eralds The Great Gatsby Great Gatsby EssaysThe Great Gatsby: Corruption of the Dream The book ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald was an ‘icon of itstime. ‘ The book discusses topics that were important, controversial andinteresting back in 1920’s America. The novel is ‘an exploration of theAmerican Dream as it exists in a corrupt period of history.
‘ The mainthemes in the book are the decay of morals and values and thefrustration of a ‘modern’ society. The Great Gatsby describes the decayof the American Dream and the want for money and materialism. Thisnovel also describes the gap between the rich and the poor (Gatsby andthe Wilsons, West Egg and the Valley of the Ashes) by comparing thedifferences between the Western United States (traditional westernculture) and the Eastern United States (money obsessed values). On asmaller scale this could be seen as the difference between the West Egg(the ‘new, money) and the East egg (the ‘old’ money). The 1920’s werea time of corruption and the degradation of moral values for the UnitedStates and many other countries. World War One had just ended andpeople were reveling in the materialism that came with the end of it,new mass produced commodities such as motor cars and radios werefilling people’s driveways and houses, money was more accessible(before the Great Depression).
Cars were becoming a social symbol inthe 1920s as we can see with Gatsby’s five cars, one of which he givesto Nick and one of which kills Myrtle Wilson later on in the novel. Herbert Hoover (an American President) said in 1925 “We will root outpoverty and put two cars in every garage. ” The parties that Gatsby heldevery week in the summer were a symbol of the carelessness of the time. Gatsby would hide in the house while the ‘guests’, most of whom werenot even invited, would party, eat and drink until the early hours ofthe morning without even meeting the guest or even knowing who he was.
People would turn up just to be seen or reported in the localnewspapers “In his blue garden people came and went like moths amongthe whisperings and the champagne. ” This shows the carelessness of theguests. Another quote about the parties refers to the way the guestsdevour the endless supply of food and never give a thought as to whogave it to them. “Every Friday five crates of oranges and Lemonsarrived from a fruiterer In New York- Every Monday these same orangesand lemons left his backdoor in a pyramid of pulpless halves. ” This isalso a symbol; it relates the ‘pulpless halves’ to the rather ’empty’guests, soulless people obsessed by image and wealth, a corruption ofthe American Dream.
Another sign of the fall of the American Dream inThe Great Gatsby is the way Gatsby makes his money. Gatsby gets hisfortune through the illegal sale of alcohol (‘bootlegging’). The saleof alcohol was prohibited in the United States in the 1920s. Gatsbycame from the western United States where there was ‘old money. ‘ Therehe met Dan Cody who taught him how to ‘bootleg.
‘ As Gatsby becamericher he moved to West Egg in New York. Gatsby’s house is a ratherartificial place, the house was originally built to impress Daisy withhis so-called wealth, and this is a sign of a corrupt way of ‘winning’love through money and wealth. Gatsby’s house is furnished well withold looking ornaments and (probably) second hand antiques, Gatsby’shouse also has a library which is full of ‘uncut’ literature. Theconversation between Jordan and an unnamed man at one of Gatsby’sparties talks about the books: “Absolutely real – have real pages andeverything.
I’d thought they’d be a nice durable cardboard. ” Thesebooks and antiques are just Gatsby’s way of showing off his wealth toothers, however Gatsby doesn’t really care for materialism, we can tellthis because his bedroom, the only room he really ever uses, is emptycompared to the rest of the house. Gatsby’s love life is also a signof declining morals, and also a sign of further corruption of theAmerican Dream. Daisy has an affair with Gatsby; Gatsby then getsconcerned that Daisy does not tell Tom about her affair with him inchapter six. Eventually Daisy tells Tom about her affair with JayGatsby.
The climax of the story comes when Gatsby tells Tom that Daisynever loved him. The fall of the American Dream and corruption is alsoevident in the position and treatment of children in the story, Daisyand Tom’s daughter, Pammy, is treated as an object to show off ratherthan a child to love. “The child, relinquished by the nurse, rushedacross the room and rooted shyly into her mother’s dress. ” The childdoes not know her mother very well and is still very shy to go nearher. Gatsby had never really known of the existence of Daisy’s child,as Daisy was probably afraid to tell him about her.
“Afterward he keptlooking at the child in surprise. I don’t think he had ever reallybelieved it it’s existence before. ” The word it instead of her alsodenotes the child’s position as nil. Daisy uses the child as a showitem: “I got dressed before luncheon” said the child, turning eagerlytowards Daisy.
“That’s because your mother wanted to show you off”replies Daisy. When the child speaks to Daisy, Daisy never answers orreplies to her. Daisy always changes the subject as if she doesn’t evennotice the child is there. For example, when the girl comments Jordan’sdress, Daisy ignores her and asks her what she thinks about herfriends: “Aunt Jordan’s got on a white dress too” (said the child). “How do you like mother’s friends?” (Replies Daisy).
Also: “Where’sdaddy?” (Said the child) “She doesn’t look like her father” explainedDaisy. ‘Daddy’ (Tom) is also never around, he was not there when hischild was born. Daisy thinks that Tom is ‘brutish’ and she has neverreally liked him. The Great Gatsby is a great portrayal of thecorruption of society and the fall of the American Dream.
The GreatGatsby shows us the way people will fall into the hands of money, greedand power and get involved in illegal activities to get where they wantand what they want. This book is a perfect example of the fall of theAmerican Dream in the 1920s. Bibliography:The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald (The school’s Penguin edition)Scott Fitzgerald’s Criticism of America – Marcus BaileyFitzgerald and The Great Gatsby – http://www.hisf.no/~ernstj/lectures/ggr20s.html
