Awakening of the American Dream
Arlen Chen
Ms. Murray
AP English 3 EB
2/22/07
Arlen Chen
Ms. Murray
English 3 AP EB
2/22/07
Marked by excessive materialism and selfish prosperity, the “Jazz Age” of the 1920s
resembles a time in which the American dream diminishes into the obsessions of egotistical
Americans. Individuals, instead of enjoying their own earned success, strive to gain more
progress as they struggle to gain the American dream which is supposedly never fulfilled.
“The American dream consisted of the belief (sometimes thought of as a promise) that people
of talent in this land of opportunity and plenty could reasonably aspire to material success”
(Trask, 197-202).
This condition of the 1920 American dream is portrayed through
Fitzgerald’s use of the character Gatsby and the occurrence of dreams, wealth, and time.
In the novel, Fitzgerald chooses the character Gatsby to be the prime example of the
corrupt American dream in the 1920s. The story is told through the eyes of Nick Carraway,
who, in the beginning of the novel, establishes that he is recalling the events of his last
autumn. Carraway begins the story by describing his scorn towards Gatsby but rephrases it
later to his scorn towards “…what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his
dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded
elations of men” (Fitzgerald, 6). In this case, the “foul dust” represented Gatsby’s unrelenting
chase of his own dream; the dream of winning his first love Daisy back. “He has lived not for
himself, but for his dream, for his vision of the good life inspired by the beauty of a lovely
rich girl” (Fahey, 71). Gatsby’s own description of Daisy was that her voice was “…full of
2
money – that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals’
song in it” (Fitzgerald, 127). Not only does Gatsby’s dream serve as a metaphor towards the
American dream, his history precedes him. After being born into a poor, rural household,
Gatsby was able to escape poverty and eventually acquire millions of dollars and achieve
widespread fame within a few years. His acquiring of wealth was the result of bootlegging
and organized crime, all of which was done to try to impress Daisy. Through his wealth
Gatsby is able to change his personal image and the name “Gatsby” itself was an alteration of
his own James Gatz. Carraway comments that “…the truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg,
Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself” (Fitzgerald, 104). In fact,
Gatsby’s dream “is a naïve dream based on the fallacious assumption that material
possessions are synonymous with happiness,
harmony, and beauty” (Fahey, 70). Gatsby throws lavish parties for numerous people, yet he
has no real friends. In his search for something greater, Gatsby is always buying expensive
things and entertaining large groups of people. Near the end of the novel, Gatsby’s death was
a major representation of the American dream. Gatsby’s entire life was based upon fulfilling
his American dream by winning back Daisy and living happily ever after. When Gatsby
discovers that his dream is unattainable, he has no more will to live and he eventually dies.
Although his house was constantly full of people, the only people who attend his funeral are
Nick and Gatsby’s father. “Gatsby was as alone in death as he had been in life” (Trask, 197202). Gatsby’s belief that his money would improve his social standing had failed, as well as
his dream of being united with Daisy. Gatsby’s dream failed partly because Daisy, herself,
was “…as shallow as the other hollow people who inhabited Fitzgerald’s Long Island”
(Trask, 197-202). Even though Fitzgerald uses Gatsby as an example of one who was blinded
3
by the American dream, Fitzgerald goes on to state that Gatsby had a certain magnificence
about him; “an incredible ability to live in terms of his misguided dream” (Trask, 197-202).
In the novel, Nick is the one who recognizes this and considers Gatsby “worth the whole
damned crowd put together” (Fitzgerald, 162).
Fitzgerald uses The Great Gatsby to not only describe an impression of the Jazz Age,
but also as a general critique of the American dream during Fitzgerald’s generation. He
describes the American dream as “foul dust” (Fitzgerald, 6) that preyed on Gatsby and his
dreams. In this situation, Fitzgerald purposely uses Nick to pinpoint the source of people’s
misguided dreams during that time, which was the corrupt idea that sprung from get-richquick schemes and the delusion of happiness through material wealth. Fitzgerald sets Nick as
the main character who is currently trying to achieve financial success through his bond sales.
