help?please!

[lals_reid]

hi, i have an important piece of coursework for my university finals!could anyone shed light on what they think of question and what it is asking for?!

4. ‘What Fitzgerald did in The Great Gatsby was to raise his central character to a mythic level, to reveal a man whose intensity of dream partook of a state of mind that embodied America itself’. Discuss.

help would be much appreciated!xx

[shamus88]

Fitzgerald contstructs Gatsby as an embodiment of America and the American Dream that the country is known so well for. The American Dream is the idea of independence, prosperity and self-reliance, fused with the opportunity to attain wealth and position within society, all through the means of hard work and labour. Historically, the American Dream represents believing in the goodness of nature. On the surface, this dream seems to offer people the prospect of achieving success, despite religion, race or history. However, Fitzgerald uses Gatsby (and his lifestyle) as a vechile to argue that the American Dream is actually an ideological and empty concept that can be aimed for, but never reached; or at least that the American Dream is full of corruption.

Some points which you may want to look at:

1. Gatsby's lavish car - “It was a rich cream colour, bright with nickel…triumphant with hat boxes and super boxes and tool boxes”. It is clear that Gatsby values his car, as it is a symbol of everything that he believes in- money, wealth and the subsequent acceptance that he believe that he gets from it. Interestingly, the words “rich”, “bright” and “triumphant” also describe Gatsby himself, merging the two together to portray him as a symbol of materialism. The word “triumphant” is particularly good at describing Gatsby, as it suggests a smug, self-satisfied attitude, almost as if he has ‘won’ in life. The fact that Daisy is riding in his car means that, he thinks, he is one step closer to her falling in love with him again, and him stealing her from Tom. However, it is almost as if Gatsby’s car is too nice, so when Daisy drives it, something is bound to go wrong. As expected, it does, and she accidentally hits Myrtle Wilson, leading to her death as nobody stops to help her. It can be argued that this illustrates how materialism, wealth and greed are all bad, because they lead to horrific consequences and ruined lives. In this case, the car is a metaphor for Gatsby’s view of the American Dream, and Fitzgerald uses this to show how this view is immoral and wrong.

2. The billboard of the eyes of T. J. Eckleburg near the petrol station. This suggests that the characters are always being watched, or that they are constantly on show; ergo they have to act in a conformist way to achieve any of their aims and values.

3. The green light in the distance- Gatsby “longs to reach it” and this again shows the corruption of the American Dream. Green is the colour of money, envy and infection, and if we see this as a metaphor for what Gatsby hopes to achieve as his ‘dream’, then we see how Fitzgerald demonstrates that an American Dream based on Gatsby’s principles of wealth and social acceptance is wrong. Interestingly, once Gatsby is dead, Nick looks out from the shore and we learn that there are now “hardly any lights”. This could symbolise that with the death of Gatsby, the American Dream of wealth and greed has also died. A different interpretation may be that with no lights, there is no hope. This would mean that Gatsby’s life could be seen as important and that it meant something in the larger scheme of things. Perhaps Gatsby has a good quality after all- his determination and hope. It could be that Fitzgerald is showing that there can be hope even in the bleakest of situations, and that we should always look for this. This ties in with the idea that the American Dream is an ideological concept that can never be reached, yet provides hope for many people.

4. Gatsby is described as a “son of God” (that seems very mythical to me! haha), yet this is only to say that he is human, therefore removing any God-like quality from him. Infact, many critics argue that Gatsby’s death is merely the completion of the death of his soul. This is because he fails to understand that the adolescent dream of wealth that he created when he was seventeen needed to change when he grew into a man. However, his dream did not change and this means that he cannot find true happiness, so his soul is lost. Therefore, once his body is gone, there is nothing left of Gatsby at all. Gatsby defies God and all that is right in order to gain his wealth, and this is arguably another way that he looses his soul. To achieve the richness that he believes he needs to win Daisy, he turns to bootlegging and criminality, but this fails to work. Therefore, all of his crime was in vain as it did not gain him what he hoped that it would. Consequently, Gatsby can be seen as the epitome of corruption within the American Dream as he was using dishonest and fraudulent means to achieve his dream.

5. The final passage in The Great Gatsby is heavy with river imagery, and Nick compares human life to “boats against the current”. This is important because rivers only flow in one direction, they have only one path that they follow. This means that Fitzgerald is demonstrating how human life must go against the current to achieve the true American Dream of happiness. He shows that it may be a struggle, but that it is necessary if we are to avoid an unhappy life like Gatsby’s


Sorry if I have rambled a bit, I was just writting everything down as I thought of it! Anyway, hope this helps!