Great Gatsby: The Lost American Dream

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, has been celebrated as one of the greatest, if not the greatest American novel. Yet this is ironic for the society which has so hailed the book is precisely that which is criticized throughout it. Politically, the American dream was a foundation of ideals and hopes for any and every American individual. Specifically, one of the ideals was an American dream free of class distinction; that every person has the opportunity to be whomever they hope to be. In a sort of Cinderella-like fashion, it is in essence an ideal of social mobility and freedom. The social reality, however, is far crueler. Because of the harsh truth of social America, by way of its pretentiousness and decadence, the American dream is lost. Through Nick’s honest and poignant observation, the parallel lives of Myrtle Wilson and Jay Gatsby reflect The Great Gatsby as a social commentary about the polluted American Dream.
Myrtle is that infamous model of how the pol...