For the readers of The Great Gatsby, it is pretty clear that the themes of the books are closely related to the idea of the American Dream and the United States in 1920s, although the words "American Dream" were not widely used by people at that time. By creating a great novel like this, F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author of The Great Gatsby, seems to convey some profound ideas that hide behind those distinct figures and the tragic plot. Based on my research, The Great Gatsby wants to present the dying American Dream primarily through the characters and the symbols.
The story of the book began in the summer of 1922, which was a time period of thriving economy and materialism (Themes). The Wall Street became so prosperous, and people enjoyed the overflowing goods (The Great Gatsby). After the World War I, the American people struggled for more wealth, social status, and better lives without enough moral restraint (Themes). F. Scott Fizgerald named that time period as the "Jazz Age", which was filled with extravagance and indulgences (The Great Gatsby). The high-pitched Jazz covered the cities, and inspired the fickle Americans to move forward blindly (Themes). People threw out a lot parties, consumed tons of acohols, and squandered enormous amount of money in order to fill their emptiness and to satisfy their greeds (Themes). In the book, we can learn that people who went Gatsby's party also tried to gain happiness by losing their temperance. Although they created huge amount of wealth and experience great happiness of the "Jazz Age", most people were totally ignorant about the upcoming crisis and problems, such as the Great Depression in late 1920s (The Great Gatsby). As a result, people were convinced that the American Dream can be achieved with their hard works and is available for everyone (Themes). However, without the control of moralities, the American Dream went crazy, people were willing to do everything in order to achieve their own successes (Themes). At the same time, the American Dream seemed to change from the original one (The Great Gatsby). For the people in early 1920s, their American Dream was mainly making a lot of money and to fullfill their gigantic desires, instead of having a reasonable and comfortable life (The Great Gatsby). Same as the economy and the society, the American Dream was came close to the edge of death, because of the over indulgence of people (Themes). In the book, Gatsby's American Dream is actually different from the typical American Dreams at that time (The Great Gatsby). For him, the American Dream is get Daisy and to have the love (The Great Gatsby). Unfortunately, his American Dream drove him to earn money through illegal methods and eventually became degraded (The Great Gatsby). Like the many American Dreams that were destroyed in the that era, Gatsby's death also tells us about the destruction of his own American Dream (Theme).
Gatsby is one of the most important characters in this book, and his life is tightly connected to the idea of the American Dream. In Chapter 6, we learned that Gatsby started from a really low status and came from a really poor family in the Midwest (Fitzgerald 89). Fitzgerald wrote: "It was James Gatz who had been loafing along the beach that afternoon in a torn green jersey and a pair of canvas pants" (Fitzgerald 98). Besides the poor and rural clothes, the author also mentioned about the parents: "His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people" (Fitzgerald). Thus, we know that he came from the lower class and didn't have any backgrounds. However, his low economic and social class didn't stop him from pursuing his American Dream. Different from the others, Gatsby's American Dream was his obsession with Daisy. He first met Daisy in Louisville before he left for the war, and they fell in love with each other immediately. However, he was only a soldier who had neither power nor money. In the book, Nick talked about his lowliness: "However, glorious might be his future as Jay Gatsby, he was at present a penniless young man without a past, and at any moment the invisible cloack of his uniform might slip from his shoulders"(Fitzgerald 149). However, Daisy came from a decent family and lived in the magnificent houses that Gatstby hadn't ever been in beforeThe huge differences between him and Daisy made his possession of daisy into a dream. However, he still decided to fight for his American Dream, a dream about love. He told Nick that his love towards Daisy finally pushed him to become a man in the same level as her, "Well there I was, 'way off my ambitions, getting deeper in love every minute, and all of a sudden I didn't care"(Fitzgerald 150). However, Tom Buchanan, a man with much more wealth and a higher social class, married Daisy and pushed Gatsby's dream further from him while he was fighting in Europe. However, to become wealthy and to get a high social class was incredibly difficult for Gatsby, who was a poor soldier with no skills and education. To pursue his American Dream, Gatsby found Wolfsheim and joined his illegal business(Fitzgerald 171). Wolfsheim explained Gatsby's success to Nick, "I raised him up out of nothing, right out of the gutter. I saw right away he was a fine-appearing, gentlemanly young man, and when he told me he was an Oggsford I knew I could use his good. I got him to join up in the American Legion and he used to stand high there. Right off he did some work for a client of mine up to Albany"(Fitzgerald 171). From this, we know that Gatsby worked for Wolfshiem in order to get rich and to have Daisy. In Chapter 7, Tom Buchanan revealed us the real business of Gatsby: "He and this Wolfshiem bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That's one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn't far wrong"(Fitzgerald 133). Buy selling alcohols during the time of the Prohibition, it was both illegal and highly probitable to do bootlegging in the United States. By selling alcohols, Gatsby was able to buy a huge mansion across from the Buchanans and to create a lot extravagant parties in order to achieve his dream by attracting Daisy to his place. Unfortunately, those hypocritical and coward people, such as Daisy and Tom, betrayed Gatsby and let him to be killed. Since he was killed, his American Dream also failed and faded away. However, Gatsby's dream was still one of the most praiseworthy dreams in that time period. He should be called as "great", because he treated people sincerely, and his love towards Daisy was true. But the his illegal business and the deteriorating society destroyed him and his dream without any mercy.
