The Great Gatsby Essay
"I dreamed a dream in time gone by, when hope was high and life worth living. I dreamt that love would never die. I dreamt that God would be forgiving," (Hugo). These are the words of the famous musical "Les Miserables," about the hardships of the poor French citizens which eventually led to the French Revolution. Anyone who has had a dream that wasn't fulfilled can relate to the words of this song, because that is the topic for the song. Jay Gatsby was just that type of person. He had a dream for his life which seemed attainable. His dream, and his failure to attain it, are illustrated in The Great Gatsby by the great literary interpreter of the modern age, F. Scott Fitzgerald. Gatsby's dream was impossible to attain. Gatsby believed in himself and therefore thought he could do it, but he didn't take into account all the aspects of the situation. In the end, he isn't able to succeed. Jay Gatsby is unable to achieve his dream because the "class system" of the Modern Age takes away his opportunity.
The Modern Age, 1915-1946, was a time of great wealth for some, and great poverty for others. This is significant because a "class system" was established. The rich lived a "frivolous" lifestyle, as they would sit around during the day drinking and listening to songs such as "Ain't we got fun-in the meantime, in-between-time..." (Fitzgerald, 100). Many rich people looked down on the not-so-rich classes, as you can see from the remarks of Myrtle Wilson, the mistress of Tom Buchanan. Myrtle resented her husband George because, "I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn't fit to lick my shoe. He borrowed somebody's best suit to get married in," (Fitzgerald, 39). The culture people were living in was very materialistic, and a person's status was based on the amount of money he or she was born with. The amount of money a person earned made no difference. The current society was corrupt, due to this "class system". The area that The Great Gatsby takes place in, East and West Egg, is described as "a valley of ashes---where ashes take the form of houses and chimneys and rising smoke, a valley of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air," (Fitzgerald, 27).
Gatsby's dream was to become part of the "elite upper class". He believed that joining this class would make him a better person. He rejected his parents because they were "unsuccessful farm people," and in his eyes their quality of life was much lower than what he hoped to attain. Gatsby decided that he could achieve his dream by winning the heart of Daisy Buchanan, a member of the higher class. Throughout the novel, "Gatsby is alone, mysterious, obsessed," according to "The Theme and the Narrator of The Great Gatsby ," by Thomas A. Hanzo (62). Gatsby met Daisy when he was a soldier, and he was one of many soldiers that had dated her. Daisy was always someone special in Gatsby's eyes because of her status. In an attempt to win Daisy, Gatsby got his neighbor Nick to invite her over to his house. He "came over" to Nick's house, and got a chance to be with Daisy again. He also arranged for fresh flowers to be brought in to the house and even hired someone to cut Nick's lawn. He had done this as much for his own sake as to impress Daisy. He wanted to feel rich. "Gatsby equates quantity with quality, cost with value," according to "F. Scott Fitzgerald and the American Dream," by William A. Fahey (70). Gatsby had pictured Daisy as being like a goddess. When she came over and he saw her again after five years, he realized that Daisy wasn't as "wonderful" as he had pictured her. Nick Carraway remarks, "There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams---not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion," (Fitzgerald, 101). Gatsby had a huge dream to join the upper class, and he thought he could attain it.
Gatsby isn't able to enter the upper class because he wasn't born into it. He had made plenty of money, but nobody of the upper class appreciated it. Everyone knew that "Gatsby" wasn't a big name in the area, and that he didn't come from a well-to-do family. He also couldn't be in a relationship with Daisy because he didn't belong to the upper class. Gatsby's dream is often viewed as the "American Dream," and was very common among people during the Modern Age. "There is a major connection between Gatsby's individual tragedy and the tragedy of American civilization," according to "The Great Gatsby: Fitzgerald's Meditation on American History" by Kermit W. Moyer (216). The upper class never accepted anybody from a lower class. They weren't impressed by people who managed to go from rags to riches. They were afraid of people like that, because this would make more people upper class. The rich wanted to feel important, and they could only do that if there were few people in their class. In the end, Daisy ends up using Gatsby to get out of trouble. She can't handle the fact that she took the life of Myrtle Wilson in a car accident, and Gatsby is willing to take responsibility for it. Daisy just goes along with Gatsby's story that he was the one driving the car. George Wilson seeks revenge by shooting and killing Gatsby, and Daisy doesn't even care. Nick remarks after Gatsby's funeral that, "Daisy hadn't sent a message or even a flower," (Fitzgerald, 183). She didn't feel any need to. Gatsby was of a lower class. He was born into it and he died in it. That was the way things were.
Gatsby has no opportunity to achieve his dream during the Modern Age because the "class system" which had already been established limits him. Clearly, the rich had a different life. They knew each other and respected each other, while ignoring the rest of the world. Although this "class system" was present mainly in the Modern Age, there are still such systems in existence today. In 1998, there are "cliques" of people who won't associate with people outside their group. If one's goal was to join a clique, they'd never succeed. Some things just can't be done. The song from "Les Miserables" continues, "...but there are dreams which cannot be and there are storms we cannot weather! I HAD A DREAM MY LIFE WOULD BE SO DIFFERENT FROM THIS HELL I'M LIVING, SO DIFFERENT NOW FROM WHAT IT SEEMED!!! Now life has killed the dream I dreamed," (Hugo).
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