The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald (Essay Sample)

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DATE \@ "d MMMM yyyy" 11 April 2020
The Great Gatsby: The American Dream
Greed creates a circular quest of unrealistic dreams that are unattainable. The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald is an apologue plot of a protagonist, Gatsby, who values material possesions to fulfil his dreams. On the contrary, his desire to accomplish his dreams leads him to a rationalized thinking pattern which drags him into an unending desire of material gains that never lets him to be content. Through the American dream theme, Fitzgerald criticizes the modern society which values material possessions to the expense of unequivocal contentment.
A society that believes in material world ends up degrading the poor. In the novel's setting, there are demarcated regions based on social class; 'The Valley of Ashes' is one of these areas where the poor live. Fitzgerald uses Ecklenburg's blue and gigantic eyes to demonstrate how the rest of the society perceive those from the Valley of Ashes as nonexistent (Fitzgerald 26). Additionally, Myrtle treats her husband Wilson as nonexistent as he has little money and shamelessly cheats on him with the rich Tom. Her demeanor changes from intense vitality to impressive hauteur as Tom's money gives her purpose and identity. Fitzgerald uses Myrtle to show how people are willing to escalate the social ladder to raise their status.
The American Dream relies on material possessions in the heist to rise the social ladder. Nick crossing the bridge into the city from the Eggs is a metaphorical language to demonstrate that the dream is not appealing at first sight as it signifies innocence and corruption of the old money gained by the Eggs' citizens (Fitzgerald 74). As Nick is watching Gatsby, he realizes he is money-driven as he opts to follow a dark path in the pursuit of success. Gatsby's trembling arms symbolizes the extent to which he is drawn to the American Dream while the imagery of the dark water foreshadows his downfall. This represents the characterization of the American Dream which appeals at first glance but sets the dreamer on a dark path.
The American Dream is a circular quest of greed which is unachievable and in the end, destroys the dreamer. In the last scenes, Gatsby realizes that his dream is unattainable as it had blocked him from seeing the reality and his fate keeps getting narrower (Bewley 20). Gatsby loses identity and he gets lost in a quest whereby he is unable to become contented with his possessions. This reveals that as the dreamer gets closer to the American Dream, it gets farther away thus creating a circular quest of greed which ends in destruction (Miller 77). The American Dream puts the subject in a curren