Exploring the American Dream Myth in Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby

Abstract

Analysis of the Theme ‘The American Dream’ in the novel The Great Gatsby. The ‘Great Gatsby’ is a famous American novel by Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, a prolific novelist. The story is set in the jazz age and was inspired by the youthful romance; it was first published in April 1925. Various themes grace the functionality of this novel. It is a novel that tells a tragic love story, but the American Dream stands out to be meaningful in this exciting fiction. Fitzgerald portrays that the American dream is only limited to the fortunate few, making it unattainable to many. According to (Cain 454), Americans have known that the American dream is largely a myth, propaganda, and ideology. Happiness is not obtained through material desires; our connections and how we relate to others make us happy. This essay will enact a character analysis and broader critique of other topics that surround the theme of the American Dream and the integration in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby with significance in the roaring 1920s. The American Dream is a common analogy in the United States that describes a set of goals, standards, and ideals a citizen must adhere to make a successful life. The sentiment alludes that anyone can make it in America through hard work regardless of race, gender, social class, and nationality. According to (Hodo 299), the American Dream is one of the most critical issues that has drawn literary criticism and carries the ideals of a nation’s liberty, equality, the pursuit of happiness, and democracy. However, the dream ignores many other factors that ignore the possibility of the dream, including social class, systematic racism, income inequality, xenophobia, and the misogyny of women. The American Dream is one of the major themes in the Great Gatsby. Jay Gatsby embodies the American dream after living a ramshackle life back in his youthful life, which he terms the jazz age. The 1920s was an era of tribulations for Americans due to the chasm of inequality that graced American society. It was an era in which the American Dream fallacies were deemed unattainable. The novel's setting at a time is an indication that the American Dream is lunacy. According to (Maruri), The Great Gatsby symbolises the modern American novel. It can captivate both the academic audience and ordinary readers from its publication in 1925 until the present-day Fitzgerald uses Gatsby to critique the famous analogy that the American Dream is attained through hard work and determination. Gatsby portrays that it is not about building a life, but striving, by all means, to get rich, even if it is through dubious acts. Gatsby sees money as a solution to his all problems and a stepping stone to an ideal life. He aims to achieve...