The Great Gatsby Essay

The American Dream. The idea that anyone, no matter where they were born or what social class they were born into can achieve their dreams through hard work. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby he depicts the unrealistic nature of the American Dream. An aspect Fitzgerald uses to portray this is setting, three of the main locations are East Egg, West Egg and The Valley of Ashes. These locations are home to people who fit very differently into the ever evolving society of the 1920’s.

For anyone born into wealth and social status, the American Dream is achieved with very little struggle and no hard work. Fitzgerald uses the setting of East Egg to represent a false achievement of the dream. “Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water.” From this we understand how although being born into wealth requires no dedicated labour, it is seen to be far more fashionable than any other means of attaining the dream. The quote does this by its use of words with positive connotations, for example words like ‘fashionable’ and ‘glittering’. People of East Egg understand their advantage, as said by Tom, “Oh, I’ll stay in the East, don’t you worry… I’d be a God Damn fool to live anywhere else.” Tom’s views are shown through the way he speaks of living anywhere but the East as foolish. This shows how Tom knows the high social class he is a part of and would never leave to any other place where he is not seen as the elite. Fitzgerald uses East Egg to constantly show how its residents believe they are far superior to any other people because of the way they obtained their wealth. This goes against the American Dream’s idea that anyone can achieve the dream no matter where they are born . East Egg is used by Fitzgerald to show how the people who live there believe they have achieved the dream but really they haven’t done anything.

West Egg displays the unfair and corrupt nature of the American Dream. It does this by showing the reader how some of the only people to really reach the American Dream, do it through illegal or illegitimate activities. People not from West Egg believe “Everyone in West Egg is a bootlegger”, as stated by Tom Buchanan. This shows how all people with new money are seen to have obtained their wealth through corrupt means. Even though people from East Egg and West have similar amounts of wealth, we see in this quote that the people of East Egg see the people of West Egg as lesser than them because they were not born into extreme amounts of wealth. “I lived at West Egg, the – well, the less fashionable of the two”, this quote from Nick solidifies the condescending view outsiders have on West Eggers. This shows how no matter how hard people work they will not be accepted by everyone, going against the American Dream’s idea that anyone of any social class can attain their version of success. If not born into a high social class people of the higher status will always look down upon them, regardless of how hard they work and how wealthy they become, contradicting the American Dream’s ideas entirely. Fitzgerald uses West Egg as a place that is frowned upon by those who do no live there for its residents’ corrupt way of acquiring wealth. This shows how truly unlikely it is that anyone will achieve the American Dream

The Valley of Ashes is a place where poverty thrives, the people who live there have no chance of attaining the American Dream although they are the people it was created to inspire hope for. The residents of the Valley of Ashes are born poor and will die poor, they have very few opportunities to escape the miserable area they call home. The workers find no enjoyment in life as shown in this quote, “… with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air…” This helps us understand how uninspired the people are and how mundane and repetitive every day is for them. “But above the grey land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg.” The eyes of T.J. Eckleburg provide the illusion to the people of the Valley of Ashes that they are being watched over and cared for by some kind of god. In reality the billboard is just that, a billboard. It does not care for them or watch over, their life of struggle and poverty is inescapable. Fitzgerald uses The Valley of Ashes to convey the idea of the absurdity that is the American Dream, the idea that anyone from any background can achieve their dreams is completely farfetched.

In conclusion, an important aspect that Fitzgerald uses to convey the unrealistic nature of the American Dream is setting. The key locations he uses in the novel are The Valley of Ashes, West Egg and East Egg. These places all contribute different ideas that show how improbable the American Dream is of actually being attained. Whether it’s being too poor to have the opportunities to achieve the dream, someone thinking they have achieved the dream but really they were just born into it, or people who achieve the dream corruptly The American Dream is rarely legitimately achieved.