This paper is devoted to analysis of a famous novel by Scott Fitzgerald “The
Great Gatsby”. We are going to take a look on the context of the novel,
its main characters, themes and symbols and will try to investigate the notion
of “American dream” in general and presented in the novel.
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in 1896, he was an intelligent child but
his marks at school were not that good. However he managed to became the student
of Princeton in 1913. At college he was not doing well either and he was taken
to military service in 1917 at the same time when the First World War was ending.
When he became a second lieutenant he was sent to Alabama, where he met his
love – a young girl of 17 – Zelda Sayre. At first she agreed to
marry him, but then cancelled their wedding because of her wish for money and
fun. By the year 1920 Fitzgerald had a great literary success after the publication
of This Side of Paradise. Now he had enough money to make another attempt to
become Zelda’s husband. Most of these events are related to those from
his novel The Great Gatsby. The narrator of the story – Nick Carraway
received an education and moved to New York after the war the same as the writer.
The love story of Gatsby is very close to the love story of Fitzgerald himself.
Being at the height of his success Fitzgerald plunged into the world of parties
and fun and at the same time into writing more in order to earn money and please
Zelda as much as he could. His hero – Gatsby was also throwing away money
when organizing crazy parties with one single aim – to attract Daisy’s
attention to him. The times of Great Depression brought little joy for the writer
as well, as Zelda suffered from nervous breakdown and he started to drink a
lot alcohol. In 1937 he decided to go to Hollywood to write screenplays , there
when he was working upon the novel The Love of the Last Tycoon, he died because
of heart attack, being only 44 years old. It is important to mention that The
Great Gatsby was not simply a novel, this was a real historical chronicle of
the time called “the Jazz Age” in America, it highlights the times
when because of alcohol prohibition, bootleggers earned a lot of money, chaos
and violence ruled the people in America, when underground culture harshly developed
and the whole America was at the state of shock after the first World War. The
value of money was mostly exaggerated at that time. Thus the decline of American
Dream of the 1920s is one of the main themes of The Great Gatsby. There are
no doubts that this is a romantic story about a man and a woman, but in reality
there are deeper ideas in the novel. The setting of the story is some area of
Long Island in New York and the setting plays an important role for the message
of the author. “The Great Gatsby is a highly symbolic meditation on 1920s
America as a whole, in particular the disintegration of the American dream in
an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess” (Scott Donaldson,
250). The way how American Dream is corrupted is presented with the help of
crazy parties organized by Gatsby every Saturday. At those times a person from
middle social background in America could make a good fortune whereas American
aristocracy scorned the new rich speculators. These social trends are described
by Fitzgerald with the help of his main heroes. The correlation of the “old
money” and “new money” is presented in geographical symbols
of the novel: East Egg is the place where the established aristocracy lived
and West Egg – “the self-made rich”. Using his narrator –
Nick, the author told about his views of American Dream - it was “originally
about discovery, individualism, and the pursuit of happiness” (Eble, Kenneth,
F., 200). This dream was corrupted by easy money and lowered social values,
the same situation is with Gatsby’s dream about his love with Daisy, his
pure wish to deserve her love and her materialism. As a result his dream is
ruined as his object- Daisy is not actually worth it in reality “…
and Gatsby was
1. Scott Donaldson, ed., Critical Essays on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (Boston: G.K. Hall, 1984).
overwhelmingly aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves,
of the freshness of many clothes and of Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and
proud above the hot struggles of the poor.” (Eble, Kenneth, 70); the same
happened to the American Dream and its objects of money and fun. The Americans
in 1920s were looking for the old times when their dreams were worth something
and want to return these times, Gatsby is also trying to return past: “
‘Can’t repeat the past?’ he cried incredulously. ‘Why
of course you can!’” (Miller, James E., Jr., F. 45).
Another important theme of the novel is comparison of the two rich classes –
of old aristocracy and of new rich people. Daisy and Tom both belong to the
first group, they are presented like people with taste, grace and elegance,
whereas the people from West Egg are vulgar and lacking social taste. Gatsby
in his pink coat and ignorance towards Sloanes’ invitation is the bright
example of this. But the fact is that those from East Egg seem to be absolutely
cold and heartless natures, not paying much attention to the people they hurt
and this is well shown at the end of the novel when Tom and Daisy simply leave
for a new house. “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed
up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast
carelessness… They can use their wealth and position to escape whatever
they choose.” (Stern, Milton R., 113).
