The Great Gatsby: The American Dream
In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses many repeated references to time to draw attention to the so called "American Dream", which is something Jay Gatsby sorely desires in this novel. Time is the most important motif in The Great Gatsby by far. There are over 450 time words, and the word itself appears 87 times. Gatsby always seems to want to go back into time to recapture Daisy's heart and get back to that perfect moment in time. Some episodes which symbolize time are when Gatsby knocks over a clock during his reunion with Daisy and Nick's famous list of people who attended Gatsby's parties written on a timetable. Gatsby can't and won't accept the process of time. His ...
Want to read the rest of this paper?
Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay
and over 50,000 other term papers
|
her, because as time goes on, Gatsby is in love with the idea of being with Daisy, not actually in love with Daisy. Finally, he is betrayed by it with the help of Daisy's husband, Tom Buchanan, and the death of Myrtle Wilson. Gatsby is called great, which you can call him great by virtue of his ability to commit himself to his aspirations, but at the same time Gatsby himself is a liar, adulterer, a criminal, and someone the narrator, Nick Carraway, has only scorn for. So, as time rolls on in The Great Gatsby , Gatsby and his aspirations for realizing the so-called "American Dream" seem to drift further and further apart as the forces of time seem to do in Jay Gatsby. He is unable to obtain the American Dream because he does not understand how money works in society, and he expects he can buy anything, particularly Daisy, but he just doesn't seem to have the right currency.
What, exactly, is the "American Dream" that Gatsby seems to be trying so hard to achieve? The ...
Get instant access to over 50,000 essays.
Write better papers. Get better grades.
Already a member? Login
|
which she wouldn't let go of while in the tub. She finally was forced to leave it in the soap dish after she saw it was coming to pieces like snow. But the next day at 5 o'clock she was married to Tom without so much as a shiver. This was the first step of the American Dream slipping out of his reach, and there was nothing he could do about it.
His second and final chance at recapturing Daisy's heart falls just short. The main reason his second attempt falls short would have to be the theme of this book, time. Gatsby bought his house in West Egg to be across the bay from Daisy. He would go outside alot at night to look at the green light at the end of the Buchanan's dock. At ...
Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library.
Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports,
and research papers in 2 minutes or less.
|
CITE THIS PAGE:
The Great Gatsby: The American Dream. (2004, December 14). Retrieved November 22, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Great-Gatsby-The-American-Dream/18996
"The Great Gatsby: The American Dream." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 14 Dec. 2004. Web. 22 Nov. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Great-Gatsby-The-American-Dream/18996>
"The Great Gatsby: The American Dream." Essayworld.com. December 14, 2004. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Great-Gatsby-The-American-Dream/18996.
"The Great Gatsby: The American Dream." Essayworld.com. December 14, 2004. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Great-Gatsby-The-American-Dream/18996.
|
Save
Report