ESSAY PRACTICE

Describe at least one challenging setting in the text. Explain how this setting helped you to understand an important idea in the text. (I tried to be concise).

In the novel, the Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald, a variety of settings are used to convey the idea of the falsity of the American Dream, how it is not truly a reality but rather an illusion used to inspire hope in the working class. How those that cannot claw their way to the top through means of corruption will be literally and figuratively left to the ashes. The beginning of the novel shows promise of the American Dream, with all the classic elements of racial equality, religious diversity and economics prosperity. However, as the plot thicken, this perfect promise of success in undermined by the actions carried out by upper class and the tragic events that follow. Fitzgerald carefully sets up the narrative to weave these socioeconomic layers of society into the novel to each reveal a different factor about the American Dream’s false pretense.

“This is a valley of ashes … of ash-grey men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air” The Valley of Ashes represents the plight of the poor, and serves as a metaphorical symbol of a land that only produces dust and death. The characters living within the area including George and Myrtle Wilson are constantly working hard to achieve success through honest means, but keep being pushed back by the upper class in their constant pursuit of wealth. They believe wholly in this unstoppable fantasy that if they continue to work hard and strive to be better through lawful means that they will one day achieve the same success that the upper class possesses. George with whom owns a car garage is trying his hardest to get business “when are you going to sell me that car” he constantly asks Tom. However, the harsh demands of his life are steadily wearing down his work ethic and ambition to succeed, as he is always required to put the rich above himself. Myrtle on the other hand, chases a life that she cannot have through her affair with Tom. Her deep desire to attain social status among the rich causes her to chase the dream through a being a mistress to Tom Buchanan, however, she never quite grasps the fact that she is being exploited until it is too late. As a result of this, the pursuit of the American Dream has horrific consequences for George and Myrtle suggesting that in this world it is dangerous to strive for more than you are given. In the way that a prison is inescapable through honest means, the valley of ashes cannot be escaped through hard work and dedication because the reality is that the dream is unattainable for these people due to lack of opportunity and money. The “ash heaps” show how the dream does not work for the people of the Valley of Ashes only exploits their efforts for the benefit of the wealthy so that they spend their entire lives pursuing a fantasy that cannot be attained.

New York is a city defined by prosperity, hope and success, where “anything is possible”. People go to NYC in an attempt to achieve the American Dream, as it allows them to experience the illusion of such for a limited period of time. “With the influence of the dress, her personality had also undergone a change”. Myrtle Wilson goes to New York to experience the dream and create the illusion that she too is wealthy, but when the night is up her performance is over and she must go back to reality. In a sense, her life is like a fairytale, in particular, the tale of Cinderella. She gets to “change her costume” and “live the dream” in New York City but once the clock has struck midnight, reality kicks in and the illusion unfolds. New York City is an illusion, a creation by society used to lure future generations into the idea that if your ambitions are strong enough you can achieve this American Dream of wealth and prosperity. A conception of illusion and corruption, incorporated together to inspire hope, desire, belief, and ambition in the working class of America.

The people of East Egg are the antagonization of the dream through their desire to keep their wealth within their ‘distinguished secret society’. “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness…”. Tom, Daisy and those that live in East Egg have been given the dream through inherited wealth and live comfortably in the sanctuary of their money. Because they have inherited their wealth from previous generations, they have nothing to live for and are described as “bored and careless” people. Relying on the support of their ancestors wealth to live, these people live a life without purpose, and because of this end up instigating a large amount of tragedy upon others through means of their own recklessness. They use their wealth and social status to manipulate others for their own benefit and escape whatever situation they chose. The American Dream is the idea that anyone regardless of race, religion, upbringing, and social status can achieve success. However, the people of this level of upper class have not worked for their wealth, but rather inherited it from the generations before them. Because of this they have too, not achieved the dream, but have instead been given it. Although they are the image of what the dream entails, they too have not achieved it and those that look up to them as an icon are looking up to a fantasy that they can never achieve.

West Egg society is the direct corruption of the American Dream, the residents of such have achieved their wealth through illegal or illicit means. “Everyone in West Egg is a bootlegger” Gatsby himself, has come from humble roots, and through hard work he rises to become notoriously wealthy. In the classic approach to the American Dream, Americans achieve their wealthy through hard work and honest means, however, in Gatsby’s case, he obtains his money through illegal activities such as bootlegging and organized crime. The inhabitants of West Egg through their illegal methods of acquiring wealth, are collectively the corruption of the dream, as this dream encourages people to cheat at life, in which they have done over the course of their lives. “I lived at West Egg, the-well, the less fashionable of the two.” Although these people achieved all of the wealth and prosperity that they could ever imagined, they are still in pursuit of the social status that the people of East Egg have. For the inhabitants of West Egg, East Egg is an allusive dream, in reach but unreachable at the same time.

To conclude, the vastly different upbringings of characters and the location in which you live defines your outcome and how the American Dream will sympathize with you. The way that any of the characters have chosen to live their life, their morality or lack thereof, doesn’t seem to matter in the end, what you are given in the beginning stays the same and you cannot change it through honest means. The dream is a merciless creature to those born in lower class society and a pitiful one to those in the upper class, you can only defy the dream through corruption making it unattainable and false. The only way to achieve this dream is to defy its underlying principe of hard work and use illicit means or have been given it from the start, hence making it unattainable for all. Those that pursue the dream can never be satisfied, however, because this always entails striving for something more than we already have.