The Great Gatsby Analysis

The Great Gatsby has been interpreted as a bleak assessment of the American Dream. At its heart is a fascinating rags-to-riches narrative of a lad from a humble agricultural family who has worked his way up to an extraordinary fortune.

Jay Gatsby is a man who once had little but now entertains wealthy and famous people at his massive Long Island estate. Even though Gatsby’s riches are comparable to that of Tom Buchanan, he is eventually unable to enter the “distinguished hidden club” of people born affluent. His endeavor to win Daisy Buchanan, a woman from a well-established American aristocratic family, ends in tragedy and his death.

In the novel, the dichotomy between “new money” and “old money” is portrayed by the disparity between West Egg and East Egg. West Egg is presented as a tawdry, boisterous culture that “chafed beneath the old euphemisms,” filled of people who acquired their fortunes in an unparalleled period of consumerism.

East Egg, on the other hand, is a cultured society populated by America’s “staid nobility,” individuals who have inherited their money and who despise West Egg’s rawness. In the end, East Egg may be considered to triumph: while Gatsby is shot and his flamboyant parties are dispersed, Tom and Daisy are untouched by the summer’s awful events.

The complex symbolism that supports the tale of The Great Gatsby makes it unforgettable. The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock is a recurring image in the novel that appeals to Gatsby’s sense of aspiration. It is a sign of “the orgastic future” he so fervently believes in, and it is toward which his arms are extended when Nick first meets him. Nick admires Gatsby for his “exceptional gift for optimism,” as well as his “heightened sensitivity to the promises of life.”

The “colossal importance” of the green light fades as Daisy is within Gatsby’s grasp. In essence, the green light represents an impossible promise, one that Nick recognizes in universal terms towards the end of the novel: a future we never comprehend but are always striving for.

Nick likens it to the early settlers’ faith in the promise of the New World. When Gatsby focuses his hopes on a real item, Daisy, his dream crumbles. His formerly limitless desire is now restricted to the actual world, where he becomes a victim of all of its corruption.

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