Diminishing American Dream

The Great Gatsby appears to be the story of unsatisfactory love between a man and a woman. The main theme of the novel contains very minimal romance and a much larger picture. The Great Gatsby is a symbolic representation of America in the 1920s, focussing specifically on the diminishing of the American Dream. Fitzgerald portrays the 1920s as a time where people are extremely prosperous and have an excess of everything. The 20s is depicted as being an era with minimal social and moral values, proven by the predominant cynicism, greed, and adultery. The desire to constantly party is epitomized by the opulent parties thrown by Gatsby every night that is attended by many, solely for social status. The reason for the parties is Gatsby’s attempt at sweeping Daisy, his love, off her feet irrespective of her marital status.  

Class

The people from East Egg and West Egg are divided based on their class. Gatsby knows fairly well of the existence of a class system however he still tries to impress Daisy. He fakes his status by buying clothes from Britain and claiming to have graduated from Oxford in his futile attempt to be in the same class as Daisy. However, class can never be changed, evidenced by Gatsby’s failure in getting Daisy. Tom and Daisy are in the same class which is why they are compatible and will not leave each other even though they are not loyal to each other.

The Great War

The Great Gatsby takes place post World War 1 making the war an unavoidable topic. The war helped develop Gatsby as a person and into the man he is today. He only met Daisy as a result of being a soldier and because it was impossible to differentiate between whether or not he was upper or lower-class. The war helped Gatsby make some money by working for a millionaire. His desire to become rich was overwhelming for him and so when he moved to America, he notices the importance of the class system there too so he attempts to lie about his class which cannot be proven because of his service in the military, where everyone is considered an equal.