The Great Gatsby

recedes before us.” This quote explains that Gatsby believed that he can achieve his dreams. He believes in the green light; the symbolic picture of new growth and new life. The dream however recedes before us. The dream is getting further and further away from being achieved as each year passes by. F. Scott Fitzgerald is portraying an image that Gatsby is straining to grip his dream which is moving further and further away. This shows that no matter how hard you try or how far you stretch, you will never achieve your dreams. The idea that The American Dream is just a fallacy is further supported in chapter 9 through the use of imagery. On page 188 it says, “It eluded us then, but that’s no matter. Tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms further, And on one fine morning –. So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past”. F. Scott Fitzgerald is using metaphoric language to paint a picture of human beings attempting to achieve their dreams. The troubles in life which are pictured as the current is pushing them backwards while they row forward towards their dream which in The Great Gatsby, is portrayed as the green light. The past acts as the origin of their ideas and dreams for the future. For Gatsby, it was re-creating his love affair with Daisy back in 1917. However, the very reason why they are being pushed backwards by the current, of why they cannot turn dream into reality, is because the dream itself is pushing them back into the past. While they never lose their optimism [“Tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms further…”], they keep pushing on with all they’ve got, in the hopeful pursuit of achieving their dreams which are moving even further away. By using descriptive language to create imagery, F. Scott Fitzgerald has effectively demonstrated that The American Dream is a myth and that no matter how hard you work you will never achieve your dreams. An equal and important idea explored by F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby is love. F. Scott Fitzgerald clearly demonstrates that we love what the person is, not who they are. On page 103 it says, “…. Daisy tumbled short of his [Gatsby] dreams – not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion”. Daisy has fallen short of what Gatsby was expecting because Gatsby’s image of her was based around what she was and perceived to be far greater than the real Daisy. Hence, Daisy fell short of Gatsby’s image because his image was not based on who Daisy was but a complete illusion of what she was. After reading The Great Gatsby, my own values and beliefs about love and the so called American dream are being questioned. Originally, I believed that if you work hard you will eventually become successful and be accepted by everyone in the class of society you belong in. However, through reading the Great Gatsby, and by considering F. Scott Fitzgerald’s idea, I still believe that if you work hard your dreams can be achieved but now, I believe that working hard is not enough to be able to be accepted be the rich and powerful. This leads me to believe that the higher upper class in society are not respectful to anyone but their own.   After reading the Great Gatsby, the reader has been taken on an uncomforting journey of the deceptive nature present in the upper class society of American during the 1920s. The reader has followed the life of Great Gatsby as he struggled to achieve his dream. Through Gatsby’s life and his struggles the reader realizes that The American Dream is nothing but a deception used to keep the working class believing that they can do better. The reader also realizes that love doesn’t depend on who the person is but what they are. These uncomfortable ideas made me question whether the ideas of The American Dream and love, are also present in Australia.