essay on gatsby and the american dream

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Book Guides

The Great Gatsby is a tragic love story on the surface, but it's most commonly understood as a pessimistic critique of the American Dream. In the novel, Jay Gatsby overcomes his poor past to gain an incredible amount of money and a limited amount of social cache in 1920s NYC, only to be rejected by the "old money" crowd. He then gets killed after being tangled up with them.

Through Gatsby's life, as well as that of the Wilsons', Fitzgerald critiques the idea that America is a meritocracy where anyone can rise to the top with enough hard work. We will explore how this theme plays out in the plot, briefly analyze some key quotes about it, as well as do some character analysis and broader analysis of topics surrounding the American Dream in The Great Gatsby .

What is the American Dream? The American Dream in the Great Gatsby plot Key American Dream quotes Analyzing characters via the American Dream Common discussion and essay topics

Quick Note on Our Citations

Our citation format in this guide is (chapter.paragraph). We're using this system since there are many editions of Gatsby, so using page numbers would only work for students with our copy of the book.

To find a quotation we cite via chapter and paragraph in your book, you can either eyeball it (Paragraph 1-50: beginning of chapter; 50-100: middle of chapter; 100-on: end of chapter), or use the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text.

What Exactly Is "The American Dream"?

The American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of race, class, gender, or nationality, can be successful in America (read: rich) if they just work hard enough. The American Dream thus presents a pretty rosy view of American society that ignores problems like systemic racism and misogyny, xenophobia, tax evasion or state tax avoidance, and income inequality. It also presumes a myth of class equality, when the reality is America has a pretty well-developed class hierarchy.

The 1920s in particular was a pretty tumultuous time due to increased immigration (and the accompanying xenophobia), changing women's roles (spurred by the right to vote, which was won in 1919), and extraordinary income inequality.

The country was also in the midst of an economic boom, which fueled the belief that anyone could "strike it rich" on Wall Street. However, this rapid economic growth was built on a bubble which popped in 1929. The Great Gatsby was published in 1925, well before the crash, but through its wry descriptions of the ultra-wealthy, it seems to somehow predict that the fantastic wealth on display in 1920s New York was just as ephemeral as one of Gatsby's parties.

In any case, the novel, just by being set in the 1920s, is unlikely to present an optimistic view of the American Dream, or at least a version of the dream that's inclusive to all genders, ethnicities, and incomes. With that background in mind, let's jump into the plot!

The American Dream in The Great Gatsby

Chapter 1 places us in a particular year—1922—and gives us some background about WWI.  This is relevant, since the 1920s is presented as a time of hollow decadence among the wealthy, as evidenced especially by the parties in Chapters 2 and 3. And as we mentioned above, the 1920s were a particularly tense time in America.

We also meet George and Myrtle Wilson in Chapter 2 , both working class people who are working to improve their lot in life, George through his work, and Myrtle through her affair with Tom Buchanan.

We learn about Gatsby's goal in Chapter 4 : to win Daisy back. Despite everything he owns, including fantastic amounts of money and an over-the-top mansion, for Gatsby, Daisy is the ultimate status symbol. So in Chapter 5 , when Daisy and Gatsby reunite and begin an affair, it seems like Gatsby could, in fact, achieve his goal.

In Chapter 6 , we learn about Gatsby's less-than-wealthy past, which not only makes him look like the star of a rags-to-riches story, it makes Gatsby himself seem like someone in pursuit of the American Dream, and for him the personification of that dream is Daisy.

However, in Chapters 7 and 8 , everything comes crashing down: Daisy refuses to leave Tom, Myrtle is killed, and George breaks down and kills Gatsby and then himself, leaving all of the "strivers" dead and the old money crowd safe. Furthermore, we learn in those last chapters that Gatsby didn't even achieve all his wealth through hard work, like the American Dream would stipulate—instead, he earned his money through crime. (He did work hard and honestly under Dan Cody, but lost Dan Cody's inheritance to his ex-wife.)

In short, things do not turn out well for our dreamers in the novel! Thus, the novel ends with Nick's sad meditation on the lost promise of the American Dream. You can read a detailed analysis of these last lines in our summary of the novel's ending .

Key American Dream Quotes

In this section we analyze some of the most important quotes that relate to the American Dream in the book.

But I didn't call to him for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone--he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward--and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock. (1.152)

In our first glimpse of Jay Gatsby, we see him reaching towards something far off, something in sight but definitely out of reach. This famous image of the green light is often understood as part of The Great Gatsby 's meditation on The American Dream—the idea that people are always reaching towards something greater than themselves that is just out of reach . You can read more about this in our post all about the green light .

The fact that this yearning image is our introduction to Gatsby foreshadows his unhappy end and also marks him as a dreamer, rather than people like Tom or Daisy who were born with money and don't need to strive for anything so far off.

Over the great bridge, with the sunlight through the girders making a constant flicker upon the moving cars, with the city rising up across the river in white heaps and sugar lumps all built with a wish out of non-olfactory money. The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.

A dead man passed us in a hearse heaped with blooms, followed by two carriages with drawn blinds and by more cheerful carriages for friends. The friends looked out at us with the tragic eyes and short upper lips of south-eastern Europe, and I was glad that the sight of Gatsby's splendid car was included in their somber holiday. As we crossed Blackwell's Island a limousine passed us, driven by a white chauffeur, in which sat three modish Negroes, two bucks and a girl. I laughed aloud as the yolks of their eyeballs rolled toward us in haughty rivalry.

"Anything can happen now that we've slid over this bridge," I thought; "anything at all. . . ."

Even Gatsby could happen, without any particular wonder. (4.55-8)

Early in the novel, we get this mostly optimistic illustration of the American Dream—we see people of different races and nationalities racing towards NYC, a city of unfathomable possibility. This moment has all the classic elements of the American Dream—economic possibility, racial and religious diversity, a carefree attitude. At this moment, it does feel like "anything can happen," even a happy ending.

However, this rosy view eventually gets undermined by the tragic events later in the novel. And even at this point, Nick's condescension towards the people in the other cars reinforces America's racial hierarchy that disrupts the idea of the American Dream. There is even a little competition at play, a "haughty rivalry" at play between Gatsby's car and the one bearing the "modish Negroes."

Nick "laughs aloud" at this moment, suggesting he thinks it's amusing that the passengers in this other car see them as equals, or even rivals to be bested. In other words, he seems to firmly believe in the racial hierarchy Tom defends in Chapter 1, even if it doesn't admit it honestly.

His heart beat faster and faster as Daisy's white face came up to his own. He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning fork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips' touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete. (6.134)

This moment explicitly ties Daisy to all of Gatsby's larger dreams for a better life —to his American Dream. This sets the stage for the novel's tragic ending, since Daisy cannot hold up under the weight of the dream Gatsby projects onto her. Instead, she stays with Tom Buchanan, despite her feelings for Gatsby. Thus when Gatsby fails to win over Daisy, he also fails to achieve his version of the American Dream. This is why so many people read the novel as a somber or pessimistic take on the American Dream, rather than an optimistic one.  

...as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors' eyes--a fresh, green breast of the new world. Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby's house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.

