Discuss the themes (ideas) in 'the Great Gatsby' and the means by which Fitzgerald conveys them.
The themes in the Great Gatsby
In the book the 'Great gatsby' by F. Scout Fitzgerald there are two main themes that are important to an analysis of the book and are close linked with each other. These are the pursuit of the American dream, illusion versus reality and old money verus new money.
The American dream was base on the idea that hard work can lead a person from rags to riches. Stettlers that had come from europe to America seeking wealth and freedom believing that if they put in some hard work and had some luck they might one day own there own property and make it big. In 'the Great Gatsby' hoards of people flock to New York City seeking stock market fortunes which they promtly lost during the 1929 wall street crash which helped trigger world war 2. In the novel Fitzgerald portrays the accumilation of wealth as a matter of just getting rich and no longer a vison of building a new and better life in the new world. This is shown in daisy buchanan as although daisy loves Gatsby she is not willing to leave tom as although living with Gatsby is her dream she values the money and social security of tom over true love. This is also shown with tom bucanan as he will not leave daisy for mrs wilson and to a certain extent Gatsby himself as he will do anything to get and stay rich. He does this not to b uild a better life for himself but just so he has money and can attract daisy, however he has the motive of love where as the other do not.
