All throughout history, we have ever believed in the “ American Dream ” ; the ability for one to construct themselves up and go more than what they were born into. It does non count if they were born in America or non, the “ American Dream ” is for anyone and everyone. In F. Scott Fitzgerald ‘s The Great Gatsby, he shows how people can accomplish the “ American Dream ” but in the accomplishment of that ultimate end, you have to be careful because there are ever those around you that believe that they are better than you or will seek to utilize you so that they can acquire what they want out of their lives without holding to work for it their egos. Fitzgerald shows both sides of the coin by utilizing the characters in the narrative itself.
The first character we get introduced to in the narrative is Nick Carraway. Nick is the storyteller for the narrative, but besides attached to all of the characters in the narrative in some manner. Nick sees himself as “ Reserving judgements is a affair of infinite hope ” ( Fitzgerald 1 ) but proves he is mortal by stating “ I snobbishly repeataˆ¦ ” ( Fitzgerald 1 ) . Nick calls himself honest and seems to be so, unlike many of the people he is surrounded by. He thinks himself able to manus out judgement on others, every bit good being misanthropic and distant. At his nucleus, he is charitable, intelligent, and socially acceptable, all of which comes from the established societal place he grew up in, and everything combined contribute to his extremely developed moral sense ( Gross 3 ) . It seems as though Nick has been created to non be merely the storyteller so that the narrative can be told accurately, but besides because out of all the characters that I will speak about, he is besides in ownership of the most ethical motives and as the narrative continues, his disgust towards the behaviour of the remainder of the characters continues to turn, till he gets to a point where he no longer wants to see them or pass clip with them, as evidenced in the scene when Jordan calls and when the call ends, he thinks to himself “ I do n’t cognize which of us hung up with a crisp chink, but I know I did n’t care. I could n’t hold talked to her across a tea tabular array that twenty-four hours if I ne’er talked to her once more in this universe. ” ( Fitzgerald 156 ) .
The following character we take a expression at is Jay Gatsby himself, the character the narrative is named after every bit good the supporter. Gatsby is Nick ‘s neighbour, and that is how we get introduced to him. Gatsby throws excessive parties and belongs to the “ new rich ” since he built his wealth alternatively of inheriting it from his household, the wealth being handed down coevals after coevals. A minor character, Wolfsheim, said he knew Gatsby was “ a adult male of all right genteelness after I talk with him an hr. ” ( Fitzgerald 73 ) Granted, you can non cognize a great trade about a individual after talking to them for merely an hr, but Wolfsheim believes that he knows everything he needs to cognize. Harmonizing to Pearson, Gatsby is the manner he is because Gatsby is an illustration of the uncontrolled romantic, that he is an illustration of the “ American Dream ” and that his biggest end is to win the bosom of Daisy Buchanan, the adult female he fell in love with old ages ago, but could non hold because he was hapless and she was and still is a socialite, but now married with a immature girl.
Speaking of which, Daisy Buchanan is following on my list of characters to look at. She is the immature, married socialite who is besides a cousin of Nick ‘s. While Daisy appears to be the prototype of sugariness and artlessness, a closer expression at her reveals that she is in world, really shallow and bland. It can be seen in the scene where she and Gatsby are reunited at Nick ‘s. At first, they are both nervous and uneasy, but after a piece of holding clip entirely, they are comfy once more, and moving as if they have ne’er been parted from each other. The scene where Daisy ‘s superficiality is most apparent is when Gatsby starts throwing his shirts around and Daisy says “ It makes me sad because I ‘ve ne’er seen such-such beautiful shirts before. ” ( Fitzgerald 94 ) While this statement can be perceived as being emotional due to being reunited with Gatsby, it is in world a statement demoing her superficiality. Berman stated “ Daisy Fay Buchanan ‘s dreaminess – “ What do people be after? ” – shows the life of the Lotos Eaters. ” ( 62 ) That statement shows that she is apathetic towards the people she considers below due to the difference in category, and that she will remain with the “ old money ” of Tom, her hubby because the old money provides stableness, unlike the “ new money ” Gatsby has.
Finally, we have Tom Buchanan, the hubby of Daisy. Tom spends his yearss playing Polo, kiping with his kept woman, and is described as a brutish, looming, powerful adult male. It is apparent the first clip Tom is met that he is from “ old money ” and that he takes pride in his place and the visual aspect of everything within the place. One of Tom ‘s first lines in the narrative is “ Now, do n’t believe my sentiment on these affairs is concluding, merely because I ‘m stronger and more of a adult male that you are. ” ( Fitzgerald 7 ) Tom is, in short, a really nescient adult male who merely cares about what is traveling on in the present, and attentions about no 1 but himself. Barbour said “ It is non that they repudiate any deeper wisdom about life and its terminals ; it is that they are incognizant of any such wisdom. ” ( 68 ) Tom uses his position and household wealth to non merely make what he chooses, but to besides maintain what he wants the most, his married woman and his kept woman, and no 1 seems to care either manner what he does, until he loses his kept woman due to a auto accident and that becomes the accelerator in Gatsby ‘s decease. Tom is ever traveling to be the imbecile that makes him self appear better than everyone else, and so when he does non acquire his manner, he gets huffy and will so do certain he gets his manner.
As the narrative goes, nil is for certain, no affair how good we think we might cognize person. Daisy seemed guiltless and sweet, but truly was mercenary. Tom was a cheating dork, and did non care that his married woman knew, he merely did non desire to acquire caught by his equals. Gatsby was merely seeking to recapture a love from the yesteryear, and unhappily wound up dead. Nick, while somewhat clannish, had more character and ethical motives than everyone else in the narrative combined. While The Great Gatsby may look like a narrative to analyse an epoch of the past, at the clip of which it was written, this is what Fitzgerald saw traveling on, no affair how you look at it. This is a narrative that is an accurate representation of the epoch, as it was go oning. No affair what clip you live in, you will ever be surrounded by degeneracy and the lip service of the people that are populating in degeneracy. It is merely a fact of life, and one of the lone things that can be done is unrecorded with it, or seek to alter it.