And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. 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." (9.151-152)

The closing pages of the novel reflect at length on the American Dream, in an attitude that seems simultaneously mournful, appreciative, and pessimistic. It also ties back to our first glimpse of Gatsby, reaching out over the water towards the Buchanan's green light. Nick notes that Gatsby's dream was "already behind him" then (or in other words, it was impossible to attain). But still, he finds something to admire in how Gatsby still hoped for a better life, and constantly reached out toward that brighter future.

For a full consideration of these last lines and what they could mean, see our analysis of the novel's ending .

Analyzing Characters Through the American Dream

An analysis of the characters in terms of the American Dream usually leads to a pretty cynical take on the American Dream.

Most character analysis centered on the American Dream will necessarily focus on Gatsby, George, or Myrtle (the true strivers in the novel), though as we'll discuss below, the Buchanans can also provide some interesting layers of discussion. For character analysis that incorporates the American Dream, carefully consider your chosen character's motivations and desires, and how the novel does (or doesn't!) provide glimpses of the dream's fulfillment for them.

Gatsby himself is obviously the best candidate for writing about the American Dream—he comes from humble roots (he's the son of poor farmers from North Dakota) and rises to be notoriously wealthy, only for everything to slip away from him in the end. Many people also incorporate Daisy into their analyses as the physical representation of Gatsby's dream.

However, definitely consider the fact that in the traditional American Dream, people achieve their goals through honest hard work, but in Gatsby's case, he very quickly acquires a large amount of money through crime . Gatsby does attempt the hard work approach, through his years of service to Dan Cody, but that doesn't work out since Cody's ex-wife ends up with the entire inheritance. So instead he turns to crime, and only then does he manage to achieve his desired wealth.

So while Gatsby's story arc resembles a traditional rags-to-riches tale, the fact that he gained his money immorally complicates the idea that he is a perfect avatar for the American Dream . Furthermore, his success obviously doesn't last—he still pines for Daisy and loses everything in his attempt to get her back. In other words, Gatsby's huge dreams, all precariously wedded to Daisy  ("He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God" (6.134)) are as flimsy and flight as Daisy herself.

George and Myrtle Wilson

This couple also represents people aiming at the dream— George owns his own shop and is doing his best to get business, though is increasingly worn down by the harsh demands of his life, while Myrtle chases after wealth and status through an affair with Tom.

Both are disempowered due to the lack of money at their own disposal —Myrtle certainly has access to some of the "finer things" through Tom but has to deal with his abuse, while George is unable to leave his current life and move West since he doesn't have the funds available. He even has to make himself servile to Tom in an attempt to get Tom to sell his car, a fact that could even cause him to overlook the evidence of his wife's affair. So neither character is on the upward trajectory that the American Dream promises, at least during the novel.

In the end, everything goes horribly wrong for both George and Myrtle, suggesting that in this world, it's dangerous to strive for more than you're given.

George and Myrtle's deadly fates, along with Gatsby's, help illustrate the novel's pessimistic attitude toward the American Dream. After all, how unfair is it that the couple working to improve their position in society (George and Myrtle) both end up dead, while Tom, who dragged Myrtle into an increasingly dangerous situation, and Daisy, who killed her, don't face any consequences? And on top of that they are fabulously wealthy? The American Dream certainly is not alive and well for the poor Wilsons.

Tom and Daisy as Antagonists to the American Dream

We've talked quite a bit already about Gatsby, George, and Myrtle—the three characters who come from humble roots and try to climb the ranks in 1920s New York. But what about the other major characters, especially the ones born with money? What is their relationship to the American Dream?

Specifically, Tom and Daisy have old money, and thus they don't need the American Dream, since they were born with America already at their feet.

Perhaps because of this, they seem to directly antagonize the dream—Daisy by refusing Gatsby, and Tom by helping to drag the Wilsons into tragedy .

This is especially interesting because unlike Gatsby, Myrtle, and George, who actively hope and dream of a better life, Daisy and Tom are described as bored and "careless," and end up instigating a large amount of tragedy through their own recklessness.

In other words, income inequality and the vastly different starts in life the characters have strongly affected their outcomes. The way they choose to live their lives, their morality (or lack thereof), and how much they dream doesn't seem to matter. This, of course, is tragic and antithetical to the idea of the American Dream, which claims that class should be irrelevant and anyone can rise to the top.

Daisy as a Personification of the American Dream

As we discuss in our post on money and materialism in The Great Gatsby , Daisy's voice is explicitly tied to money by Gatsby:

"Her voice is full of money," he said suddenly.

That was it. I'd never understood before. It was full of money--that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it. . . . High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl. . . . (7.105-6)

If Daisy's voice promises money, and the American Dream is explicitly linked to wealth, it's not hard to argue that Daisy herself—along with the green light at the end of her dock —stands in for the American Dream. In fact, as Nick goes on to describe Daisy as "High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl," he also seems to literally describe Daisy as a prize, much like the princess at the end of a fairy tale (or even Princess Peach at the end of a Mario game!).

But Daisy, of course, is only human—flawed, flighty, and ultimately unable to embody the huge fantasy Gatsby projects onto her. So this, in turn, means that the American Dream itself is just a fantasy, a concept too flimsy to actually hold weight, especially in the fast-paced, dog-eat-dog world of 1920s America.

Furthermore, you should definitely consider the tension between the fact that Daisy represents Gatsby's ultimate goal, but at the same time (as we discussed above), her actual life is the opposite of the American Dream : she is born with money and privilege, likely dies with it all intact, and there are no consequences to how she chooses to live her life in between.

Can Female Characters Achieve the American Dream?

Finally, it's interesting to compare and contrast some of the female characters using the lens of the American Dream.

Let's start with Daisy, who is unhappy in her marriage and, despite a brief attempt to leave it, remains with Tom, unwilling to give up the status and security their marriage provides. At first, it may seem like Daisy doesn't dream at all, so of course she ends up unhappy. But consider the fact that Daisy was already born into the highest level of American society. The expectation placed on her, as a wealthy woman, was never to pursue something greater, but simply to maintain her status. She did that by marrying Tom, and it's understandable why she wouldn't risk the uncertainty and loss of status that would come through divorce and marriage to a bootlegger. Again, Daisy seems to typify the "anti-American" dream, in that she was born into a kind of aristocracy and simply has to maintain her position, not fight for something better.

In contrast, Myrtle, aside from Gatsby, seems to be the most ambitiously in pursuit of getting more than she was given in life. She parlays her affair with Tom into an apartment, nice clothes, and parties, and seems to revel in her newfound status. But of course, she is knocked down the hardest, killed for her involvement with the Buchanans, and specifically for wrongfully assuming she had value to them. Considering that Gatsby did have a chance to leave New York and distance himself from the unfolding tragedy, but Myrtle was the first to be killed, you could argue the novel presents an even bleaker view of the American Dream where women are concerned.

Even Jordan Baker , who seems to be living out a kind of dream by playing golf and being relatively independent, is tied to her family's money and insulated from consequences by it , making her a pretty poor representation of the dream. And of course, since her end game also seems to be marriage, she doesn't push the boundaries of women's roles as far as she might wish.

So while the women all push the boundaries of society's expectations of them in certain ways, they either fall in line or are killed, which definitely undermines the rosy of idea that anyone, regardless of gender, can make it in America. The American Dream as shown in Gatsby becomes even more pessimistic through the lens of the female characters.  

