The Great Gatsby and the Fall of The American Dream

A analysis, from today’s viewpoint, of the classical American novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald from the perspective of the corrupt American Dream.This paper describes The Great Gatsby as Fitzgerald’s signature novel of the American dream gone awry. It compares American society in the 1920s to American today. The author writes that immigrants, like Gatsby, come to escape their own problems for our empty promises of unlimited advancement.

On the surface, “The Great Gatsby” is a novel about confused and unhappy relationships that drank and socialized their way through the 1920s. Yet, when investigating further, it speaks of the bankrupt American Dream, which no longer stands for progress and hard work, as it has become materialistic and corrupt.For years immigrants poured into Ellis Island looking for freedom of religious persecution, to escape poverty and hunger and numerous other reasons. Today over 50,000 immigrants come to the shores of America clutching Green Cards hoping for a piece of the American Dream.

”It is in this setting, that F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays “The Great Gatsby.” Jay Gatsby, himself, the title character, was a major culprit of this corruption.

Nick Carraway surmises that Gatsby made his wealth from bootlegging and involvement with organized crime. Gatsby has focused his adult life to being wealthy enough and having enough to impress Daisy.”