The Great Gatsby Film Analysis

Fitzgerald's text The Great Gatsby uses a variety of techniques to explore the idea of dreams. Set against the backdrop of the immoral and corrupt world of the Roaring Twenties one becomes aware that dreams can be dangerous if we dream about the past and not the future. The author uses characterisation, setting and symbolism to reveal how the foul dust that is wealth and fame destroyed the protagonist's attempts to recreate the past and attain his holy grail.

To explore the idea that wealth corrupts dreams Fitzgerald uses characterisation. An example of this technique being used is through the character that is Daisy Fay. This is shown through her personality and the fact that she chose to marry Tom Buchanan over Jay Gatsby. Daisy was given a choice between waiting for the love of her life Jay Gatsby to come back from the war or marry Tom Buchanan who had endless amounts of inherited wealth. Daisy's dream at the time was to marry the love of her life who was Jay Gatsby. Daisy was blinded by the idea of wealth and fame and her dream was destroyed. The use of characterisation to explore the idea that wealth corrupts dreams was also explored through the character, Myrtle Wilson. Myrtle and her husband had planned to leave The Valley of the Ashes and get away from the mess: this was their dream. After Myrtle meets Tom Buchanan was an opportunity for her to become wealthy and famous. The idea of being wealthy and famous blinded Myrtle and her dream to leave ended her chances of living a good life.

The settings Fitzgerald explored in The Great Gatsby were used to explain the pursuit of the American dream and the effect it has on someone. During the Roaring Twenties where the text was set, everybody in America had a dream to become rich and famous; this was known as the American dream. The text is set in New York on Long Island where the extensively rich people live. Protagonist Jay Gatsby is born in the west in Louisiana where he lived a slow paced poor life. The American dream and the thought of getting back with Daisy brought him to Long Island where he met the secret society. Many people who came back from the war such as Jay Gatsby struggled to move back into their slow lives and moved to big fast moving cities like New York.

To further explore the idea of dreams, Fitzgerald uses symbolism techniques. The green light at the end of Daisy's dock was a symbol of hope for Gatsby. The green light symbolised the chance of Gatsby fulfilling his dream of returning to the past where he and daisy had a mutual feeling of love for each other. Once Gatsby had achieved his goal of having Daisy return to him the green light at the end of daisy's dock returned to being just a green light. This quote emphasises the effect of the green light. "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter-tomorrow we will run faster,