Common Essay Questions/Discussion Topics

Now let's work through some of the more frequently brought up subjects for discussion.

#1: Was Gatsby's dream worth it? Was all the work, time, and patience worth it for him?

Like me, you might immediately think "of course it wasn't worth it! Gatsby lost everything, not to mention the Wilsons got caught up in the tragedy and ended up dead!" So if you want to make the more obvious "the dream wasn't worth it" argument, you could point to the unraveling that happens at the end of the novel (including the deaths of Myrtle, Gatsby and George) and how all Gatsby's achievements are for nothing, as evidenced by the sparse attendance of his funeral.

However, you could definitely take the less obvious route and argue that Gatsby's dream was worth it, despite the tragic end . First of all, consider Jay's unique characterization in the story: "He was a son of God--a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that--and he must be about His Father's Business, the service of a vast, vulgar and meretricious beauty" (6.7). In other words, Gatsby has a larger-than-life persona and he never would have been content to remain in North Dakota to be poor farmers like his parents.

Even if he ends up living a shorter life, he certainly lived a full one full of adventure. His dreams of wealth and status took him all over the world on Dan Cody's yacht, to Louisville where he met and fell in love with Daisy, to the battlefields of WWI, to the halls of Oxford University, and then to the fast-paced world of Manhattan in the early 1920s, when he earned a fortune as a bootlegger. In fact, it seems Jay lived several lives in the space of just half a normal lifespan. In short, to argue that Gatsby's dream was worth it, you should point to his larger-than-life conception of himself and the fact that he could have only sought happiness through striving for something greater than himself, even if that ended up being deadly in the end.

#2: In the Langston Hughes poem "A Dream Deferred," Hughes asks questions about what happens to postponed dreams. How does Fitzgerald examine this issue of deferred dreams? What do you think are the effects of postponing our dreams? How can you apply this lesson to your own life?

If you're thinking about "deferred dreams" in The Great Gatsby , the big one is obviously Gatsby's deferred dream for Daisy—nearly five years pass between his initial infatuation and his attempt in the novel to win her back, an attempt that obviously backfires. You can examine various aspects of Gatsby's dream—the flashbacks to his first memories of Daisy in Chapter 8 , the moment when they reunite in Chapter 5 , or the disastrous consequences of the confrontation of Chapter 7 —to illustrate Gatsby's deferred dream.

You could also look at George Wilson's postponed dream of going West, or Myrtle's dream of marrying a wealthy man of "breeding"—George never gets the funds to go West, and is instead mired in the Valley of Ashes, while Myrtle's attempt to achieve her dream after 12 years of marriage through an affair ends in tragedy. Apparently, dreams deferred are dreams doomed to fail.

As Nick Carraway says, "you can't repeat the past"—the novel seems to imply there is a small window for certain dreams, and when the window closes, they can no longer be attained. This is pretty pessimistic, and for the prompt's personal reflection aspect, I wouldn't say you should necessarily "apply this lesson to your own life" straightforwardly. But it is worth noting that certain opportunities are fleeting, and perhaps it's wiser to seek out newer and/or more attainable ones, rather than pining over a lost chance.

Any prompt like this one which has a section of more personal reflection gives you freedom to tie in your own experiences and point of view, so be thoughtful and think of good examples from your own life!

#3: Explain how the novel does or does not demonstrate the death of the American Dream. Is the main theme of Gatsby indeed "the withering American Dream"? What does the novel offer about American identity?

In this prompt, another one that zeroes in on the dead or dying American Dream, you could discuss how the destruction of three lives (Gatsby, George, Myrtle) and the cynical portrayal of the old money crowd illustrates a dead, or dying American Dream . After all, if the characters who dream end up dead, and the ones who were born into life with money and privilege get to keep it without consequence, is there any room at all for the idea that less-privileged people can work their way up?

In terms of what the novel says about American identity, there are a few threads you could pick up—one is Nick's comment in Chapter 9 about the novel really being a story about (mid)westerners trying (and failing) to go East : "I see now that this has been a story of the West, after all--Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan and I, were all Westerners, and perhaps we possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly unadaptable to Eastern life" (9.125). This observation suggests an American identity that is determined by birthplace, and that within the American identity there are smaller, inescapable points of identification.

Furthermore, for those in the novel not born into money, the American identity seems to be about striving to end up with more wealth and status. But in terms of the portrayal of the old money set, particularly Daisy, Tom, and Jordan, the novel presents a segment of American society that is essentially aristocratic—you have to be born into it. In that regard, too, the novel presents a fractured American identity, with different lives possible based on how much money you are born with.

In short, I think the novel disrupts the idea of a unified American identity or American dream, by instead presenting a tragic, fractured, and rigid American society, one that is divided based on both geographic location and social class.

#4: Most would consider dreams to be positive motivators to achieve success, but the characters in the novel often take their dreams of ideal lives too far. Explain how characters' American Dreams cause them to have pain when they could have been content with more modest ambitions.

Gatsby is an obvious choice here—his pursuit of money and status, particularly through Daisy, leads him to ruin. There were many points when perhaps Gatsby ;could have been happy with what he achieved (especially after his apparently successful endeavors in the war, if he had remained at Oxford, or even after amassing a great amount of wealth as a bootlegger) but instead he kept striving upward, which ultimately lead to his downfall. You can flesh this argument out with the quotations in Chapters 6 and 8 about Gatsby's past, along with his tragic death.

Myrtle would be another good choice for this type of prompt. In a sense, she seems to be living her ideal life in her affair with Tom—she has a fancy NYC apartment, hosts parties, and gets to act sophisticated—but these pleasures end up gravely hurting George, and of course her association with Tom Buchanan gets her killed.

Nick, too, if he had been happy with his family's respectable fortune and his girlfriend out west, might have avoided the pain of knowing Gatsby and the general sense of despair he was left with.

You might be wondering about George—after all, isn't he someone also dreaming of a better life? However, there aren't many instances of George taking his dreams of an ideal life "too far." In fact, he struggles just to make one car sale so that he can finally move out West with Myrtle. Also, given that his current situation in the Valley of Ashes is quite bleak, it's hard to say that striving upward gave him pain.

#5: The Great Gatsby is, among other things, a sobering and even ominous commentary on the dark side of the American dream. Discuss this theme, incorporating the conflicts of East Egg vs. West Egg and old money vs. new money. What does the American dream mean to Gatsby? What did the American Dream mean to Fitzgerald? How does morality fit into achieving the American dream?

This prompt allows you to consider pretty broadly the novel's attitude toward the American Dream, with emphasis on "sobering and even ominous" commentary. Note that Fitzgerald seems to be specifically mocking the stereotypical rags to riches story here—;especially since he draws the Dan Cody narrative almost note for note from the work of someone like Horatio Alger, whose books were almost universally about rich men schooling young, entrepreneurial boys in the ways of the world. In other words, you should discuss how the Great Gatsby seems to turn the idea of the American Dream as described in the quote on its head: Gatsby does achieve a rags-to-riches rise, but it doesn't last.

All of Gatsby's hard work for Dan Cody, after all, didn't pay off since he lost the inheritance. So instead, Gatsby turned to crime after the war to quickly gain a ton of money. Especially since Gatsby finally achieves his great wealth through dubious means, the novel further undermines the classic image of someone working hard and honestly to go from rags to riches.

