The Great Gatsby
Name:
Divya parmar
Paper:
106 The Twentieth Century Literature: 1900 to World war ||
Roll number: 5
Enrollment number:
4069206420210024
Email id:
Batch:
2021-2023(M. A sem 2)
Submitted to:
S. B. Gardi department of English, Maharaja krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar university.
Points to ponder:
➡️ Introduction
➡️Plot of the novel
➡️ What is the American dream?
➡️ American dream in novel
The American dream in the novel: The Great Gatsby
Introduction:
'The Great Gatsby' is a first person narrative novel. The Great Gatsby is a fiction novel published in 1925 by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. Inspired by Fitzgerald's own experiences during the Jazz Age of the 1920s, The Great Gatsby captures the prosperity and the hedonism of the era through a cast of characters who reside in the fictional Long Island towns of West Egg and East Egg. Despite a cold reaction from critics and audiences upon its release, many modern scholars include The Great Gatsby in the canon of Great American Novels. In 1998, the Modern Library selected The Great Gatsby as the 2nd best English language novel of the 20th century.
Summary of the Novel : The Great Gatsby
The narrator, Nick Carraway, moves to Long Island after returning from World War I. Although he is from Minnesota, he feels restless after the war and believes that the East Coast is more interesting and exciting than the Midwest.
After he relocates to the fictional town of “West Egg” and begins his job as a bond salesman, Nick becomes reacquainted with a distant cousin, Daisy, and her husband, Tom Buchanan. Both are from very wealthy families, and Tom is a successful businessman. Nick also meets their friend, Jordan Baker, a professional female golfer. Tom and Daisy live in East Egg, the more prestigious “old money” counterpart to West Egg, where people with “new money” live. Tom also has a mistress, Myrtle Wilson, the wife of a gas station and car dealership owner named George.
One night, Nick meets Jay Gatsby, his neighbor. Although Gatsby is extremely rich and holds lavish parties at his home, he has few close friends. He invites Nick to one of his parties, and they become acquainted. Jordan approaches Nick to inform him that Gatsby and Daisy were once romantically involved and asks Nick’s assistance in facilitating a reunion.
Gatsby and Daisy begin an affair, which soon becomes apparent to Tom. He despises Gatsby and informs Daisy that Gatsby is a criminal. This is true: Gatsby is not from a family with money but is instead a self-made alcohol smuggler from a modest Midwestern family. After the revelation, Daisy and Gatsby drive away, and Daisy runs over Myrtle by accident.
The two do not stop the car, and later Tom convinces a distraught George that Gatsby drove the car. George pursues Gatsby, murders him, then commits suicide. None of Gatsby’s party guests, nor any of his criminal associates, attend his funeral. Disillusioned, Nick makes up his mind to return to the Midwest.
➡️ What 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.)
➡️ Some dialogues of the Novel which is related to the American dream:
"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. "
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.
"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. "
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.
➡️ Analysing the 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.
1 . Gatsby :
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" are as flimsy and flight as Daisy herself.
2. 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.
➡️ Conclusion:
Thus, to conclude we can read that the novel 'The Great Gatsby' is first person narration by the character Nick carraway. And this is great work which covers the theme of American dream.
Word count: 2035
Reference :
“The Great Gatsby Summary .” Supersummary, https://www.supersummary.com/the-great-gatsby/summary/.
Wulick, Dr. Anna. “Best Analysis: The American Dream in the Great Gatsby.” Best Analysis: The American Dream in The Great Gatsby, 17 Mar. 2019, https://blog.prepscholar.com/the-great-gatsby-american-dream.
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