Examples Of Disillusionment In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby seems to be a romantic and bitter love story between Gatsby and Daisy on the surface, but it actually shows something more profound. The book is set in the 1920s of America, an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess, a time when both the prevalence and the disillusionment of the American dream exist. The 1920s is the time after the World War I, the young generation who fought in the war became intensely disillusioned, because the cruel carnage they faced in the war makes the society seem stuffy and with empty hypocrisy. Gatsby is one of them.
This book presents the decadence and disintegration of the American dream through Gatsby’s disillusionment of his own American dream. Gatsby has two dreams. The first one

Gatsby spares every effort to realize his dream. When he was young, he wrote himself a daily plan “Rise from bed…Be better to parents” (181-182). This was all written in a ragged book called “Hopalong Cassidy”, a book about a young man’s success after struggling. This proves that Gatsby’s desire to become successful when he was young. At that time, Gatsby’s dream was still positive, but sarcastically, the young Gatsby achieved nothing. What’s more, he lost his love Daisy because of his lack of money and social status. The loss of Daisy hasn’t depressed him; on the contrary, it urged Gatsby on to pursue the money. Then Gatsby met Dan Cody, who at that time was spending the money he had earned in youth wastefully. This totally didn’t agree with Gatsby’s dream, but he adored Dan. It was under Dan’s influences that Gatsby’s pure dream went decayed. Gatsby became morally decayed and hollow inside. He earned money at any sacrifice. He colluded with Meyer Wolfshiem, doing illegal trades, which turned Gatsby a millionaire. Although he is rich now, he still feels hollow inside. Therefore, he buys splendid mansion, luxurious car, hydroplane, expensive and delicate clothes to fulfill his emptiness. He