Nick is surrounded by wealth, coming from a family of “…well-to-do people” (Fitzgerald, 7)
and “…the consoling proximity of millionaires” (Fitzgerald, 10). He goes on to confess his
admiration for money and independence, saying that “…almost any exposition of complete
self-sufficiency draws a stunned tribute” (Fitzgerald, 13) from him.
This shows that
Fitzgerald purposely sets the setting of Long Island as an atmosphere in which lavish social
goals were aimed at achieving wealth and identity. At the time, the American dream was first
beginning to experience the corruption and the split between the “old” and “new” dreams can
be seen in Fitzgerald’s use of the terrain. Nick lives in West Egg, in which he describes as
“…the less fashionable of the two” in contrast to the other “…white palaces of fashionable
East Egg” (Fitzgerald, 9-10). The assumption here is that East Egg houses people who were
the already established wealthy whereas West Egg is the area of the self-made rich – the
beginning of the distorted American dream. West Egg is the area in which the diminishing
4
American dream is most prominent, and it is here that Nick and Gatsby reside. Fitzgerald
goes on to describe the corruption that befell the land by having Nick state that “This is a
valley of ashes a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and
grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and,
finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the
powdery air. Occasionally a line of gray cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a
ghastly creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-gray men swarm up with leaden
spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your
sight” (Fitzgerald, 27). An advertisement, the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg, “…brood on
over the solemn dumping ground” (Fitzgerald, 28). Describing the land as “ashes” and a
“dumping ground,” Fitzgerald voices his opinion of how this corrupt American dream has
defiled
and
tainted
our
land.
The occurrence of dreams, wealth, and time also plays a large part in how Fitzgerald
characterizes America. The majority of the novel, in fact, is made up of these three themes
and how they are interconnected. As stated before, the American dream at the time was
undergoing many changes and evolved into the idea that having material possessions ensures
happiness and prosperity. In this case, Fitzgerald used Gatsby as a follower of this American
dream and his goal was to become wealthy and be reunited with Daisy. For Gatsby, the only
way he became wealthy was through organized crime with Meyer Wolfshiem and the sale of
bootleg alcohol during a time in which the 18th Amendment prohibited the sale of alcohol.
Blindly pursuing his dream, Gatsby would even resort to criminal acts in order to gain money.
In relation to time, five years has passed since Gatsby last saw Daisy and he still wants to be
with her and become how they used to be five years ago. After Nick hears what Gatsby is
5
trying to do, he replies, “you can’t repeat the past” (Fitzgerald, 116). Nick later on notices
that “[Gatsby] talked a lot about the past and I gathered that he wanted to recover something,
some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. His life had been confused
and disordered since then, but if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it
all slowly, he could find out what that thing was…” (Fitzgerald, 117). Once again, Gatsby is
portrayed as someone blindly chasing their dream and even after five years, he has still not
given up. He continues to try and obtain more wealth and continues to throw more parties
hoping his “fame” would increase until Daisy notices. The connection between dreams,
wealth, and time is most noticeable here in which Gatsby’s dream of wealth and happiness
was the basis of his life for the past five years.
At the end of the novel, Nick says, “So we
beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald, 189).
Fitzgerald is explaining that by basing his entire life on the dream, Gatsby became obsessed
with what he wanted and did not stop to see what he had accomplished. Instead, he kept
struggling “against the current,” only to be repelled “ceaselessly into the past” until his own
downfall.
Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a complete and masterful portrayal of
how materialism affects society. Fitzgerald portrays his concerns about the American dream
in the 1920s through the use of Gatsby, whose materialistic views led ultimately to his
downfall, and through the themes of time, dreams, and wealth.
Throughout the novel,
Fitzgerald offers a powerful critique of how materialism can negatively affect society and
how it can tarnish an individual’s dreams and hopes forever.
6
Literature Cited
Fahey, William. F. Scott Fitzgerald and the American Dream. New York:
Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1973.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1925.
Millett, Frederick C.. "Analysis: The Great Gatsby." Michigan State University. 21 Feb 2007
<http://www.msu.edu/~millettf/gatsby.html>.
Trask, David. "A Note on Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby." University Review 33(1967): 197202.
7