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Essay about Themes in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

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Themes in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

The American Dream
On first glance, The Great Gatsby is about a romance between Gatsby and Daisy. The true theme behind this wonderful novel is not merely romance, but is also a very skeptical view of the extinction of the American dream in the prosperous 19s. This loss of the American dream is shown by Fitzgerald's display of this decade as a morally deficient one. He shows its incredible decadence in Gatsby's lavish and ostentatious parties. This materialistic attitude toward life came from the disillusionment of the younger generation of the old Victorian values. Also, with Prohibition in effect, illegal bootlegging practices made for yet another way for Americans to fall down the path of …show more content…

This is just the same as the American dream- money and decadence ruin it. "‘I wouldn't ask too much of her,' I ventured. ‘ You can't repeat the past.' ‘Can't repeat the past?' He cried incredulously. ‘Why of course you can!'…he talked a lot about the past and I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy."

The Social Class Clash
Another theme in The Great Gatsby is one that is very evident throughout the novel. It is the conflict between the new wealthy class of self-made men and the "old rich." This is most noticeable in the physical separation between them. The new rich live in West Egg and the old rich live in East Egg. The new rich people are not yet acclimated to being upstanding citizens so they are not well connected in the social world, not to mention their incredibly ostentatious nature. In Gatsby's situation, he lives in a huge, repulsively tacky gothic mansion and he throws wild, lavish parties that could be better classified as raves. Daisy and Tom, who represent the old rich, are very refined, tasteful, and very well-mannered. However, the old rich also have come to rely on their money as a defense against trouble (either that they have caused or become victim of). This is exhibited very well when Daisy and Tom simply move away instead of going to Gatsby's funeral. Gatsby, on the other hand, is extremely loyal to his friends

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