Assignment Paper No - 106

Name: - Insiyafatema Alvani 

Roll No: - 11

Semester: - 2 (Batch 2022-24)

Enrolment number: - 4069206420220001

Paper No: - 106

Paper name: - The Twentieth Century Literature: 1900 to World War II

Paper code: - 22399

Topic: - American Dream in the Novel 'The Great Gatsby'

Submitted to: - Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

Email Address: insiyafatemaalvani@gmail.com

American Dream in the Novel 'The Great Gatsby'

About Author:

Born: 24 September 1896

Died: 21 December 1940

F . Scott Fitzgerald was born on 24 September 1896 to a salesman father and an Irish-Catholic mother who was the heir to a successful Minnesota grocery store. The F. Scott of F. Scott Fitzgerald stands for Francis Scott; he was named for his distant cousin, the writer of the poem that became the lyrics to the American national anthem. Until 1908 the family moved throughout upstate New York, but when his father lost his job the Fitzgeralds moved to St. Paul, Minnesota. His first story was published when he was 13 - a detective story printed in the school newspaper. After his expulsion for lack of academic effort, he boarded at Newman School, a Catholic school in New Jersey. After graduation in 1913, he attended Princeton University, where he wrote articles for the college humor magazine, stories for the literary magazine, and scripts for the musicals of the Triangle Club. In 1917 he was placed on academic probation, and he dropped out of Princeton to join the army.

Scott became known as a playboy and drank heavily, supporting himself largely through short stories published in popular magazines and papers like The Saturday Evening Post and Esquire. In 1922 Fitzgerald published his second novel, 'The Beautiful and the Damned'. It was this novel's satire of the Jazz Age that secured his position as a member of the Lost Generation. Like so many American writers after World War I, Fitzgerald moved to France, where he befriended fellow writer Ernest Hemingway. In France he wrote the now classic novel 'The Great Gatsby'.

In the 1920s Fitzgerald fell into severe alcoholism and suffered from writer's block. The couple moved between Delaware and France, and Zelda was hospitalized in Switzerland and Baltimore. In 1932 Zelda published her semi-autobiographical novel Save me the Waltz. Fitzgerald's alcoholism, depression, and financial problems worsened, and after Zelda was placed in a North Carolina hospital in 1937, Scott left his wife behind and moved to Hollywood to try his hand as a screenwriter. In 1939 he began work on his final novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon, but died of a heart attack the following year without completing the work. He was forty-four, and considered himself a failure at the time of his death. It is only posthumously that he has been acknowledged as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. 

Introduction of Novel 'The Great Gatsby':

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is one of the best known and most widely read and taught novels in America. 'The Great Gatsby' novel was written in 1925 by Scott Fitzgerald. 'The Great Gatsby' is a novel that illuminates the American culture in the 1920s, and the associated values, beliefs, and dreams of the American population during that era, which ultimately is summed up as the “American Dream”. The American dream can be interpreted differently by each person: as some say it is the freedom of class, race, or religion, whereas others claim it is about choosing what they want to wear, where they want to work, or what they’re going to be eating every day. For the title character of the novel, Jay Gatsby, and many others within the work, the American dream is a dream of wealth, money, prosperity, and gaining the happiness that would supposedly come along with the flourishing economy, and the get-rich-quick schemes that built the underworld of the upper-class society in America. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald displays how the American dream is only a shallow concept of perfection, something that can never be attained, but can always be reached for. The 1920s were a boisterous era due to income inequality, the rising amount of immigration in the United States, and the change occurring among women’s roles. Novel represents the American Dream and the desire of achieving it through the protagonist's attempts to achieve The American Dream. The protagonist is Jay Gatsby - he is a self-made man who belongs to the working class of society. He gained his wealth through organized crime and illegal business, Jay was charmed by the lifestyle of the rich people and the identity of being one of them. He used his fortune to make incredible parties in his mansion showing his wealth power and to attract Daisy’s attention, the women he loves most. Gatsby represents the American dreamers who belong to the repressed class of society, this young generation who believes in The American Dream and the possibility of achieving it. The American Dream was created by the dominant class of society in order to control the economic system. The false fact that this dream was built upon is the social justice, the social equality that gives equal chances to everyone to achieve their desires via hard work without concern about their social background. 