The word - careless - is important for the ideas of the novel, the heroes of
Fitzgerald - Tom and Daisy - are careless towards other people, towards each
other, it is because of the ease of their lives and mindless and irresponsible
style of life. Not only East Egg and West Egg are important geographical symbols
of the novel, the valley of ashes represents the amoral wish for money and pleasures.
1.Eble, Kenneth, F. Scott Fitzgerald, New York: Twayne, 1963
2.Miller, James E., Jr., F. Scott Fitzgerald: His Art and Technique, New York:
New York University Press, 1966
The weather described in the story as well passes to the whole mood of it. When
Gatsby and Daisy are reunited, it started to rain, this rain contributed to
creating an atmosphere of melancholy; as soon as sun appears their love seems
to be awaken. During one of the hottest days of that summer we are the witnesses
of the dramatic quarrel between Gatsby and Tom.
A very important symbol if the novel is the green light. Gatsby says to Daisy:
“You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your
dock.” (Ronald Berman, 101). This green light is connected with Gatsby’s
dreams and hope for good future, he considers Daisy to be this light in the
darkness for him when he was looking for his goal. “In Chapter IX, Nick
compares the green light to how America, rising out of the ocean, must have
looked to early settlers of the new nation (Scott Donaldson, 256).
The valley of ashes was already mentioned, in this valley there is an old billboard
with painted eyes on it. There is an opinion that these eyes represent God himself
looking at the American people and judging them, but this association comes
only to the mind of George Wilson. In a way these eyes also represent meaninglessness
of the world and emptiness of its objects. Actually all the crimes of the story
are unpunished and the only judges condemning the guilty heroes are these eyes.
Overall the central tragedy of this story lies not simply in the tragic love
of Gatsby, not only in his death, but in the whole state of society at the time
described in the novel. As it was already said the author created not simply
a perfect and appealing love story, he created a kind of historical chronic
of the life in America in 1920s and he paid much attention to the so-called
American Dream and its presentation at that time.
1. Stern, Milton R., The Golden Moment: The Novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Urbana:
University of Illinois Press, 1970.
This notion is commonly associated for me with some kind of struggle for better life, with usage of all possible and impossible factors and resources in order to win the higher positions, the higher standards of living. The idea of American dream can not be simply associated with easy money and a lot of fun. Due to some historical facts – the First World War, and to the social trends of those times in America, the notion of American Dream was severely simplified and simplified only till material wealth as the main goal. This novel can be called distinctively American, as it is about American people, about their history, about their lives and their minds, about the American society and notions of wealth and happiness. Due to its emotional and in a way philosophical presentation of the events it can not leave a reader indifferent.
1.Ronald Berman, The Great Gatsby and Modern Times (Urbana: University of Illinois
Press, 1994) and The Great Gatsby and Fitzgerald’s World of Ideas (Tuscaloosa:
University of Alabama Press, 1997).
2. Scott Donaldson, ed., Critical Essays on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The
Great Gatsby (Boston: G.K. Hall, 1984).
Sources:
1. F. Scott Fitzgerald Centenary Home Page http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/index.phpl
2. Bruccoli, Matthew J., Some Sort of Epic Grandeur: The Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald, New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1981. 140-189
3. Eble, Kenneth, F. Scott Fitzgerald, New York: Twayne, 1963. 56-219
4. Lehan, Richard D., F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Craft of Fiction, Carbondale:
Southern Illinois University Press, 1966 . 85-148
5. Miller, James E., Jr., F. Scott Fitzgerald: His Art and Technique, New York: New York University Press, 1966. 44-99
6. Mizener, Arthur, ed., F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Collection of Critical Essays, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1963. 89-317
7. Sklar, Robert, F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Last Laocoon, New York: Oxford University Press, 1967. 23-96
8. Stern, Milton R., The Golden Moment: The Novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1970. 113-115
9. “BookRags Book Notes on The Great Gatsby.” 24 April 2006. http://www.bookrags.com/notes/gat/
10. Matthew J. Bruccoli, ed., F. Scott Fitzgerald on Authorship (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1996). 98-99
11. Ronald Berman, The Great Gatsby and Modern Times (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994) and The Great Gatsby and Fitzgerald's World of Ideas (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1997). 56-156
12. Scott Donaldson, ed., Critical Essays on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (Boston: G.K. Hall, 1984). 248-256
13. Ernest H. Lockridge, ed., Twentieth century interpretations of The Great Gatsby: A Collection of Critical Essays (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1968). 385-397
