le slie Fieldler, Love and Death in the American Novel (3rd Edition), Penguin, 1982Thomas Stavoli, Scott Fitzgerald Crisis in American Identity, Vision Press, 1979Brian Way, F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Art of affectionate Fiction, Arnold, 1986Neil Campbell and Alisdair Kean, American Cultural Studies An Introduction to American Culture, Routledge, 1997Ann Massa and Scott Donaldson, American Literature Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries, Newton Abbot, 1978Marius Bewley, The Eccentric Design Form in the unadulterated American Novel, Columbia University Press, 1959F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1993