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Naturalist Criticism In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

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The Great Gatsby Naturalist Criticism of Society The American Dream is the opportunity for all Americans to live a life of personal happiness and material comfort, but is it actually achievable? F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, is a story of characters working hard to achieve the American Dream, but ultimately they are unable to ever realize their perfect life. The novel makes a naturalism argument about about the rigid class system in society and disillusionment of the American Dream. Throughout the story, Fitzgerald uses three vastly different geographical areas to show the separation between classes. The Valley of Ashes, where the poor live, is described as a “desolate area of land ... [where] spasms of bleak dust drift endlessly” …show more content…

The East Eggers are constantly putting obstacles in the way. A good example of this is how George Wilson asks Tom, “When are you going to sell me that car” (Fitzgerald 25)? George owns a garage in the valley of ashes, and he needs Tom to sell him a car, but Tom always puts it off for another day. Tom never intends to actually sell Wilson the car, and this keeps him from building his business, and moving up in society. This can also be seen when Daisy tells Gatsby, “Oh, you want too much!” (Fitzgerald 132). Daisy goes along with Gatsby’s plan to be together at first, but in the end she thinks twice about leaving Tom for Gatsby. The wealthy, even Daisy who professed her love for Gatsby, will never truly accept him as one of their own. Myrtle finds herself in a similar position because she believes Tom will leave Daisy to be with her. However, Tom claims, “[Daisy] is a Catholic and they don’t believe in divorce” (Fitzgerald 33). The truth is that Daisy is not Catholic, and Tom is using this as an excuse to not marry Myrtle. Like Gatsby, Myrtle will never be accepted into the upper class even by those who love

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