How Did The Great Gatsby Achieve Success

The Great Gatsby is a 1925 classic fiction novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. The novel is about a man named Jay Gatsby, whom likes to order his life around and has one desire, which is to be reunited with the love of his life. In order to get her back after five long years Jay Gatsby goes on a quest from poverty to wealth, then into the arms of his beloved, and eventually leading to death. Throughout this novel full of trauma and tragedy, there were many themes presented and explored. Power was a very important part of the text because many people in the book lived the American Dream, which means they were associated with money, and money is associated with power.

The 1920’s was a very interesting time in United States history. After all World War I had ended and many Americans did not realize that the Great Depression was in the near future, so the 1920’s fell between these two dramatic events. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby teaches many morals, but none more important than the duality of the 1920’s. Duality is evident in Gatsby's dreams, his death, his lover Daisy, his wealth, and his parties, which all reflect the duality of the 1920’s. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald makes the concept of achieving the American dream seem improbable.

“‘Even that’s a lie,’ said Tom savagely. She didn’t know you were alive. Why- there’re things between Daisy and me that you’ll never know, things that neither of us can ever forget.” (Fitzgerald 132). Even when Tom knows that Daisy is cheating on him with Jay Gatsby, he contends his marriage and fights for her.

The temptation of wealth and love drives him to chase unrealistic and misguided dreams: “He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night” (Fitzgerald 180). The more Gatsby tries to recapture his past, the further he is taken away from what is real. Throughout The Great Gatsby he moves further into this dreamland he has created of his perfect life with Daisy, trying to escape the social class he was born to that once separated them. There is also irony in that Gatsby continuously tries to distance himself from his past and the lower class lifestyle, yet he spends the entirety of his life trying to rewrite his past with Daisy until he sees that she isn’t someone truly worth his love.

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald shows how Jay Gatsby tries to fulfill the ideals of the American Dream. When Gatsby was young, he set goals and worked hard to improve. He pursued the typical American dream of gaining wealth, finding a companion, and being admired by others. Gatsby thought it was best to try and change everything about himself. He wears a thick mask of lies throughout the story, hiding his past, changing his name, suppressing his emotions, and even adapting his word choice.

For Gatsby, the American Dream is obtaining materialistic things and flaunting it. There is no other reason why Gatsby is described by his parties and his clothes. "They're such beautiful shirts," she sobbed, her voice muffled in the think folds. "It makes me sad

The Great Gatsby is an American novel written by Scott Fitzgerald. On the surface, the book revolves around the concept of romance, the love between two individuals. However, the novel incorporates less of a romantic scope and rather focuses on the theme of the American Dream in the 1920s. Fitzgerald depicts the 1920’s as an era of decline in moral values. The strong desire for luxurious pleasure and money ultimately corrupts the American dream which was originally about individualism.

In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald is very meticulous on how the novel is shown as more satirical rather than romantic. The visionary of the American Dream is the most coveted life during this time period, so Fitzgerald used this lifestyle to mock and expose the vices of others. Fitzgerald uses certain aspects of this lifestyle to show characters satirical impulsiveness or materialism, which ridicules them and the ideals of the 1920s. During the time period in which this novel took place, the American Dream was perhaps the most sought after lifestyle. The American Dream during the roaring twenties is the pursuit of wealth regardless of morals.

Gatsby was a man who came up from essentially nothing by gaining his money through bootlegging and other illegal acts in order to gain a reputation in society. Gatsby’s constant desire to accomplish more in his life demonstrates the corruption of the American Dream. It is evident that Gatsby has had a thirst for the American dream since a young age, this is shown when Gatsby’s father says: “Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves like this or something. Do you notice what he’s got about improving his mind?

Daisy “wanted her life shaped now, immediately-and the decision must be made by some force-of love, of money, or unquestionable practicality-that was close at hand” (151). Tom provides security when it came to money and he fit the status quo. Daisy is more concerned about her social status than love. She would rather be  high end and classy instead of waiting for someone she loves. Eventually Daisy and Gatsby reunite, but this relationship does not last.

While she is hurt, she does have feelings for Tom. “She becomes involved with him, but when he urges her to leave Tom, she backs down” (Tate 97). Daisy has connected with Tom as well as Gatsby and doesn’t see why she has to prove her love to Gatsby. " Oh, you want too much!" she cried to Gatsby.

The Great Gatsby is not simply a story of Jay Gatsby’s undying and misguided love for a Daisy Buchanan. The novel, The Great Gatsby, encompasses a number of themes, the most significant one is the disillusionment and corruption of the American dream. The ability to obtain prosperity such as happiness, or a car is what comprises of the American dream. It is a belief that anyone who is self-sufficient, or who is a hard worker can obtain this dream regardless of their social standing. In the book, the facade of a dream appears to be at the tips of Gatsby and Myrtle’s fingers but this “pursuit of happiness” sentiment is in actuality impossible.

The dream is represented by the ideas of a self sufficient man or woman, who is willing to do anything to achieve the goal of becoming successful. The Great Gatsby shows what happened to the American Dream in the 1920’s, a time period when dreams became corrupted for many reasons. The desire for a luxurious life, the hope for happiness, and the ambition for something unachievable and work together to ruin the American Dream. The Great Gatsby shows a time when the American Dream is failing, humanity is corrupting it by their wants of possessions leading to the all out demise of the American Dream.

Gatsby’s Failure of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby Dreams are seen as a positive way to keep people going forward through their lives. However, dreams can blind people and not let them to see the truth. The novel The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald criticizes the idea of The American Dream of not being able to be achieved. Gatsby is one of the characters in the novel that tries to achieve The American Dream. The pursuit of the American Dream brings negative results to Gatsby because he becomes greedy, unrealistic, and dishonest, which shows that chasing dreams can destroy one’s life.

There are many themes exist in the novel of The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald. The most significant theme in this novel is the American dream. The meaning of the American Dream is someone who starting low on the social level or economic, which then working hard and try their best towards wealth and fame. In other word, it stand for one’s independence to strive in order to achieve desired wealth and fame with hard work, but it ends up being more about selfish and materialism pursuit of pleasure. American dream is achieve when a person having a car, money, big house, happy family and nice clothes.