American Dream in Novel 'The Great Gatsby':

The Great Gatsby was published in the era of the twenties; it depicted life after World War I. The image of lavish homes, tailored clothing, elite education and access to travel encompasses the ever sought-after American dream, brilliantly depicted in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, “The Great Gatsby.” But while the American dream is supposedly attainable by all those who desire it, in reality, some groups are placed at a substantial disadvantage due to the systemic racism and discrimination that places hurdles along the path to achieving this dream. This era was known for its specialties and features that were mentioned by Snyder “The 1920s in America was known for its jazz music, large amounts of money, extravagant clothing, expensive cars, and great parties”. These features shaped the form of that period and were depicted in Fitzgerald’s Gatsby. Additionally, there was a difference in that era due to its circumstances such as the moral standards, the values and mainly the illegal careers such as Gatsby’s career.

The social situation in the twentieth century was best captured by Fitzgerald in his Masterpiece 'The Great Gatsby'. In this novel, the author showed the social conflict between the working class and the dominant class. This conflict happened due to several aspects, the premier one was the desire of the bourgeoisies in increasing their fortune; therefore, they needed to control the economic system. In order to achieve their aspiration, they needed low wage workers. These workers were the ones who immigrated to cities like New York city in order to achieve their dreams. The young generation of the working-class people are the ones who mostly were affected by the American Dream ideology. The American Dream is one of the aspects of American society and its cultural aspects best defined by Irwin stating that “In the Native American context, dreaming is a form of knowledge. It reveals the activities of the mysterious powers, their engagement with or relationship to the dreamer. The dream is a medium of knowing, a way of experiencing the reality of the lived world, a faculty of perception”. 

The moral standards of that era were represented in this novel via Gatsby’s character and his career. Also, his desire and attempts to achieve his dream in any possible way even if it was immoral or illegal. Gatsby’s mentality was defined by Rohrkemper defining Gatsby’s character “his goal appears never to be more than success, material success”. This shows the purpose of Gatsby through his illegal career, which was organized crime like bootlegging. He aimed to obtain wealth in order to achieve his American Dream that embodied social ascendency. The protagonist wanted to achieve this social ascendency and be equal to the capitalists through reunion with Daisy. Fitzgerald captured the social conflict at that era, the twenties and the reason for this social conflict was the economic system. 

The American Dream was developed in that period; in another term, it was beautified by the bourgeois. Cultural activities, such as supporting the industrial revolution and capitalism, beautified The American Dream and widespread it, in order to take advantage of having low wage workers. The development was to reinforce the concept of equality in American society, which was denied between the lines of Fitzgerald’s Gatsby as despite Gatsby’s he was living with the working class due to his social background. Also, the city was divided between the two social classes, it shows The American Dream reality. The author of The Great Gatsby specialized the characters through the terms in the novel to shed light on the social injustice and the false concepts of The American Dream. The characters were different through their behaviors and attitudes like Tom Buchanan. He is a wealthy man who belongs to the bourgeoisies and he inherited his fortune from his family unlike Gatsby who obtained his wealth recently. Characters like Tom and Daisy and the author are named as “old money” while Gatsby was named by the “new money”. The difference is that Gatsby gained his fortune recently. The social isolation and specialization were made due to the social background. This means in the perspective of characters like Tom Buchanan the working-class people are not allowed to be equal to the “old money” people, the high-class ones. These working-class people immigrated to New York City during the industrial revolution and the unstable economic situation after the World War I, they wanted to be in a better social class and living conditions that was stated by Keller “They came to be equated with social status and culture, and thus became the key to a better life". This quotation signifies the relationship between the economic situation and social situation. The economic situation shapes the social situation such as the role of The American Dream and its effect on society that embodied the love misconception and affair between Gatsby and Daisy.

