Essays on The Great Gatsby

Novel, Fiction, Tragedy

Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson, Jordan Baker, Meyer Wolfsheim, George B. Wilson, Trimalchio, Mr. Gatz

Inspired by the parties that Fitzgerald has attended when he was visiting Long Island's North shore, which has made him look for something that would be totally different, something that has never been written before.

decadence, idealism, resistance to changes, social excess, caution, and the American Dream.

First of all, The Great Gatsby can be considered as the most American literary work that has the very essence of being American through the eyes of Jay Gatsby or, as he would call himself, "Mr. Nobody From Nowhere". It is the greatest reflection of the American Dream, which F. Scott Fitzgerald has wisely put out on paper. It could be called a national scripture that shows the American spirit and a chance of reinventing everything.

The Great Gatsby is the story of what an essence of American Dream means to people. It tells a tragic story of Jay Gatsby who is a self-made millionaire who came over to New York. Trying to win the heart of Daisy Buchanan, a wealthy young woman whom he knew and loved in his youth. The book can be safely called legendary as it follows Gatsby's journey from poverty to wealth while telling about the ways of love that eventually lead to death.

If we turn to the book's foreword, we can see that it was meant to be "consciously artistic" while remaining "beautiful and simple, and intricately patterned". Originally started as a satire, Fitzgerald wanted to tell about the parties and the vanity of life that was led in certain parts of New York. It is also the Trimalchio model, a former slave who got to visit the parties. The purpose here is a tragic transformation and romance as the reflection of the American Dream.

The reason why a college student may be asked to write an essay about The Great Gatsby is dealing with an American Dream and falling into the tragedy of poverty versus being rich and the ways how a person can become corrupted and lost. The role of Gatsby is also an American spirit, which can be compared to how so many people today are becoming trapped in money and fame to achieve success in romance. Moreover, it is one of the most American literary works where the author masterfully has crafted each sentence that shows the socio-cultural element of American life for many decades to come.