Great Cities And Our Mighty Buildings

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

The Great Gatsby illuminates society during the Jazz Age and the common values and beliefs of many Americans during that time. The American dream was filled with wealth, prosperity and a pseudo-happiness that came as a result of a surging economy. The economy was fueled mostly by legal means; however toward the end of the 1920s, illegal means such as bootlegging became a common practice for some Americans. This new practice brought in immense amounts of money in a very short period of time, defining organized crime in America. Organized crime, more commonly called ‘the Syndicate,’ operated with agreements and established territories, much like a business. (Pearson n.p.)

The Syndicate is indirectly referred to throughout The Great Gatsby, as main character Jay Gatsby gained his fortunes by bootlegging. Gatsby was a part of "new money," referring to those who had gained large fortunes in the twenties, mainly through bootlegging. Along with his neighbors residing in West Egg, his source of income was known to all and said by none. For the people living in West Egg, "bootlegging was… a[n] acceptable business enterprise (Piper 191). However, the main differentiation between the "old money" of East Egg and the "new money" of West Egg is social status.

There exists a hierarchy throughout The Great Gatsby that divides the classes into three tiers: old money, new money, and the working class. The old money is represented by Tom Buchanan, and his wife, Daisy Buchanan. Tom is portrayed as an old, arrogant, and money-flaunting man in Gatsby, and he takes every opportunity to parade to his wealth. The couple, who resides in prominent East Egg, has enormous amounts of money, as do the other inhabitants of East Egg. The money in East Egg is mostly derived from small business owners and other families who have established their wealth in America (Lehan 22). East Eggers have strong social and political connections, amalgamated over many generations. Their version of the American dream is the classic ideal that many envision when prompted—immigrants coming to America in hopes of making it big.

Tier two is occupied by Jay Gatsby, along with his neighbors in West Egg. The West Egg inhabitants have come across large sums of money due to various reasons; however the main source of wealth stems from the underground economy, specifically bootlegging. The residents of West Egg have similar amounts of money compared to those in East Egg; their socioeconomic differences are what thrust them into a lower, less powerful tier in The Great Gatsby. Their American Dream is an alcohol-soaked version of the ideal seen in East Egg, and the pursuit of happiness by means of money is paramount in this vision.

The lowest tier in The Great Gatsby is represented by working-class members of society, namely George and Myrtle Wilson, who reside in the Valley of Ashes. Depicted in the most negative connotation possible, the Valley of Ashes is a disgusting, low, and dirty place that is looked down upon by society as a whole. Their version of the American Dream is centered around being socially and economically well-off, and much like those occupying East and West Egg, they are unhappy with their means.

One of many parallels that may be drawn among the three tiers is a never-ceasing insecurity and anxiety with how society views them. Those who reside in East Egg are suspicious of and feel threatened by the new generation of rich, who have accumulated immense sums of money in a very short period of time. Those who reside in West Egg do all possible to make an ostentatious display of their new wealth, as seen by never-ending, extravagant parties thrown by Jay Gatsby in his West Egg mansion, described by Fitzgerald as "a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool and more than forty acres of lawn and garden" (9; ch.1). These parties not only signify Gatsby’s need to impress others with his possessions, but also speak to his infatuation with money and his corrupted dream. For Gatsby, the America dream and his pursuit of happiness include not only the purchase of physical possessions, but also the purchase of the affection of his love interest from many years ago, Daisy Buchanan.

Jay Gatsby’s wardrobe visualizes his infatuation with money, and his need to impress Daisy. His wardrobe contains eloquent, gaudy items, such as a gold, metallic hat; silver vests; and gold jackets. Upon the first reunion of the couple, Gatsby is proudly showing his mansion to Daisy and narrator Nick Carraway. The group comes across his immense wardrobe, and when Daisy sees the clothing, she immediately becomes infatuated with him once again, stating, "[what] beautiful shirts …It makes me sad because I've never seen such beautiful shirts before" (98; ch. 6). The shirts, however, are not what overwhelm Daisy; the meaning behind the shirts is what is paramount. The clothes show how Gatsby will spend money on the most frivolous of things in order to please Daisy. (Churchwell 43).

