Essay - The Great Gatsby the Elusive American Dream in the Great...

The Great Gatsby

The Elusive American Dream in The Great Gatsby

The history of America itself is the ma***** inspiration for Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby. Since ***** discovery ***** the continent, America struggled between two polar tendencies: unalloyed idealism and absolute pragmatism. These opposites are not merely ideologies reflected in the ***** culture, but actual realities blended in ***** destiny of the nation. In The Great *****, this opposition is reflected symbolically in the contrast between the Romantic Gatsby and the o*****r characters in the novel, Tom Buchanan and Daisy especially. By contrast, Nick Carraway seems to represent orderliness ***** neutrality, while all the other ***** lead a full and exuberant life. ***** steps of the narrative follow Gatsby's fall and that ***** the American Dream along with it.

Thus, in the exposition of the novel, the action is already at its climax as Nick abruptly plunges in G*****sby's mysterious world. It is only afterwards that ***** reader finds out the true s*****ry of Gatsby's r*****e as one of the wealthiest men in the l*****. Thus, the first part of the novel is a picture of ***** Roar*****g Twenties and its extraordinary opulence. In this context, Gatsby represents not only the grandiose American dream, but also ***** human dream in general. The lavish parties he throws are perfect instances of the excesses typical of ***** twenties. Consumerism is ***** in Gatsby's extravagant opulence: the expensive limousine that brings the guests, ***** jazz bands that play the music, the machine that is able to squeeze ***** hundred oranges in half an hour, Gatsby's generosity when one of the guests tears her dress on a ch*****ir. At Gatsby's parties, any***** can come without having been *****ly invited and sometimes ***** even getting ***** know ***** host: "There w***** ***** from my neighbor's house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the w*****perings and ***** champagne ***** the stars."(Fitzgerald, 25) This ***** paired by generosity is ***** perfect representation of the ***** dream, and stands in sharp ***** with the materialism symbolized by Tom Buchanan. Although Gatsby seems almost an illusionist at points, able to fulfill fabulous acts with his magic w*****d, he is actually a seeker ***** ***** deeper re*****lity and the ***** truth in th*****gs. The incident in which G*****sby pays from a very ***** ***** of one of ***** guests simply because the dress had been marred at ***** of h***** parties is very signifi*****t: Gatsby can work magic ***** create an illusion, as in fact his all *****vented life ***** to be, but he is in fact ***** 'realist' of t***** story ***** so much as he is a seeker of truth and ***** of appearances like the others are.

In parallel with the fantastic ***** which Gatsby *****longs to, ***** author introduces the opposite one. *****, on the outside the lives of Tom and Gatsby do not seem very different, as they are both characterized by extreme opulence and