The Great Gatsby

The American Dream is defined as an American ideal of a happy and successful life to which all may aspire. Anthony Brandt stated that the successful life to which all may aspire. Anthony Brandt stated that the deepening gloom of the Depression, the American Dream represented a reaffirmation of traditional American hopes? The Great Gatsby, a sensitive, satiric fable, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the pursuit of success and the collapse of the American dream. This is shown in the theme of the video, as well as in the symbolism of the characters and the action. Critics have referred to The Great Gatsby as F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece about the corruption of the American dream.

The theme of The Great Gatsby depicts the depravation of the American Dream. Out of Fitzgerald's presentation and analysis of the lives of Gatsby, Nick, and the Buchanan comes the final theme that the American idealism has been corrupted by adopting materialism as its means. The substitution of attractive but false goals, represented by Daisy, as the fulfillment of the historical promise of America, has changed the new world. Gatsby's destruction shows that those who try to maintain idealism based on purely materialistic values are doomed by their self delusion, and George Wilson's unfortunate career illustrates the fate of the common man in the waste land.

There are a few minor characters in The Great Gatsby who main significance is symbolic. In particular Dan Cody who is a pioneer debauchee? Who employed the youthful Gatsby and gave him his angularly appropriate education? While Cody's importance in advancing Gatsby's career is undeniable, the man had died before the time of the main action. He serves as an American style. A man who struck it rich and was incapable of using his new-found wealth for anything but self-destructive purposes.

Finally, the action itself has a symbolic dimension. The various parties reflect a moral as well as physical chaos, and the careers of the main characters symbolize the novel's controlling ideas. Gatsby's career is made to transcend the physical environment of the twenties, becoming a metaphor for the fate of American idealism in the modern world.

F. Scott Fitzgerald disillusioned but at the same time yearning, turned a satiric eye on upper-class society in The Great Gatsby. Critics have called The Great Gatsby a commentary on the American dream of the acquisition of wealth and power. This is relevant and illustrated in the theme of the book, as well as in the symbolism of the characters and the action.