If you're addressing this prompt or a similar one, make sure to focus on the darker aspects of the American Dream, including the dark conclusion to the novel and Daisy and Tom's protection from any real consequences . (This would also allow you to considering morality, and how morally bankrupt the characters are.)

#6: What is the current state of the American Dream?

This is a more outward-looking prompt, that allows you to consider current events today to either be generally optimistic (the American dream is alive and well) or pessimistic (it's as dead as it is in The Great Gatsby).

You have dozens of potential current events to use as evidence for either argument, but consider especially immigration and immigration reform, mass incarceration, income inequality, education, and health care in America as good potential examples to use as you argue about the current state of the American Dream. Your writing will be especially powerful if you can point to some specific current events to support your argument.

What's Next?

In this post, we discussed how important money is to the novel's version of the American Dream. You can read even more about money and materialism in The Great Gatsby right here .

Want to indulge in a little materialism of your own? Take a look through these 15 must-have items for any Great Gatsby fan .

Get complete guides to Jay Gatsby , George Wilson and Myrtle Wilson to get even more background on the "dreamers" in the novel.

Like we discussed above, the green light is often seen as a stand-in for the idea of the American Dream. Read more about this crucial symbol here .

Need help getting to grips with other literary works? Take a spin through our analyses of The Crucible , The Cask of Amontillado , and " Do not go gentle into this good night " to see analysis in action. You might also find our explanations of point of view , rhetorical devices , imagery , and literary elements and devices helpful.

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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The Great Gatsby

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The American Dream—that hard work can lead one from rags to riches—has been a core facet of American identity since its inception. Settlers came west to America from Europe seeking wealth and freedom. The pioneers headed west for the same reason. The Great Gatsby shows the tide turning east, as hordes flock to New York City seeking stock market fortunes. The Great Gatsby portrays this shift as a symbol of the American Dream's corruption. It's no longer a vision of building a life; it's just about getting rich.

Gatsby symbolizes both the corrupted Dream and the original uncorrupted Dream. He sees wealth as the solution to his problems, pursues money via shady schemes, and reinvents himself so much that he becomes hollow, disconnected from his past. Yet Gatsby's corrupt dream of wealth is motivated by an incorruptible love for Daisy . Gatsby's failure does not prove the folly of the American Dream—rather it proves the folly of short-cutting that dream by allowing corruption and materialism to prevail over hard work, integrity, and real love. And the dream of love that remains at Gatsby's core condemns nearly every other character in the novel, all of whom are empty beyond just their lust for money.

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The American Dream Quotes in The Great Gatsby

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Great Gatsby Essay: The Pursuit of the American Dream

• Great Gatsby Essay: The Pursuit…

A major theme in The Great Gatsby is the pursuit of what can be termed the American dream. Do you agree? By choosing a major character or a situation in Fitzgerald’s novel, discuss how or whether Fitzgerald is successful in exposing the underside of the American dream)

This represents the idea of the American Dream, where qualities of hard work and ambition are shown. The novel The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald embodies many themes; however, the most significant one relates to the corruption of the American dream.

The American Dream is defined as someone starting low on the economic or social level, and working hard towards prosperity and or wealth and fame. By having money, a car, a big house, nice clothes, and a happy family symbolizes the American dream. This dream also represents that people, no matter who he or she is, can become successful in life by his or her own work.

The desire to strive for what one wants can be accomplished if they work hard enough. The dream is represented by the idea of a self-sufficient man or woman, who works hard to achieve a goal to become successful. The Great Gatsby is a novel that shows what happened to the American Dream in the 1920’s, which is a time period when the dreams became corrupted for many reasons.

The American dream not only causes corruption but has caused destruction. Myrtle, Gatsby and Daisy have all been corrupted and destroyed by the dream.

The desire for a luxurious life is what lures Myrtle into having an affair with Tom. This decision harms her marriage with George, which leads to her death and loss of true happiness. Myrtle has the hope and desire for a perfect, wealthy and famous type of life.  She enjoys reading gossip magazines which represent her hope for the life of “the rich and famous”.

This shows how the one reason she wants to be with Tom, is because he represents the life of “the rich and famous”. When Myrtle first got married to George Wilson, she thought that she was crazy about him and thought that they were happy being together. Myrtle says, “The only crazy I was was when I married him. I knew right away I made a mistake.

He borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in, and never told me about it, and the man came after it one day when he was out…” (Fitzgerald, 37) This shows how materialistic Myrtle is, and that she didn’t appreciate how George couldn’t afford his own suit to get married in. She looks at Tom in a different way. She looks at him as someone who can afford to buy their own suit for their own wedding. Myrtle is attracted to not only Tom’s appearance but his money as well.

She believes that Tom is the ideal picture-perfect man that represents the advertisement of the American Dream. Myrtle is considered to be lower class, as she doesn’t have a lot of money. Myrtle sleeps with Tom to inch her way to an upper-class status. People who are upper class are the ones that have money, drive fancy cars, and have nice big houses. Myrtle isn’t one of those people but desires to be one of them. This, later on, causes destruction and destroys Myrtle.

It was later found that Daisy was the one that hit Myrtle with her car which resulted in the death of Myrtle. It is ironic that Daisy was the one that killed her, since Myrtle was having an affair with her husband, Tom. This shows how the desire for a luxurious life and having the American dream, only caused destruction in this novel and destroyed someone’s life.

The hope for happiness is something that Daisy hoped to have, but finding out she married the wrong man changed who she is and her outlook on life. Early on in the novel, Daisy finds out a secret that Tom is hiding from her. Jordan says, “She might have the decency not to telephone him a dinner time.

Don’t you think?” (Fitzgerald, 20) Tom got a call from some women at dinner time, and Jordan claims that the woman is Tom’s, suggesting that he is sleeping with someone else. You learn throughout the novel that Tom and Daisy’s relationship is not to most ideal, happy relationship. Tom seems to be abusive towards her and rather does not seem to care much about her. Daisy thinks she has everything, wealth, love, and happiness which all tie into the American dream, but then she discovers that she has nothing and that she has been corrupted by this specific dream.

She thought she has all she desired but truly realized she had nothing. She has a child, who does not seem important to her at all. The child is never around, which shows a lot about Daisy. When her child was born, Daisy said “I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful fool.” (Fitzgerald, 22)

Daisy basically explained that there are limited possibilities for women, and she would have rather had a boy. The baby has to be a beautiful fool in order to be happy and successful. Woman back in the 1920’s all married for money, and not necessarily love. Daisy thought she had loved when she married Tom, but truly in the long run, only came out with money.

With Gatsby, Daisy realized something that broke her heart. When reunited with Gatsby, who she has not seen in about five years Daisy breaks down and starts to cry. “They’re such beautiful shirts, it makes me sad because I’ve never seen such – such beautiful shirts before.” (Fitzgerald, 89) At this time Daisy realizes that she did marry for money and not for love.

She figures out that she could have married for money with Gatsby but would have had love too. The chase for the American dream and the ideal man to be with destroyed Daisy’s happiness.

The ambition for something has thrown Gatsby over the edge. His love and chase for Daisy have taken over his whole life. He feels that he has to live up to the American dream to accomplish what he truly dreams for, which is Daisy. While Gatsby was away fighting in the war, Daisy met Tom and married him.

