How far do you consider Gatsby to be the epitome of the American Dream and its failure

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How far do you consider Gatsby to be the epitome of the American Dream and its failure

The Great Gatsby is a book written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is set in the nineteen twenties in the unique narrative style which is that he is writing about a fictional character called Nick Carraway writing a book about a man called Jay Gatsby who he feels was a man " who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn.

Gatsby is a very rich yet contradictory character, He is portrayed throughout the novel as being heroic person because during the war her received a medal from "every allied country" the medal symbolizes some of the best and most noble traits of human nature such as valour, honor and bravery but in an extreme case of dramatic irony such a heroic man he cannot raise the courage to engage Daisy. Another side of Gatsby's contradictory nature is the idealistic way he chases Daisy as well as the fulfillment of his dream yet he is extremely reckless in the way he confronts Tom and lets Tom release the figurative ghosts that are Gatsby's past life especially his criminal activities. Maybe Fitzgerald designed Nick's view of Gatsby in such a way that he is mocking him and the American dream.

Many critics don't view Gatsby in this way; they see him as a criminal who obtained wealth through crime and contacts more commonly associated with the gangster era in the 1960's. Even though he is very wealthy he is always seen as number two to Mayor Wolfshiem and this adds to the sinister undertones in the novel yet Gatsby appears to be very European importing fine clothes and cars as well as living in a mansion based on a French model maybe this is used to add a touch of class to this criminal element of his life.

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My personal view of Gatsby is that he is "the epitome" of the American dream, he is very noble, courageous and a "self made man" but he is naÏve in believing that hard work and perseverance is all you need to achieve everything you want.

He also has a large attachment to the past and he believes he can change it "Can't repeat the past" he said incredulously "of course you can' as well as this he has a large picture of Dan Cody the man who made him what he. This could be linked back to my early comment ...

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