The Great Gatsby's Green Light and the Obligations of American Optimism

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Steve Lundell L354 THE GREAT GATSBY’S GREEN LIGHT AND THE OBLIGATIONS OF AMERICAN OPTIMISM BENEATH THE UNREQUITED LOVE THEMATICALLY CENTRAL TO SCOTT FITZGERALD’S THE GREAT GATSBY, A RUMINATIVE INDICTMENT OF AMERICAN EXCESS AND ITS ATTENDANT DREAM IS FOUND, WHICH CHANGES THE NOVEL’S NARRATOR, NICK CARRAWAY. AMERICA IS OFTEN DEFINED BY THE NOTION THAT ANYONE BORN IN ANY SET OF CIRCUMSTANCES CAN BE ANYTHING THEY DESIRE. CIRCUMNAVIGATING A GREEN LIGHT REFERENCED BY JAY GATSBY IN THE BEGINNING AND THEN ESPIED BY NICK AT NOVEL’S END, FITZGERALD LEAVES THE READER WITH A POWERFUL SYMBOL OF AN UNOBTAINABLE DREAM. THIS DREAM SEDUCES WITH INDOMITABLE OPTIMISM AND ANTICIPATION THROUGHOUT THE NOVEL’S LUXURIANT DETAILS OF AFFLUENCE AND RELEASE. WHETHER THIS WAS THE DREAM REFERENCED IN THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IS A MATTER OF DISPUTE. WHETHER THE RELENTLESS “PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS” IS EQUATED AS AN “UNALIENABLE” HUMAN RIGHT (DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE) MAY NOT HAVE BEEN GATSBY’S CONCERN AS MUCH AS HOW HIS PURSUIT WOULD FINALLY END, IF EVER, IN A REALIZATION OF THE AMERICAN DREAM. BUT FITZGERALD SHOWS THAT WITHIN THIS PURSUIT AND ITS INTENDED ATTAINMENT ARE CORROSIVE SPOILS AND CONSEQUENCES, WHICH END UP IN NICK’S NEWFOUND AWARENESS AND GATSBY’S DEATH. THESE OUTCOMES ARE AT THE HEART OF THE NOVEL, IN THAT LONGING FOR THE GREEN LIGHT CAUSES AN OBLIGATORY DISSOLUTION THAT’S TRANSFORMATIVE, LEAVING NICK WITH WISTFUL HOPE. LESS RETROSPECTIVE AND MELANCHOLY WAS THE SONOROUS MOTIF PREGNANT WITHIN 2008’S AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, IN THAT IT EMPHASIZED OPTIMISTICALLY FRAMED ABSTRACTIONS SUCH AS HOPE, RENEWAL, AND CHANGE. NICK FEELS THIS WHEN ENCOUNTERING GATSBY’S SMILE IN CHAPTER THREE, “IT UNDERSTOOD YOU JUST AS FAR AS YOU WANTED TO BE UNDERSTOOD, BELIEVED IN YOU AS YOU WOULD LIKE TO BELIEVE IN YOURSELF, AND ASSURED YOU THAT IT HAD PRECISELY THE IMPRESSION

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