Daisy had always been rich and Gatsby thought that in order to get Daisy back, he needs to have money so that he would be able to give Daisy anything she wanted. There was a green light where Daisy lived that Gatsby would always look out for.

The green light is of great significance in this novel. It becomes evident that this green light is not Daisy, but a symbol representing Gatsby’s dream of having Daisy. The fact that Daisy falls short of Gatsby’s expectations is obvious. Knowing this, one can see that no matter how hard Gatsby tries to live his fantasy, he will never be able to achieve it.

Through close examination of the green light, one may learn that the force that empowers Gatsby to follow his lifelong aspiration is that of the American Dream. Fitzgerald uses the green light as a symbol of hope, money, and jealousy.  Gatsby looks up to the American dream and follows it so he can be the picture-perfect man that every girl desires.

Gatsby cares a lot about how people see him, and his appearance towards others. He wants everything to look perfect for Daisy, as he wants Daisy to view him as a perfect man. “We both looked down at the grass – there was a sharp line where my ragged lawn ended and the darker, well-kept expanse of his began. I suspected he meant my grass.” (Fitzgerald, 80)

This presents the theme of appearance vs. reality and how Gatsby wants everything to look nice and presentable when he meets up with Daisy for the first time in five years. Gatsby becomes corrupted because his main goal is to have Daisy. He needs to have an enormous mansion so he could feel confident enough to try and get Daisy. Gatsby was blinded by the American dream and as a result of this, cause the destruction of Gatsby himself. He didn’t end up getting what he wanted because the American dream took over who he truly was.

The American dream is a powerful dream that was significant in the novel The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald. It was evident that this dream only truly caused corruption and destruction. The desire for something sometimes causes people to be someone they are not and this usually does not result in a positive outcome.

The American Dream is defined as someone starting low on the economic or social level, and working hard towards prosperity and or wealth and fame. Most characters in the novel The Great Gatsby all wanted money, wealth, and happiness and would do anything in their power to get this.

The Great Gatsby is a novel that shows what happened to the American Dream in the 1920s, which is a time period when the dreams became corrupted. The American dream not only causes corruption but has caused destruction.

Myrtle, Gatsby, and Daisy have all been corrupted and destroyed by the dream and it was clear to be true. Money cannot buy you happiness which is something that the three characters in the novel The Great Gatsby truly did not realize.

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The American Dream in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby

Introduction, the american dream in the novel.

The Great Gatsby is a chef-d’oeuvre tragic love story and a pessimistic critique of the idea of the American Dream as written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925. The American Dream is the meritocratic belief that anyone, irrespective of his or her class, race, gender, or nationality can become wildly successful in the United States through hard work and persistence. This rosy view of the US promotes the myth of class equality and paints a utopian image of a country that has many inherent problems, such as systemic racism, misogyny, and widespread income inequalities among other social evils that bedevil most developed countries around the world. Therefore, Fitzgerald wrote this subtly sarcastic novel to highlight the many flaws of the American Dream – an idea that has been romanticized for many years since the early 1900s. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald suggests that the American Dream is illusionary, those who pursue it, like Jay Gatsby, end up living miserably, and the impacts of such pursuits are mostly tragic as discussed in this paper.

Jay Gatsby is the ultimate embodiment of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby. He is born poor, but he allegedly works hard by associating with a millionaire, Dan Cody, to gain wealth and prominence in society and this concept of success fits well into the underlying concept of the American Dream. Gatsby’s drive for wealth and success is fuelled by his love for Daisy Buchanan. He thinks that if he becomes successful, then he would win Daisy’s love and live happily after. As such, his version of the American Dream is to work hard, become successful, and earn happiness in the process. However, although Jay becomes wildly successful, he does not win Daisy’s love and this tragic turn of events leads to his premature death. Through Jay’s actions and desires, Fitzgerald criticizes the notion of the American Dream by showing that this idea is illusionary and cannot be fully achieved. Those chasing this idea will always want more no matter the level of success that they achieve. For instance, Jay amasses great wealth, but he is not satisfied because his definition of success cannot be completed without winning Daisy’s love. The extreme pursuit of materialism does not guarantee happiness or success. Jay’s desire to earn more and scale the social ladder to win Daisy’s love leads to his downfall. As such, Fitzgerald shows that the idea of infinite success, as embodied in the American Dream, is illusionary.

When the author introduces Jay at first in the novel, he comes across as an individual always yearning for more. Jay appears to be reaching for something that is far away, almost unattainable – something that can be seen but cannot be reached. The narrator, Nick, says,

…He stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward–and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock (Fitzgerald 20).

The image of the green light could be interpreted as the novel’s meditation on the American Dream. The promise of great success through the unabated amassment of wealth forces the believers of this dream to keep on yearning for more even after becoming successful. The green light in chapter one is mysterious and Nick does not know its purpose. This green light, albeit distant, does not dim or go off. It is a constant reminder to Jay that he can achieve more if only he works harder – it is the American Dream.

The illusionary nature of this dream becomes evident once Jay achieves the desired success and ultimately gets the green light. For the first time, in Chapter 5, Jay reveals that the green light that he has always been seeking is at Daisy’s house. Nick says, ‘If it wasn’t for the mist we could see your home across the bay,’ said Gatsby. ‘You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock’” (Fitzgerald 92). It becomes clear that Jay’s idea of success as enshrined in the American Dream is closely tied to winning Daisy’s love. Interestingly, when Jay finally meets Daisy, he does not recognize that his dream has come true. The meaning of the green light disappears the moment Jay reaches it. When Daisy puts her arm through Jay’s, he seems unmoved or excited, even though he has achieved one of his lifelong dreams – to have daisy. According to the narrator, possibly it occurred to Jay that

The colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one (Fitzgerald 93)

In this passage, the author sarcastically, albeit subtly, criticizes the idea of the American Dream. The dream is an illusion that only exists in the mind of those in its pursuit. Jay has finally reached the green light that he has been yearning for years. However, its meaning is now lost and he wants more. This is the nature of the American Dream – the promise of unparalleled success based on materialism is vague and empty. Even after achieving wealth and success, and eventually reaching Daisy, Jay is not satisfied, he is not happy with his life, and thus he is always seeking more. In this state of confusion, Jay starts losing everything that he has accumulated and ultimately his life.

Another aspect of the state of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby is the lie that hard work pays and through meritocracy, anyone could achieve success. In the novel, Jay appears to have decoded the mystery of the American Dream because he becomes wealthy and successful against all odds after being born poor. According to Nick, Gatsby’s parents were “shiftless and unsuccessful farm people…For over a year he had been beating his way along the south shore of Lake Superior as a clam-digger and a salmon fisher or in any other capacity that brought him food and a bed” (Fitzgerald 98). Even though Jay starts his life in poverty, he has what it takes, according to the American Dream, to become successful. He has a strong work ethic and unparalleled ambition to win Daisy’s love, and a combination of these two attributes allows him to overcome his poverty-stricken past. The narrator highlights the level of success and wealth accumulation that Jay has when he describes Jay’s mansion as, “a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool and more than forty acres of lawn and garden” (Fitzgerald 5). Therefore, according to the materialistic nature of success as embodied in the American Dream, it suffices to argue that Jay is living the dream. He rises through the social ranks, gains extravagant wealth, and becomes highly successful through sheer hard work and determination.

