In The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald gives us some insight on the flawed society during the 1920s. In the novel the charters display dishonesty, superficial behavior, and greed. The American Dream was corrupted by the immoral society of the twenties. The American Dream, the dreamer usually wants to go from rags to riches, to fall in love. Also they wish to become a high status, wealth, and power.
Jay Gatsby- A mysterious man who gained his money illegally. His tragic flaw is his love for Daisy Daisy Buchanan- The wife of Tom and lover of Gatsby. Daisy is careless and cares too much about money and bases all of her choices on it. Tom Buchanan- The aggressive and careless husband of Daisy. He has a strong hatred for Gatsby and plans on finding out who Gatsby really is.
The Great Gatsby “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay." Mr. Jay Gatsby is a peculiar fellow, throughout the story you begin to understand all that he has been through. Heartbreak, crime, riches, confusion and all sorts of things that love has put him through. So really the question is, is Gatsby doing the things he’s doing because he loves Daisy? Or has he been corrupted, turning him into a corrupt “weasel-dealer”?
It can be argued that even though Gatsby’s dream is pure the fact you have to base your life around money and acquiring wealth and power to get expensive things shows how corrupt a simple dream can become. For Gatsby to have glamour in his life he must go through some sort of corruption, as it appears that glamour and corruption coincide with each other. Gatsby’s world can be seen as corrupt as the people who he is surrounded with appear to be fake. Gatsby lives on the dream that one day he can win back the married Daisy Buchanan and that she will return his feelings in love. However the people around Gatsby have no significance in their lives they do not strive to be anything this is shown when Daisy tells Nick that she wants her daughter to become a ‘beautiful fool’ because there is nothing better in life for a woman.
Malak Raihani The Illusions Which Killed The “Great” Gatsby "Even the loveliest dream bears like a blemish its difference from reality, the awareness that what it grants is mere illusion" claims German philosophist Thedor Wiesengrund Adorno. The novel "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates the tragedy of a man who's very meaning of life is corrupted by illusions. A man who's driven by unswerving desires to retrieve a memory of his youthful love, and knows no limit when doing so. A man who recreated himself, grew rich illegally, threw countless parties, for the sake of this memory. A man named Gatsby.
He was advised that market busts were just a part of capitalism, which had the therapeutic benefits of cleansing the system of unproductive firms. The business culture vehemently apposed federal aid to the unemployed and prompted individual citizens to “tighten their belts” as a way to escape the turmoil. The Hawley-Smoot Tariff made the economic situation worse by raising the cost of imported goods but more importantly received reciprocal treatment for the obvious protectionist action. American products became increasingly more difficult to sell around the world. By 1932, Hoover admitted that voluntary actions on the part of businessmen were not capable of lifting the country out of the recession.
“The perception of the American Dream changed as America changed. Little by little, people became more and more obsessed with money and material gains. The pursuit of happiness changed into another concept: the pursuit of money!”(Changizi). In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses many of his characters, especially Jay Gatsby, to stress the way materialism has caused the corruption and decline of the American Dream during the 1920s. The core ideals of the American dream come from self-reliance and hard work; Gatsby did almost the opposite while trying to reach his goal.
Let me elaborate. One of the aforementioned complaints was that it was “unfair”. How is a system that pools everyone together in a time of need unfair? The protestors are referring back to when the draft was put in place, wealthy families could make themselves exempt from service. With this in mind many claim it would be “the poor man fighting a rich man’s war”.
Although the two novels share a common theme, the authorial purposes contrast in nature. Both Steinbeck and Fitzgerald depict the illusion of the American Dream; Steinbeck however conveys the belief that American society in the early 20th century severely retards individuals’ opportunity of attaining the American Dream. Fitzgerald focuses on expressing his disdain toward the wealthy, and uncovers the downside of the extravagant lifestyle the rich possess. Nonetheless, Of Mice and Men and The Great Gatsby encompass the fallacy of the American Dream and tell a story of desperate individuals struggling to capture a dream just out of reach. Throughout The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald consistently uses characterization to provide an in depth view of the characters in the story.
Through Fitzgerald's dealings with high society, readers are shown how modern values have transformed the American Dream's pure ideals into a scheme for materialistic power and further, how the world of high society lacks any sense of morals or consequence. Money is clearly identified as the main culprit in the dream's betrayal. It becomes easily entangled with hope and success and replacing their positions in the American Dream with materialism. This is shown through Gatsby's use of illegal practices and underground connections to make money. The story takes place during the time of prohibition and Gatsby has profited greatly from selling liquor illegally.