The Great Gatsby Essay

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The Great Gatsby: Did Money Kill the Great? Many people claim that The Great Gatsby is the quintessential American novel. This is due to the reoccurring theme of the book of the rise and fall of the American dream. The book is very significant because of its relation to the time period in which it was written and the actual events that were taking place in the world in and around the 1920's. This period was called the "Roaring 20's" because of the economy at the time was through the roof and people were taking advantage of the overall wealth, both independently and as a whole. (Gevaert, 2) New York City was a symbol of what America has become in the 1920's: a place where anything goes, where money is made and bootleggers …show more content…
Daisy is in love with money, ease, and material luxury. Daisy represents the amoral values of the aristocratic East Egg inhabitants. Gatsby's attraction to Daisy seems to be from the financial stability that is always associated with her.
The best description of this is how her voice '"'is full of money" to Gatsby (Fitzgerald, 147). Daisy is the most important part of Gatsby's dream and for Gatsby; Daisy embodies everything that the American Dream is. If Daisy is the American Dream the validity of this dream should be questioned. The affair between Daisy and Gatsby ultimately fails and ends with Gatsby being shot and killed. The reason that this was inevitable is that Gatsby created a fantasy so comprehensive that he became enveloped in it, and he was destroyed with it when reality was shot into him.
Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald emphasizes the color green as a promise of hope. Through Gatsby, this promise is corrupted by the means that he tries to attain it. Hope is a theme represented by the green light. Gatsby was fixated on the green light across the bay at the end of Daisy's dock. She was the green light. I saw the green light as representing money also. Green symbolizes greed in terms of money and it is significant that the green light is at the end of Tom
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