However, a closer look at Jay’s life reveals a different side of the story whereby wealth, as the ultimate achievement of the American Dream, is attained unscrupulously through corruption and crime. Traditionally, the American Dream is hinged on the belief that hard work and honesty could lead anyone to success because the country is a land of opportunity and meritocracy. However, Jay violates all these principles and quickly becomes extravagantly wealthy through crime and corruption. In the beginning, Jay attempts to follow the classical way of hard work as a guiding work ethic principle during his years working for Dan Cody. Unfortunately, Jay’s stay and work life at Cody’s place are terminated prematurely when Cody’s wife steals all the inheritance. As such, Jay turns to crime as the only feasible way of achieving his desired and imagined wealth. Therefore, while on the one side Jay’s story imitates the rags-to-riches tale, he gains his wealth immorally and this aspect complicates the notion behind the perfect avatar of the American Dream. This dream is illusionary, and based on Jay’s story, it suffices to argue that it is unattainable, and those that attempt to pursue it do so at the expense of their happiness and lives.

In the end, Jay’s American Dream does not materialize. He turns into crime to become rich and successful as a way of winning Daisy’s love, which is ultimately his American Dream. According to the narrator, Jay knew that when “he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God…At his lips’ touch, she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete” (Fitzgerald 110). This quote ties Daisy to Jay’s version of the American Dream. However, it also sets the stage for Jay’s tragic ending. Daisy chooses to stay with Tom, despite confessing her love for Jay. As such, when he fails to win Daisy’s love, he fails to achieve his American Dream and the events that follow lead to his premature death after being shot by Tom Buchanan. Therefore, The Great Gatsby is a pessimistic approach to the American Dream. The impact of chasing this illusionary dream is that it leads to misery and death based on Jay’s story.

In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald criticizes the concept of the American Dream by presenting it as a pipe dream that cannot be realized no matter how hard anyone tries. Jay attempts to pursue his version of the American Dream, which is to ultimately win Daisy’s love, but he fails and dies miserably. Additionally, the author criticizes the argument that hard work and meritocracy are the sure ways of achieving the American Dream. Jay’s industriousness while working for Cody does not pay off for him to become wealthy. On the contrary, he becomes rich through bootlegging alcohol among other criminal activities. Therefore, Fitzgerald is pessimistic about the underlying claim that hard work could propel anyone to become wealthy and successful hence the realization of the American Dream. In other words, the dream is illusionary, and its pursuers, such as Jay, lead miserable lives and the impacts of such pursuit are often tragic.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Scribner, 1925.

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The Great Gatsby

A great american dream jens shroyer.

The Great Gatsby and "Babylon Revisited," both by F. Scott Fitzgerald, are stories about the emptiness and recklessness of the 1920s. Each story has its distinctions, but Fitzgerald's condemnation of the decade reverberates through both. Fitzgerald explores and displays insufficiencies of the vacuous period, and does so with sharp clarity and depth, leaving no crude, barbarous habit to imagination. Fitzgerald had a deep and personal affliction with the 1920s (most notably in the Eastern United States), and in both The Great Gatsby and "Babylon Revisited," he hones his conflicts into a furious condemnation. The 1920s were a period of sloth, habitual sin, exhausted illustriousness, and moral despondency; the black mark of a society and world usually tilted more toward attempted civility. Fitzgerald conveys this theme through the use of character, symbolism, and wasteland imagery.

First, Fitzgerald uses characters to personify the vast recklessness of the generation. The characters in both are incomprehensibly selfish and carefree, though more noticeably in The Great Gatsby. Tom Buchanan, for instance, is almost flippant in acknowledging his affair with Jordan Baker, a local miscreant golf pro. Tom leaves...

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Symbolism Of The American Dream: An Analysis Of The Role It Plays In The Great Gatsby

In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, all the characters are, in one way or another, attempting to achieve a state of happiness in their lives. The main characters are divided into two groups: the rich upper class and the poorer lower class, which struggles to attain a higher position. Though the major players seek only to change their lives for the better, the American Dream is inevitably crushed beneath the harsh reality of life, leaving their lives without meaning or purpose.

Tom and Daisy Buchanan , the rich socialite couple, seem to have everything they could possibly desire; however, though their lives are full of material possessions and worldly goods, they are unsatisfied and seek to change. Tom, the arrogant ex-football player, drifts on “forever seeking a little wistfully for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game”(pg. 10) and reads “deep books with long words in them”(pg. 17) in order to have something to talk about. Though he appears happily married to Daisy, Tom has an affair with Myrtle Wilson and keeps an apartment with her in New York.

Tom’s basic nature of unrest prevents him from being satisfied with the life he leads, and so he creates another life for himself with Myrtle. Daisy Buchanan is an empty character , someone with hardly any convictions or desires. Even before her loyalty to either Tom or Gatsby is called into question, Daisy does nothing but sit around all day and wonder what to do with herself and her friend Jordan. She knows that Tom has a mistress on the side, yet she doesn’t leave him even when she learns of Gatsby’s love for her.

Daisy makes her love to Gatsby apparent, yet cannot bring herself to tell Tom goodbye except when Gatsby forces her too. Even then, once Tom begs her to stay, even then Daisy ultimately leaves Gatsby for a life of comfort and security. The Buchanans are the ultimate examples of wealth and prosperity, and the American Dream. Yet their lives are empty, unfulfilled, and without purpose. Though Myrtle Wilson makes an attempt to escape her own class and pursue happiness with the richer set, her efforts ultimately produce no results and she dies. She is basically a victim of the group she wanted to join.

Myrtle tries to join Tom’s class by entering into an affair with him and taking on his way of living, but in doing so she becomes corrupt as if she were rich. Her constant clothing changes signify her dissatisfaction with her life – she changes personalities every time she changes her dress: “with the influence of the dress her whole personality had also undergone a change. The intense vitality was converted into impressive hauteur”(pg. 35). She treats the elevator boy in her apartment building with disdain: “Myrtle raised her eyebrows in despair at the shiftlessness of the lower orders.

These people! You have to keep after them all the time. ‘”(pg. 36). . Myrtle strives for a new life for herself, yet she is corrupted by the supposedly ‘better’ group and finally falls victim to it. Gatsby’s idealistic view of Daisy Buchanan is blurred and this becomes apparent when he is confronted by reality. Over the course of five years, Gatsby has built Daisy up in his mind to be the perfect woman, someone that the actual Daisy could be: “no amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart”(pg. 1).

Daisy cannot help but fall short of Gatsby’s dream, and so Gatsby is disappointed that the woman he loves does not exist as he imagines her to be. Though Gatsby is rich, he is part of the lower rich class , however he attempts to join the upper class with Daisy. He wasnts a better life and he thinks he can do this if he puts his mind to it, which is also a part of the American Dream. However, Gatsby’s dream collapses when he fails to win Daisy and is rejected by the higher social group .

All his wealth cannot help him and though he is killed physically by a bullet from old man Wilson’s gun, Gatsby dies spiritually when Daisy chooses Tom over him and the stability that comes with him. The failure of Gatsby’s ideals is directly related to the failure of the American Dream in that it is destroyed by reality, in this case by the reality of Daisy’s rejection. Without his dream, Gatsby has nothing, no fire to keep him going, no direction and no purpose. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald shows the collapse of dreams, whether they are dreams of money, status, or simply of happiness.

