Guest blogger Stephanie Rattan usually blogs about movies but since this book impressed her, she decided to tell us why...
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The Great Gatsby explores various themes such as decadence, idealism, excess and moral decay; we see how all of these
aspects corrupted the American dream in the 1920s. The American Dream was
supposed to be about individualism and pursuing one’s dreams but instead this
idea became so deeply corrupted in the 1920s, as can be seen in the novel where
everyone, regardless of class, were just aiming to become filthy rich through
any means possible and by doing this they caused a significant moral decay in
society. There was still no equality, no liberty and no real happiness so it was
not surprising that this "American Dream" failed the characters in
this book countless times.
This novel is overflowing with symbolism as a lot
takes place through innuendo and suggestion. An aspect of this film that I
really like and which stands out to me the most would have to be Fitzgerald’s
clever use of setting throughout the novel. West Egg where Gatsby resides is
seen as the place where the ‘new rich’ dwell, while East Egg is where the
aristocratic families with old money live and then there is The Valley of
Ashes, the home of the struggling working class. West Egg, East Egg and The
Valley of Ashes are larger representations of the persons living in these
places, therefore the geographical setting creates a divide among the different
social classes. Most, if not all of the violent conflict in the novel takes
place between the rich and the poor. All of the characters and their various
settings can be looked at in relation to the wild and destructive state of the
American Dream in the 1920s, from Jay Gatsby of West Egg and his “extraordinary
gift of hope” which leads to his life finding an abrupt and horrible end, then
to the character of Daisy, a beautiful socialite who lives her American Dream through
her aristocratic husband, and then to Tom, a man who was fortunately born into
his American Dream. The characters of George and Myrtle Wilson wish to achieve
the American Dream but sadly did not make it far; they appear to have been
doomed from the very start.
Fitzgerald created an enticing world, one where money was
the object of everyone’s affection, whether it was the ‘new rich’, the
aristocrats or the working class, greed possessed everyone. In the novel we see
and understand what the American Dream meant to each character, how it related
to them and how it failed most of them. Gatsby ran away from his poverty in
rural North Dakota, he ran as hard and as far as he could. He kept running
towards his dream of a life drenched in opulence and his prayer was answered
the day he met Dan Cody, the man who changed his life. The fact that Gatsby’s
reinvented himself from someone of a lower class to someone with a significant
amount of wealth is truly admirable, but it’s the way in which he accumulated
his fabulous wealth that is the problem; he did not do it through hard work and
labor but rather through illegal activities. Gatsby became part of a dark, grim
and shady world where all of his wealth was supported by taking advantage of
the Prohibition in America at the time, therefore portraying the unattractive
underside of wealth. Gatsby is dehumanized by the way he acquires his vast
wealth and by what he intends to do with this money.
But other than Gatsby, the ban on alcohol meant
nothing to most people in the 1920s because they drank their hearts out anyway;
if anything, the prohibition led to people drinking more. Gatsby like many
others is overtaken by the insatiable hunger for more, through any means
available. Gatsby uses this money to decorate his life by building a house in
West Egg that is described as “collosal,” and using this house to throw
glamorous jazz parties on a regular basis, just to gain Daisy’s attention. The
time when the book was set, was a time that some called the Jazz Age. This
period in time was strongly reflected in Gatsby’s parties. At Gatsby’s parties
people were not invited (with the exception of Nick Carraway), they simply
went. Gatsby’s jazz parties were like an amusement park for adults, overflowing
with alcohol, intimate dancing and other socially questionably activities.
People just didn’t seem to have a care in the world, they lived to attend
Gatsby’s parties, this was how meaningless life had become.
The Valley of Ashes, another place of setting, really
stood out to me in the novel. Here we turn to the characters of George and
Myrtle Wilson who reside in the Valley of Ashes which immediately says a lot
about this couple and their state of immense poverty. The Valley of Ashes is a
solemn dumping ground and when I think of The Valley of Ashes, devoid of color
and life, I cannot help but think of T.S Eliot’s poem The Waste Land. Eliot’s
poem exposes the grim state of Europe post World War I, where people were severely wounded
not just physically but mentally, emotionally, spiritually and sexually, and
the same can be said for the characters in Fitzgerald’s novel. The Wilson’s American Dream can only come true with
the help of Tom, but they don’t seem to realize that Tom has absolutely no
intention of helping them. The Wilsons portray the novel’s representation of
the wretched lower class and the ways in which these working class persons are
kept at the very bottom of the social ladder and would remain there for the
rest of their lives. The Valley of Ashes in the novel may be seen as the place
of consequence for all the demoralizing acts that were taking place in America
at the time. The Valley of Ashes is symbolic of a failed American nation which has
been transformed from a time of genuine happiness to a time where everyone has
foolishly trapped themselves in a moral wasteland.
In conclusion, I loved this book, it’s one of my
favorites! So much was going on in the novel, it really got my wheels turning. The
Great Gatsby is truly a phenomenal example of all that was wrong in the
American society in the 1920s. All of the characters in this novel clearly
portrayed how the American Dream failed ALL classes of persons.