Nick Carraway is another character who fought for his American Dream and finally failed. After he graduated from Yale and came back from the World War I, he wanted to experience a more fashionable life in the East and to make more money by selling bonds. In the book, he mentioned: "Instead of being the warm center of the universe---so I decided to go East and learn the bond business. Everybody I knew was in the bond business, so I supposed it could support one more single man"(Fitzgerald 5). In the East, he encountered people like Tom Buchanan, Daisy, Gatsby, and all the other people who struggled for their American Dreams. He witnessed all kinds of tragics, such as the mistress of Tom, the lies of Baker, the irresponsibilities of Daisy, and finally, Gatsby's death. He was anger by all of those people and things going in the East, where people are cold hearted and greedy. After Gatsby's death, people like the Buchanans, Klipspringer, Wolfshiem, and the owl-eyed man all betrayed Gatsby and never cared about his death. Nick felt his American Dream was useless, because he couldn't stand living with a lot of phonies who didn't care about the others and even their lives. In the book, he said, "I couldn't forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careles+s people, Tom and Daisy---they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made..."(Fitzgerald 179) Since Nick was not as ignorant as the others, he couldn't be the same as those people and it was unrealistic for him to achieve his dream in this kind of society that was brutal destroyed the nice people. So, Nick's American Dream was also destroyed by the cruelity of the other people and returned to the West. Maybe in Minnesota, Nick could stay with people who still kept their morals and the traditional spirits of the United States were preserved over there (Theme).
The green light located at the Buchanans' dock is probably one of the most successful symbol in this book. When Gatsby first invited Daisy to his house, he mentioned about the green light that he paid extraordinary attention to: "If it wasn't for the mist we could see your home across the bay. You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock"(Fitzgerald 92). And when Daisy came close to him, Nick described, "Daisy put her arms through his abruptly, but he seemed absorbed in what he had just said. Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of theat light had now vanished forever"(Fitzgerald 93). Apparently, the mysterious green light symbolizes Gatsby's American Dream and his desire to own Daisy. Besides that, his hard works to accomplish his dream was also shown when he tried to grab the light far away from him. In chapter 1, Nick described the moment when Gatsby attempted to catch the light with his hand: "But I didn't call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone---he stretched his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling."(Fitzgerald 20-21). Although the distance between him and the green light is so long, he could not give up his attempt, just like he never lose his American Dream and the powerful affection for Daisy. For his dream, he struggled and came as far as he could almost achieve it. After he purchased the house that is just accross from Daisy's home, everything seemed so easy for him, and he was convinced that he can grasp the light easily. At the end of the book, Nick said, "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"(Fitzgerald 180). However, the bay heartlessly separate him and the green light which can never be reached by him. So, Nick described: "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter — tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning---So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past"(Fitzgerald 180). Although Gatsby tried so hard and strived to have Daisy, his efforts finally failed and brought him with death which completely destroyed him. Jay Gatsby became nobody just like used to be, and the his American Dream was proven as unachievable, since the social class divided them like the bay which separated him away from the green light.