The biggest collapse, however, is of the American Dream. The failure of the American Dream is unavoidable, not only because the reality of life cannot compare to idealistic dreams , but also because the ideals are usually far too perfect to be paralleled in reality. Dreams give purpose to life. Without dreams one’s life has no meaning , as shown by Gatsby and the Buchanans. Their lives become empty so very fast. The American Dream is something all people work toward to some extent (well I know I do) Although it is an admirable goal, it is an unobtainable one. The American Dream is just that, a dream.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — The Great Gatsby — Gatsbys View On The American Dream

Gatsbys View on The American Dream

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“The Great Gatsby”: The American Dream in the Jazz Age Essay

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Introduction

The aspirations and realities, costumes and reflection of the era.

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The Jazz Age is a period in the history of the United States of America from the end of World War I to the beginning of the Great Depression due to the remarkable popularity of jazz music. It played a significant role in many spheres of culture during this period, and its influence on pop culture continued for a long time. This type of music became widespread due to the beginning of large-scale radio broadcasts in 1922; now, Americans could get acquainted with various styles of music without leaving their living room. Amateur bands and big bands from cities such as New York and Chicago were broadcast. Thus, the influence of jazz music forced young people to go against the traditional culture of previous generations.

The action of the film and the novel takes place near New York, on the “gold coast” of Long Island, among the villas of the rich. In the 1920s, following the chaos of the First World War, American society entered an unprecedented period of prosperity: during these years, the US economy developed rapidly 1 . At the same time, prohibition made many bootleggers millionaires and significantly boosted the development of organized crime. Admiring the rich and their charm, Gatsby at the same time decries the unlimited materialism and lack of morality of America at that time. The main character is an extraordinary man with great abilities and indomitable vitality. However, on the other hand, he has squandered himself in pursuit of a false goal — wealth and a woman who is not interested in him.

The 1974 film reflected the director’s understanding of the historical pattern of the rebirth of the American dream and its transformation into an American tragedy. Blind adherence to the ideals of the American dream leads to the degradation of the individual, the destruction and collapse of the talent of a person who has put his activities at the service of ethical standards of “success”. The drama of Gatsby also lies in his excessive idealism, complacency in a naively simple-minded perception of life, and attitude towards people. The theme of the degeneration of the American dream is revealed in the film by the example of other actors, among whom the popular commercial version of it is personified by the antipodes of Gatsby — Tom Buchanan, Daisy herself, and her friend Jordan and husband.

If Gatsby combines polar principles, then Tom Buchanan and others like him constantly emphasize the same traits — extreme self-confidence, belief in one’s exclusivity, physical strength, strong individualism, and ignorance covered with eloquence. Mia Farrow is the actress who was needed for the role of Daisy Buchanan. What is worth is only one of her peculiar voices, but at the same time successfully fits into the context of the image of Daisy, whose voice sounds like “ringing money” 2 . The scene of Daisy and Jordan’s first appearance is designed in cold white tones. There are a lot of similar pastel shades in the film, especially if it concerns Daisy, who admits that this is her favorite color 3 . The Buchanan couple’s external beauty is paired with their inner world’s scarcity. This is a reflection of the reality of the jazz era when luxury and carefree life influenced young people.

The fashion of the twenties reflected the rapid changes in society. Women actively participate in social and political life, plays sports on an equal basis with a man, and spend their leisure time as they please 4 . Uncomfortable dresses and corsets that restrict movement are replaced by practical blouses and skirts, tight-fitting hats with ostrich feathers, and shoes with stable heels 5 . In this period, relatively quiet sports such as cricket, tennis, and yachting are of particular importance. Hence in the film, white jumpers, blue blazers, and two-tone shoes combine simplicity and convenience for everyday life 6 . A young designer Ralph Lauren played a special role in the film and provided costumes for the film from his collection. They allowed the director to reflect the spirit of the era. Clothing combines a variety of bedding and calm tones. In addition, it is necessary to highlight the simplicity of clothing, which reflects the change of the era and the departure from conservative suits and dresses 7 . In the context of the film, several scenes focus on Gatsby’s desire to get away from himself, to become like American aristocrats — idlers with their impractical light-festive outfits.

Each space emphasizes the characteristics of the heroes who inhabit it. Through the eyes of Nick Carraway, the viewer gets acquainted with the tastes and preferences of many people. Moreover, due to his attentiveness and sensitivity, the audience gets the opportunity to look even into their souls. The film’s authors have worked out the nuances of each frame so thoroughly and picturesquely that it allows viewers to immerse themselves in the inner world of each of the characters and the era in which they live. Daisy’s emotional mobility, fragility, and effeminacy are conveyed through the thin, translucent textures of the fabrics of her dresses, their light shades: pale yellow, milky, and lilac 8 . A long string of large pearls is always around her neck – a gift from her husband, emphasizing her noble social status 9 . The lack of one’s outlook on life, the strength to accept reality, self-respect, and inner values are found in all the characters except Nick. The reason for this is that the director seeks to demonstrate the decline of American society in the age of jazz. Consequently, the audience is presented with landscapes that contrast significantly, which indicates the remoteness and separation of people.

The vagueness of the image of Jay Gatsby is only the tip of the iceberg, which is based on acute social contradictions implicated in the rapid economic growth of the post-war years and problems of state regulation. In any epoch, there are periods characterized by cardinal changes that change the old foundations and establish new, revolutionary orders. Jazz music, which served as the background of the events of the twenties, became an integral part of this era. The popularity of this music was reduced to the need to overcome the chilling influence of civilization; jazz made it possible to use up the nervous tension accumulated during the war. The appeal to jazz culture is the permission of the previously illegal, including those pleasures that were previously considered primitive.

Eastman, Crystal. “Now We Can Begin.” In The American Yawp , edited by Joseph Locke and Ben Wright. Stanford University Press, 1922.

Locke, Joseph, and Ben Wright, eds. 2022. Review of The New Era . In The American Yawp . Stanford University Press.

Welles, Ellen. 1922. Review of A Flapper’s Appeal to Parents . In The American Yawp , edited by Joseph Locke and Ben Wright. Stanford University Press.

• Locke, Joseph, and Ben Wright, eds. 2022. Review of The New Era . In The American Yawp . Stanford University Press. Web.
• Priestley, Tom, ed. 1974. The Great Gatsby . Directed by Jack Clayton. Paramount Pictures.
• Priestley, Tom, ed. 1974. The Great Gatsby .
• Welles, Ellen. 1922. Review of A Flapper’s Appeal to Parents . In The American Yawp , edited by Joseph Locke and Ben Wright. Stanford University Press. Web.
• Eastman, Crystal. “Now We Can Begin.” In The American Yawp , edited by Joseph Locke and Ben Wright. Stanford University Press, 1922. Web.
• Priestley, Tom, ed. 1974. The Great Gatsby.
• Eastman, Crystal. “Now We Can Begin.” In The American Yawp .
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IvyPanda. (2023, August 26). "The Great Gatsby": The American Dream in the Jazz Age. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-great-gatsby-the-american-dream-in-the-jazz-age/

""The Great Gatsby": The American Dream in the Jazz Age." IvyPanda , 26 Aug. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/the-great-gatsby-the-american-dream-in-the-jazz-age/.

