Myth of the American dream
The American dream is an idea alluded to constantly throughout the book. The American Dream is this idea of a dream of a land where life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. Unfortunately, this idea is a mere illusion. New York city is almost a mirage, and the perfect life that West and East egg boast is just the rich hiding behind their money. Throughout the book, it is shown that Gatsby aspires to be apart of this world . Right from the age of 17, he wanted to be this rich gentleman, so he became Jay Gatsby. In the scene where Tom turns up at Gatsby’s house, it shows that no matter what amount of money Gatsby has he will never be apart of this exclusive society that is East Egg. When Tom says to Nick “We’ve got to go. Tell him we couldn’t wait, will you?” it shows that not only could they not wait a few extra minutes but cold not even have the decency to tell him theirselves that they had to go. Another person who’s American Dream ultimately fell flat was Myrtles. She lives in the Vally of Ashes, in an unhappy marriage and works hard but yet never gets anything in return. However, she lives of this fake American Dream life when she’s with Tom. She has this life where she has all the money in the world yet she still finds herself unhappy and wanting more. She begins to get so caught up in this world that she believes its real. When in reality, she will always live in poverty and her and Tom could never be real. I think Fitzgerald is trying to show us that this American Dream is an illusion and is far from the reality of America. Ultimately, the American Dream is simply a dream. A dream that seems to lie just out of the reach of every person that tries to grasp it.
The Inevitability of Time
The inevitability of time is an idea explored thoroughly throughout the novel The Great Gatsby. From the start of the book it is obvious that time is a huge factor in the way the book plays out. It all started when Gatsby went to war and did not see Daisy for 4 years. These 4 years were extremely significant in both Gatsby and Daisy’s lives. When Gatsby says, “Can’t repeat the past? …Why of course you can!”, it enhances that Gatsby believes that it is possible to go back in time and erase the last five years. However in reality, time is something you cannot reverse or erase, no matter what time will go on. A symbol of time alluded to throughout the book is water. Water represents the idea of time in many of the significant scenes. For example, the scene where Gatsby and Daisy spend their first day together again. The rain stops and they live out a perfect day together but at the end the rain starts again. In this moment the rain represents how it seems that time stops for Daisy and Gatsby when their together but in reality the rest of the world is still moving on. Gatsby’s dream is to go back in time and erase the past 4 years but the only way for that to happen, Daisy must tell Tom she never loved him. Daisy however, could never say this because she did love him once. I believe Fitzgerald is trying to enhance the fact that we all wish that we could stop time or go back in time, where in reality its not possible. Even if time seems to stop, it will start again. Time is something neither Gatsby or Daisy can escape, and no matter how hard they want to go back in time, it is simply not possible.