The personality of Jay Gatsby is key to his overall appearance in the novel. His physical appearance, along with his money, is what ultimately defines Gatsby as well as what continually draws Daisy to him. Gatsby possessed certain social mannerisms that distinctly propelled him above his peers, such as his clipped speech, the constant use of the phrase "old sport," and his never-ending intensity of manner (Lehan 58-9). Gatsby’s persona and mannerisms left a mark on those with whom he conversed, as depicted in a scene of The Great Gatsby:

He smiled understandingly—much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four of five times in life. It faced—or seemed to face—the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you wanted to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey. (48; ch. 2)

Gatsby’s unique social mannerisms and attitudes spoke to his constant struggle to achieve the social acceptance for which he so longed for and desired, and what was the final piece of the puzzle to winning Daisy’s love.

Gatsby’s dream is symbolized by Daisy; Gatsby even says that her voice sounds like money, alluding to his attempts to purchase the affection of his lover. His attempt to accomplish his dream ultimately caused the degradation of Gatsby's morals and his realistic dreams. Gatsby’s dreams had distorted reality to the point where when his rationality realized that the image of life and of Daisy did not coincide with the real life version, his mind did not grasp that perhaps the dream had receded to the point of no return, consequently his dreams helped to result in the devastating end that was the finish of Gatsby.

The image of Daisy undergoes a transformation throughout the course of the novel. Her American dream, while complex at heart, requires two simple components, one of which is unable to be met by Gatsby. Primarily, Daisy needs money in her life; she will not and cannot conform to love without money. This component is easily met by both Gatsby and husband Tom; however, Tom possesses the social prestige necessary in order to give Daisy the life she has always envisioned—her American ideal. (Kaplan 11) Daisy, however, is unhappy in her marriage with Tom, and throughout the course of the novel, her idea of the American dream changes, but not enough to conform to the mutual love of Gatsby and her.

Daisy, as well as her acquaintances in The Great Gatsby, are always chasing their dream, and will do anything and everything in their power in order to achieve it. Her morals are decayed throughout the book, and destroyed in the moment where she kills Valley of Ashes inhabitant Myrtle Wilson and keeps it under wraps. Myrtle, along with her husband, is portrayed in a negative sense. They are characters that represent the moral decay of society, hidden but present in the first two tiers of society, and out in the open in the third. The carelessness and selfishness of Daisy’s American dream killed Myrtle Wilson, which in turn, killed her love.

Jay Gatsby’s American dream made him undergo a huge transformation. It is revealed to the reader Gatsby’s true past as James Gatz. Jay Gatsby, namely a pseudonym for his version of life in his American dream, grew up in a working-class family in the Midwest. His moral decay, while no longer on the surface, is not taken away due to his new wealth, rather just shoved under a carpet to be forgotten about. (Piper 88) The corrupt version of Gatsby’s ideal is not morally succinct; his monetary methods of achieving it ultimately fail.

The American dream is murdered concurrently with Gatsby. His murder by George Wilson is better described as a cumulative suicide—his infatuation with achieving the American dream, including his lover, killed Daisy, in turn killing Myrtle. While George’s motive in the assassination of Gatsby is not correct, his great dream was on a self-destructing path. As Gatsby’s fantasy finally ends, bystander Nick Carraway states:

I have an idea that Gatsby himself didn’t believe it would come, and perhaps he no longer cared. If that was true he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream. He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass. A new world, material without being real, where poor ghosts, breathing dreams like air, drifted fortuitously .(ch. 11; 184)

In the end, Carraway summates through the mistakes of Gatsby the disconnect that has formed in the ideal of the American dream, as well as the corruption in the never-ending struggle to attain the impossible.

Throughout The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald shows how social classes were represented, and how they lead to the corruption of the American dream on all social levels, spanning all types of money and persons. Each has his or her own aspirations and hopes for his or her life, but some factor, be it money or love, taints, shatters and destroys the dream. There is, however, a hint of hops and in the survival of the other characters in the books—most importantly the lessons learned by Nick Carraway. The resilience of the generation comes to a climax in this vision: Gatsby may be dead, and with him, a great version of the American dream, but for the Carraway, and all others, the pursuit of the dream will continue in an aimless pursuit. Every time the dream is destroyed, a new person will pick it up and make a go of it, and each time a new person makes a go of it, the dream is destroyed once more.