IvyPanda . (2023) '"The Great Gatsby": The American Dream in the Jazz Age'. 26 August.

IvyPanda . 2023. ""The Great Gatsby": The American Dream in the Jazz Age." August 26, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-great-gatsby-the-american-dream-in-the-jazz-age/.

1. IvyPanda . ""The Great Gatsby": The American Dream in the Jazz Age." August 26, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-great-gatsby-the-american-dream-in-the-jazz-age/.

IvyPanda . ""The Great Gatsby": The American Dream in the Jazz Age." August 26, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-great-gatsby-the-american-dream-in-the-jazz-age/.

‘Gatsby’ arrives at the ART, driven by a powerhouse creative team

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” may be a famously slender novel, but its 200 pages contain multitudes. With the rights to this landmark of American literature now in the public domain, adaptations abound, and its themes and ideas are rich and elastic enough to accommodate a slew of interpretations. The current Broadway version, “The Great Gatsby,” leans into Jazz Age glamour and romantic yearning; last year’s immersive adaptation at a New York City hotel offered a dazzling feast for the senses; and the Elevator Repair Service’s “Gatz,” a word-for-word rendition of the novel that returns to New York’s Public Theater in the fall, finds a reader inside a drab office being seduced by Fitzgerald’s evocative prose.

Now comes American Repertory Theater’s “Gatsby,” whose pre-Broadway world premiere bows at the Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge Sunday through Aug. 3. This musical adaptation digs into the class issues and melancholic heart of the novel, the “hopeless but determined” quest to achieve the American Dream. The production, with its starry creative team, features a score by English gothic-pop star Florence Welch (Florence + The Machine) and Grammy-winning producer and singer Thomas Bartlett (a.k.a. Doveman), a book by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Martyna Majok ( “Cost of Living” ), direction by Tony winner Rachel Chavkin ( “Hadestown” ), and choreography by another Tony winner, Sonya Tayeh (“Moulin Rouge!”).

Majok first read the novel in high school, and it didn’t make much of an impact. Her opinion changed dramatically when she was asked to adapt it into a musical and she read it again.

She recalls listening to the audiobook while walking through the Cloisters museum in Manhattan’s Fort Tryon Park early in the pandemic and arriving at the vivid, heart-rending final passage of the novel — ”So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” — as tears welled up.

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“It was especially moving to be reading this book in the pandemic in my 30s and questioning a lot of the choices I’d made,” Majok recalls. “It’s the most hopeful but clear-eyed portrait of the American mentality and the American spirit I’ve ever encountered.”

Her script aims to capture Fitzgerald’s ambivalence about the American Dream — “the gorgeous, complicated duality of this country, where the dream itself is so beautiful and gorgeous and the pursuit of it is valiant and worthwhile and gives our lives a sense of meaning, but the ways in which we’ve tried to attain it have often led to destruction and devastation. We ruin ourselves in the pursuit of it.”

Chavkin says this “Gatsby” is engaging with the book’s pointed critique of a class-based society. “Everyone has this idea that the novel is about the decadence and debauchery of the 1920s. But, no, the novel is critiquing that. Fitzgerald himself always felt out of place, like he was the poor kid at Princeton and an outsider to the American Dream. The novel is about both the beauty — and the pain — of that aspiration.”

A nouveau-riche fabulist, the enigmatic Jay Gatsby ( Isaac Powell ) is the quintessential self-made man (never mind that his wealth may have been amassed in nefarious ways). He hosts wild parties at his mansion, but his heart (and his mind) remain with his lost love, Daisy (Charlotte MacInnes). Their courtship was severed when he was sent to war in Europe. Her family saw Gatsby as below their lofty old-money station, and the debutante wound up marrying brutish blowhard Tom Buchanan (Cory Jeacoma). Every night, a still-smitten Gatsby stares across the bay to the green light on the end of Daisy’s dock, hoping that she’ll show up at one of his lavish soirees and he’ll win her back.

When Daisy’s cousin Nick Carraway (Ben Levi Ross), a Midwestern transplant who works as a bond salesman in the city, moves into the cottage next door, Gatsby convinces Nick to help him in his quest to reunite with Daisy. Meanwhile, Nick, the book’s narrator, spends time with Daisy’s best friend, cheeky golf pro Jordan Baker ( Eleri Ward ), while Tom cavorts with his mistress, Myrtle Wilson (Solea Pfeiffer), whose mechanic husband, George (Matthew Amira), owns an auto repair shop.

“It was actually a little jarring how much I saw of myself in those characters that I hadn’t seen before,” Majok says. “It feels immensely personal to me and my experiences of America. It’s a very exposing adaptation for me. Maybe nobody else will see it, but I feel like I’m all over it.”

As a Polish-American immigrant who came to this country with her mother as a child, Majok felt a strong connection to self-made striver Jay Gatsby and the fierce Myrtle Wilson, a working-class woman yearning to escape her status. She saw aspects of her mother, who worked in factories and cleaned houses, in the resolute George Wilson.

In previous adaptations, Majok says, Myrtle has been portrayed as “this crass cartoon of a working-class character … I was like, ‘Absolutely not. Over my dead body.’ I just saw so much complicated life and realness in that character.”

Meanwhile, Gatsby is the ultimate fake-it-till-you-make it upstart, someone “who never feels that he has enough, who has to keep on trying to ascend the ranks of society in order to feel like he can matter. And I’m like, ‘Hmm, who does that sound like?’” she says with a knowing laugh.

Around the time she was hired, Majok shared with Welch a recording of her 2021 play “Sanctuary City,” about two teenage immigrant Dreamers. “The yearning in it deeply resonated with her, as well as the feral hunger of the characters. And those two phrases, ‘yearning’ and ‘feral hunger,’ have been our tonal north stars with ‘Gatsby’ and were the qualities that I was responding to in the book.”

The score, Chavkin says, runs the gamut, flavored with the electronic rock and pulsating pop that characterizes Florence + the Machine anthems like “Dog Days Are Over.” There are songs with “as romantic a series of chords and lyrics as I’ve ever heard”; bangers and bops for the big party scenes; ballads that evoke the plaintive folk-rock of Joni Mitchell; and a song with a pulsating Nine Inch Nails vibe that comes after a fight between two characters in the second act.

“The audience will be getting a score that sounds much more like a Florence Welch and Thomas Bartlett fusion than a traditional Broadway musical,” she explains.

The show’s promotional tagline, “An American Myth,” has a multivalent meaning. Sure, Gatsby himself is a self-mythologizing hero — a rags-to-riches Horatio Alger type. But the real myth, Chavkin asserts, is the contradiction at the heart of the nation’s promise, the beckoning green light that’s called people to its shores for generations, and the broken dreams that lie in its wake.

“To believe in Gatsby is to believe in America, to believe in this promise of ascension and the idea that we’re all created equal, but that’s not really the case,” Chavkin says. “The idea of equality is a myth that people fight to make real every day. I think the show is trying to hold both the beauty of the myth and the painfulness that it is a myth in equal measure.”

Presented by the American Repertory Theater. At Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge. May 26-Aug. 3. Tickets from $35. 617-547-8300, AmericanRepertoryTheater.org/Gatsby

Christopher Wallenberg can be reached at [email protected] .