There may be an expectation to be optimistic about the “American Dream,” for this to serve as a proper expression of my views I have to point out that a word should be added right in front of “American.” For accuracy we should add in the ever important descriptive word “white,” and an even more critical view, which actually best represents my views, might put “cis-male” and “heterosexual.” But that would be something heavily influenced by my feminist liberal views, but those views also affect my reading of The Great Gatsby. For example, my interpretation of the female characters in the novel could be more bias towards seeing them in a more powerful and meaningful way such as with the elegant and positive descriptions of Jordans, but at the same time, I might be ignoring the demeaning depiction of Daisy’s approach to life. Considering the background of Fitzgerald, I have to assume he did, in fact, have some bias against the status of women, which then leads into how he portrays the “American Dream.”
Within the book, one of the main themes revolves around Gatsby's desire to achieve this dream, this hope is represented by the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. But a notable part in chapter 5 is when Gatsby has Daisy at his house, essentially he has her at this point in the novel, and in the same scene, it is pointed out that the green light is obscured by fog. The disappearance of the light would indicate Gatsby had reached his goal, and within the context of the 1920s, the “American Dream” refers to wealth, objects, and materialistic items. This would suggest that Daisy is one of these objects Gatsby obtains to reach the American Dream, just like his money and his house. But then again, considering my biased opinion, this could simply be my interpretation that does not correlate with what Fitzgerald was trying to convey. Another way of looking at this could be that because of the context Fitzgerald grew up into, he is portraying this aspect of society so as to criticize it, but a simple reason I do not feel that this particular interpretation applies is because of the understated nature of these elements compared to others.
Within the book, one of the main themes revolves around Gatsby's desire to achieve this dream, this hope is represented by the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. But a notable part in chapter 5 is when Gatsby has Daisy at his house, essentially he has her at this point in the novel, and in the same scene, it is pointed out that the green light is obscured by fog. The disappearance of the light would indicate Gatsby had reached his goal, and within the context of the 1920s, the “American Dream” refers to wealth, objects, and materialistic items. This would suggest that Daisy is one of these objects Gatsby obtains to reach the American Dream, just like his money and his house. But then again, considering my biased opinion, this could simply be my interpretation that does not correlate with what Fitzgerald was trying to convey. Another way of looking at this could be that because of the context Fitzgerald grew up into, he is portraying this aspect of society so as to criticize it, but a simple reason I do not feel that this particular interpretation applies is because of the understated nature of these elements compared to others.
When considering wealth, I do not think of it as referring to money or items, but rather the value someone finds in any element in their lives. These two ideas are actually juxtaposed in The Great Gatsby with the demonstration of monetary wealth and emotional wealth. The monetary wealth is clearly shown through the affluence of the main characters and the emotional wealth is represented by the connection and love that Gatsby feels for Daisy. The novel might actually be suggesting that this emotional wealth is more important than the monetary wealth because of the before mention scene suggests that Gatsby does not achieve the “American Dream” until he has gotten this emotional wealth from having Daisy by his side. I can actually feel a significant personal connection to this aspect of life, with my desire for wealth that I believe all people share to a certain extent, the emotional wealth of life is much more what I strive for than material wealth.
No comments:
Post a Comment