What Is Fitzgerald Trying to Say About the American Dream in 'The Great Gatsby'?

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The American dream is such a major theme in The Great Gatsby that whether you are studying it was just reading it for fun you must be wondering what Fitzgerald is trying to say about. Some people argue the book of the criticism of the American dream, some people think Fitzgerald is trying to say the American dream is dead, others think the criticism is solely of Gatsby who paid the price of living too long with a single dream. Let's have a look at some quotes from the Great Gatsby.

Gaby's dream is the most prominent of the book. It is all encompassing, it has taken over his life completely. He thought he loved Daisy, but when he finally met her after all these years he found that he still wanted more. He wanted her to say that she never loved another man. He couldn't be happy with what he had, he has to be perfect. He is an example of people who abuse the American dream.

Character's like Myrtle and Wilson look up and Daisy and Tom. They want what they have, they think that they have achieved the American Dream. The reader knows different thought, we can see exactly how happy Daisy and Tom are. Behind the fa?ade of perfection they present, their perfect marriage, in their lovely house with their beautiful daughter, they are both bored and unhappy. With no job and no purpose in life they have grown 'restless.' Both of them have affairs and neither seems to care about there child. Fitzgerald is trying to say that life isn't what you imagine at the top.

It is obvious that, at least in the world of the Great Gatsby, money doesn't buy you happiness. Unfortunately it is just as clear that the lower classes are obsessed with money and view it as their ticket to living the dream. When you only look at their bank balances Gatsby and Tom are both wildly successful and that is all the lower classes see.

The photograph that Gatsby's father carries around with him becomes the symbol of this obsession of the lower classes. Instead of carrying a picture of his son he carries a a picture of his house, a symbol of his wealth, and what proves he is a success. Just as Gatsby was lured by Dan Cody's expensive yacht, so the next generation will look at this photo and think that if they work hard enough they can come from nothing like Gatsby and be as happy as him. The sad fact is we know Gatsby was never happy and when he died no one came to his funeral.

What can we draw from this then, does Fitzgerald think the American dream is dead. On the contrary I believe that he thinks it will continue perpetually, the people always look at the rich and wish they could be like them. And so the book is not telling you the American dream is dead is telling you that it will always live on and be wary of its promises.

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Mayor of the Dog Park, By: Anne Gilbert

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Intelligently written and as fast as a Greyhound chasing Rusty, the electronic pace-rabbit at the Kennel Club Dog Track, author Anne Gilbert takes her readers by the collar and pulls them quickly into a story of retribution, revenge and reprisal in her novelette, Mayor of the Dog Park.

A vacant lot reclaimed by a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, the dog park named "Faux Paws" became a daily routine for designer dogs, pedigrees, hounds, mutts and their owners of various "human-breeds" as well. Animally bonded, the K-9s and their respective 401K owners all seem to be appropriately matched in temperament, personality and intelligence. With names like Moe & Lucky, Gimp & Muffle, Ramon & Lolita, and of course the mayor Eddie, and his dog won from a church prize, Bingo, these duos split each afternoon to go to their separate respective areas within Faux Paws; some go to the big dog area, others to the small dog section, while the owners pack in to a gazebo to talk.

I must admit, as a disclaimer, I am a dog lover extraordinaire, so reading this book was like rolling on my back having my tummy scratched. As much as I have come to love and understand the wonders of "Man's best friend," I too become emotionally outraged when hearing about animal cruelty; especially when intentionally done. Therefore I could relate to the emotions and motivations of the human characters in Mayor of the Dog Park; to me the events seem as logical as a border collie retrieving a tennis ball. However for the sake of maintaining the impact of this story, I shall not tell any more about the circumstances that reveal themselves in Chapter 3.

There is a clever foreshadowing with respect to Eddie's house, being a lavishly designed home built by one of South Florida's prominent architects. "The three story great room was dominated by a massive Gothic style fireplace and walnut paneling. Probably its most interesting aspect was the ceiling with a myriad of stars painted on the ceiling," author Anne Gilbert wrote. The room was specified by Eddie's recollection of, when on a trip to London, he saw a drawing of the actual "Star Chamber" used in 15th Century England.

The Mayor of the Dog Park is a mature reading escape, enabling for quick character development of the "Snow-bird" community of transplants from Chicago and other Northern cities of the US, as they conspire to do what every dog lover thinks of doing regarding animal abuse. Anne Gilbert is obviously a dog owner and judging by her writing quickness, agility, discombobulated machinations at times, and sense of humor, I'd bet she owns a type of terrier, like maybe a Jack Russell. Whatever breed she owns, her dog has found a human that can be trained, that's for sure, trained to write.

Reviewed by: Gary Sorkin, Pacific Book Review

http://www.pacificbookreview.com/

Sexual Relations Fifty Years On - Girl With Green Eyes by Edna O'Brien

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It has been fifty years since Edna O'Brien published Girl With Green Eyes. It is conventional nowadays to regard the late 1950s and early 1960s as an era when sexual liberation was beginning. This may be accurate. Certainly the men in Edna O'Brien's novel seem to bear no little responsibility for any of their sexual activity, whilst the women, who are usually willing partners, take all the risks and bear all the responsibilities.

The girl with green eyes uses several versions of her name. They appear to be applied randomly. She is whoever circumstance demands. She is Cait, Caithleen, or even Kate, depending on who is speaking, or where and when the action happens. Cait was previously one of the girls who were Country Girls and the Girl With Green Eyes forms the second part of a trilogy following these young women's progress from rural assumptions to urban freedom, of sorts. In Girl With Green Eyes the young women have moved to Dublin. Events take Cait, just twenty-one, and a mere student in today's paradigm, back home to the country and then back to town again.

She has taken up with Eugene. He is older than her and, God forbid, married - even with a child. The wife lives in America - where else for the separated? - but she always seems close at hand and something of a threat. Cait has completely fallen for her male elect and news gets out. A rescue party from the country arrives to whisk her off back to the protection of home in the west, where alcoholism and threats of violence keep the peace. Her father drinks all day, but then he's a provincial sort. He may be excused, since he rules his fiefdom. He will hit anyone to protect what needs protecting and daughters are usually top of the list.

Cait describes most of her experiences in the first person. Her friend gets pregnant and has to deal with the consequences. Despite all such practices being utterly illegal at the time, everyone seems to know where to go, how to secure the service and what it costs. In general, the women involved seem utterly dependent on securing a man to provide for them, and seem to live at least half in fear of the urges that propel them. There is this ambivalence within all the relationships. The men are keen to go where they want, but generally do not negotiate on the destinations. The women seem keen to explore, but never journey on their own terms, apparently preferring to be taken along with the ride.

By the end of the book, there have been changes in Cait's life. It seems that these changes anticipate the changes that will begin for women in wider society, but in Girl With Green Eyes such progress has achieved only limited changes in women's expectations of life. The novel thus subtly mirrors what we must assume prevailed in wider society at the time. It thus presents a contemporary reader with a historical perspective that its author perhaps did not consciously consider at the time. It is surely a richer experience for this added dimension.

Philip Spires

Author of Mission and A Fool's Knot, African novels set in Kenya

http://www.philipspires.co.uk/

Migwani is a small town in Kitui District, eastern Kenya. My books examine how social and economic change impact on the lives of ordinary people. They portray characters whose identity is bound up with their home area, but whose futures are determined by the globalized world in which they live.