The great Gatsby Novel
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Introduction
The aim of F. Scott Fitzgerald the author of Gatsby was to come up with a narrative that would capture various real aspects of the long island. He believed that the island was a good case study for the American dream. In this paper, we measure the American dream as represented in the 1925 Novel with the evolution of culture, the economic struggles, and the challenges facing the American dream and the impact of art in the American dream (Fitzgerald, 2003). The person in the author is also evaluated to give the analysis a vivid picture of the background of the novel. As we shall see through this paper, literature has largely given direction on how the American dream is been realized.
The novel plot
The novel narrates about the relationship between Nick who is the narrator, the millionaires in the Egg city, Gatsby and Tom, Nick’s cousin- Daisy, and George the mechanic in the building of the nation. The author captures how both technical education and university education is important in the society. While Nick and Gatsby are university graduates who are actively involved in nation building, George is a technical graduate who is also involved in developing the economy of Egg city (Fitzgerald, 2003). The author tends to bring a sense of belonging to all the members of the society and clearly showing why each member’s contribution should be valued.
The background of the novel is also set in the First World War in which Nick and Gatsby participated in at various capacities. Perhaps this underscores the importance of peace in the society. The impact of the former soldiers in the First World War is great to the American economy (Fitzgerald, 2003). The American dream embraces both internal and international peace in America. A peaceful community would accomplish its mission faster compared to a community at war (Fitzgerald, 2003).
The author
- Scott Fitzgerald was born in a family which had great Irish roots and largely catholic. Most of the schools that he attended were affiliated to the catholic and this gave him great knowledge and exposure to Christianity as a religion. When he made his move to Princeton University in 1913, his aim was to dedicate himself to art (Fitzgerald, 2003). To ensure that his dream was achieved, he surrounded himself with other lateral critics like Edmund Wilson and the Princeton Tiger. Having such a company gave Scott an open mind, which would allow him to look at the world around him critically. His novel is built upon Jazz age, the economic growth and struggles, impact of education on American dream and art. He is credited for coming up with the term “jazz age”, which is common in art and social development in America.
The Jazz age
The choice of jazz age has been praised as a good foundation of American dream in the first quarter of the twentieth century. The Jazz age sprouted up in the year 1920’s the same time that Scot wrote his novel. Jazz genre was an integration of African genres and English genres. Jazz thus represented the colonial powers, which brought in civilization to America and the workforce that was mainly servants and slaves bought from Africa (Fitzgerald, 2003). Having the music from Africa and Europe merged, this was imagery of close working relationship between different communities in America. Art has found a soft spot of building future relations. Jazz music would create a meeting point between the lords and the servants and this would help reduce the rivalry brutality between them in a move to achieving the American dream.
The novel like jazz has drawn its characters from variety of class and professions. The characters are a mixture of politicians, athletes, businesspersons, merchants, lords and servants. Each of these characters plays a key role in describing how interaction amongst all the members of the society is important (Fitzgerald, 2003). On the other hand, Scott proves how hard it is for the members of the community to co-exist due to mistrust, love triangles, hatred and class segregation.
The choice for the fictitious city “Egg City”
The author is intelligent in the choice of word and names that he gives characters and cities. The Egg City choice is outstanding for the word egg. Taken literally an egg is so fragile such that it needs to be handled with maximum care. Once broken it cannot be mend. Even a crack on it would lead to great destruction. From his narration, the author shows how fragile the America dream is and this underscores the need for every American citizen and resident to be vigilant on attaining it (Fitzgerald, 2003).
The activities in the novel, however, do not show concern by the American public on attaining the American dream. Crime, gambling love triangles with human life, revenge, bootlicking, and negative effects of the World War 1 are some of the human activities that have challenged attainment of the American dream (Fitzgerald, 2003). The main character in the novel Gatsby is so rich yet his means of wealth acquisition are not clear. Later on in the novel, Gatsby is shown to be a bootlegger. A love triangle involving tom, his wife and George leads to death of Tom and George and George’s wife. This is a great loss to the nation since George is a mechanic, Tom is a millionaire, and George’s wife is actively involved in nation building (Fitzgerald, 2003).
Why the community makes its choices
Daisy who is a cousin to the narrator chooses to be married to Tom a Graduate from Yale University over Gatsby a graduate from Trinity College in England. While this is a major conflict in the novel, it is symbolic of the way the society makes its choices. Gatsby is not contented with Daisy’s decision and seems to fight this throughout the novel. The mystery of Gatsby’s wealth is one of the factors that make Daisy not to fall for Gatsby (Fitzgerald, 2003). The author to show how the community stands for transparency in building the American dream uses this. The community initiative must be implemented alongside the government initiatives. The zeal for a corrupt free nation is a factor in how the communities make decisions both in social life and politics.
Conclusion
The great Gatsby as the novel is commonly known in entertaining to read, as it is informative of the American dream. The author shows the struggles to overcome the effects of First World War, and the fight to break the class barrier among other struggles towards the American dream (Fitzgerald, 2003). The participation of the high and mighty in the community as well as the peasants is used to symbolize the importance of each effort made towards the achievement of American dream.