The nativity form of racism was even shown through the attempts of Gatsby to obtain a new identity via claiming that he belongs to a different social class, which is the bourgeoisies that was also the reason for changing his name. Gatsby wanted to hide his true origins that he is from south of Dakota and belongs to a working-class family. Hence, it was demonstrated through his attempts that the dominant class was the bourgeoisies, and they will not accept a person with a humble social background to be equal to them. This form of racism alongside the job opportunities which the working-class people got clarified the isolation that the working-class faced. The isolation was imaged by Fitzgerald in 'The Great Gatsby' through the dividing the city between the working-class and the bourgeoisies in order to unveil the difference between these two social classes. This isolation was one of the reasons that sculpted the social conflict alongside the job opportunities, the immigrants who belongs to the working class and immigrated to the cities like New York City were mostly farmers. They immigrated following their dream of a better life in that period, but they were prevented from decent jobs and working opportunities, the lack of education is clear through Gatsby’s claims that he is well educated, which was indeed not true and part of his new identity. This period also witnessed the industrial revolution, which means that the low wage workers are needed to increase the riches fortune; the bourgeoisies used these immigrants' desire for a better life in increasing their fortune. For Gatsby, the dream is intertwined with elevating his class, but in today’s climate, it is more about attaining a more comfortable and secure lifestyle envisioned by our nation’s Founding Fathers. This lack of equity falls most acutely on minority groups, who suffer disproportionately from low access to healthcare, housing, sufficient nutrition and meaningful jobs that pay enough to support families. Nevertheless, the desire for equality provides such underserved groups with some hope; it keeps them persistent on the path to progress and, ideally, the American dream. The Black community and their supporters taking part in the Black Lives Matter movement are fighting for more than justice. These activists are rallying for equal access to the American dream and equal opportunity for what is valued housing, education and fulfilling careers. In combating police brutality, one facet of institutional racism’s complex mosaic can finally be addressed. This, in turn, will create a society in which all people may feel safe in their neighborhoods, and in which citizens do not feel menaced by the force of the state. 

In 1951, Langston Hughes’ poem 'Harlem' questioned, “What happens to a dream deferred?” Here I would like to share video of poem 'Harlem'.

That dream can dissipate in a variety of ways, or it can explode in anger and excitement. The American dream was not deferred for Gatsby; he went to work to achieve it to the best of his ability. Ultimately, he did not attain Daisy, but he did elevate his social image to fit in among her social circle. Hughes’ prediction has been realized too many times; peaceful protests still hold anger and disappointment and the possibility that the dream deferred too long, stopped by those with more power, will explode. We are seeing this explosion now with the protests and movements for racial equality to combat racism embedded throughout America. And this explosion is necessary and the right way to go if we ever want to cultivate change. We must be allies; we must be at the forefront. 

Conclusion:

However, Fitzgerald's America is full of back-stabbing crackers that make Gatsby’s romantic dream ridiculous. Gatsby keeps it real by sticking to his American ideals. We never know anything about Gatsby until we know about the symbol of green light which symbolizes the fading optimism of Gatsby's dream. At the beginning of the book, the green light has a burning quality that gets Gatsby all riled up about shacking up with Daisy. Nonetheless, by the end of the book, it is just another typical green light. There's nothing special about it, just like his fake dreams and phony characters. As a whole, Great Gatsby tells the story of lust, greed, hope and the American dream. In a nutshell, the Great Gatsby pivots on the exterior and splits between the real individual identity and the one society expects humans to have.

Words - 2,358

Images - 5

Video - 1

References - 

Ferriss,Suzanne.  “Refashioning the Modern American Dream: - Wiley Online Library.” Wiley Online Library , 12 June 2018, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jacc.12869. 

O'Connor , Kate. “The Curious Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald.” Great Writers Inspire, http://writersinspire.org/content/curious-life-f-scott-fitzgerald.