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Post by margaretpalko on Jan 27, 2016 21:33:28 GMT
When examining the American Dream and its role in The Great Gatsby it is clear that Fitzgerald wanted the reader to see that the American Dream was flawed. But in order to really understand this dream, Fitzgerald created complex characters to show what people truly valued. Nick valued honesty, Daisy valued money, and Gatsby valued Daisy. By using these characters we learn that the American Dream encompasses wealth, as shown by Gatsby and Tom, but it does not necessarily make a man happy. In fact, Gatsby worked all his life to have enough money to throw these extravagant parties in the hopes that Daisy would return. He obtained what most would call the American Dream, he was successful and worked very hard, but that wasn’t enough for him because he needed Daisy. Daisy symbolized the American Dream for him. Tom, on the other hand, symbolizes what can happen to a man when he is given too much money. He treats everything, including people, as possessions. Gatsby had dreams but he lived a disillusioned life; he couldn’t find the difference between dreams and reality. This idea leads into the true meaning of how the American Dream is lost behind social class and materialistic values. Throughout the novel we see doubles. Another example would be West and East America. Before Nick arrived he lived in the west where it seems as though it wasn’t as corrupt as East America. But the longer Nick stays, the less he sees of human values. He claimed that he was “one of the few honest people that I have ever known” (Fitzgerald 59). Overall, there’s much comparison to be done in the novel, however it is clear that the American Dream is a façade that is built up by the world. We learn that the dream encompasses an unethical side, as well as an actual dream but this vision is very distorted.
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amyyu
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Post by amyyu on Feb 1, 2016 5:05:54 GMT
Margaret, I think you made really good points about the complexity of Fitzgerald's characters reflecting the flaws within the American Dream. In particular, I enjoyed your analysis of Gatsby. Along with what you said, Gatsby is a prime example of how social class and wealth overshadow the American Dream. In order to achieve his ultimate dream, Gatsby first needed to overcome various obstacles such as making a name for himself and attaining enough money to please Daisy. This shows how Gatsby needed to satisfy Daisy's desire for money and wealth before he could fulfill his own dream of reuniting with her and rekindling their love. The need to meet such materialistic and shallow expectations in themselves are quite sad-- showing exactly how low society and its ideals have fallen. The American Dream is no longer a strife for happiness, but rather an attempt to meet the ideals of others and what society views as being successful.
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Post by cnelson on Feb 5, 2016 0:48:04 GMT
The American Dream is no longer a strife for happiness, but rather an attempt to meet the ideals of others and what society views as being successful. I definitely see Fitzgerald portraying this in the Great Gatsby not only just in the complexity of the characters but also through their unreliability and complex feelings. Essentially we can't rely on any information given to us in the novel because of Nick's bias opinions and interpretations, but if one looks at just the actions of the characters it reveals how they all crave for true happiness but really just don't know what will give them that happiness. This can especially be seen in Daisy when she runs over Myrtle, she demonstrated how she did care about Tom's affair deep down even though she portrayed to society that she didn't. This clearly shows how Fitzgerald was trying to portray how corrupted the American Dream was in the society of "Old Money". Society had such a big influence on all the characters from Gatsby throwing open door parties and never opposing anyone for fear of not being accepted in society to Tom's racism due to fear of being overpowered in society. Overall the characters are so concerned of how others perceive them that they neglect figuring out their own personalities and ambitions. As long as they continue to do so they won't ever achieve the true happiness that the American dream offers. |
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Post by ndefilippis on Feb 5, 2016 2:07:38 GMT
When examining the American Dream and its role in The Great Gatsby it is clear that Fitzgerald wanted the reader to see that the American Dream was flawed. But in order to really understand this dream, Fitzgerald created complex characters to show what people truly valued. Nick valued honesty, Daisy valued money, and Gatsby valued Daisy. By using these characters we learn that the American Dream encompasses wealth, as shown by Gatsby and Tom, but it does not necessarily make a man happy. In fact, Gatsby worked all his life to have enough money to throw these extravagant parties in the hopes that Daisy would return. He obtained what most would call the American Dream, he was successful and worked very hard, but that wasn’t enough for him because he needed Daisy. Daisy symbolized the American Dream for him. Tom, on the other hand, symbolizes what can happen to a man when he is given too much money. He treats everything, including people, as possessions. Gatsby had dreams but he lived a disillusioned life; he couldn’t find the difference between dreams and reality. This idea leads into the true meaning of how the American Dream is lost behind social class and materialistic values. Throughout the novel we see doubles. Another example would be West and East America. Before Nick arrived he lived in the west where it seems as though it wasn’t as corrupt as East America. But the longer Nick stays, the less he sees of human values. He claimed that he was “one of the few honest people that I have ever known” (Fitzgerald 59). Overall, there’s much comparison to be done in the novel, however it is clear that the American Dream is a façade that is built up by the world. We learn that the dream encompasses an unethical side, as well as an actual dream but this vision is very distorted. Margaret, I though it was interesting how you said each character has a different value for the American Dream. I agree because in general, the American Dream is about finding opportunity regardless of class, so people will find opportunity in different ways. I also agree with your view of how Fitzgerald paints the American Dream as corrupt and disillusion. The way he portrayed his characters shows how they have been corrupted by the impossibility of their Dream due to someone else's greed. Gatsby can't get with Daisy because she has been influenced by Tom's wealth, and Nick couldn't find anyone who shared his values of honesty because of the corruption he saw.. |
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Post by matthewzhang on Feb 6, 2016 1:00:46 GMT
Nick, I definitely agree with your point about how Fitzgerald is able to convey the American dream as disillusion and corrupt. I just wanted to add on to that by mentioning the Valley of Ashes. The Valley of Ashes represents the consequences that people face when the rich part of society spends their money on industry and modernization and how they just leave the wast behind for others to clean up. The area is described as poverty-stricken and full of waste. The Valley of Ashes symbolizes how careless the wealthy class are and how they left the poor class to live and deal with the trash they left behind. One example of this victim is George Wilson. Because of Tom's selfish acts, George is left without his wife and is left to live in a waste land. Fitzgerald is able to emphasize the theme of a corrupt American dream through the imagery and description of the Valley of Ashes.
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Post by ashen99 on Feb 6, 2016 2:46:40 GMT
Hey Matt, I liked how you mentioned George Wilson being affected by the corruption of the American Dream. As a rather poor person living in the desolate Valley of Ashes, he suffers needlessly from the antics of the upper class. His wife cheats on him with a rich person and then dies because Gatsby and Daisy, both of whom are extremely rich, drive a car into her. Then, he becomes mentally affected and doesn't want to live anymore. The American Dream is clearly presented as an idea that really affects the poor. In many ways, this is reflective of how the capitalist system, in pursuit of the American Dream, affected the urban working class in society. Because so many factory owners relentlessly pursued the accumulation of wealth, the workers themselves were left in the dust and faced very harsh conditions. Fitzgerald could have definitely been alluding to this social context by sympathetically describing George Wilson's rather tragic life.
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