The Death Of Dreams By F. Fitzgerald - 1385 Words

Stephanie Webb Mrs. Pagel English 3, Period 6 10 March 2015 The Death of Dreams Sometimes the very thing someone may be reaching for is not what it seems. The American Dream is something that can be known as what it is for most people; a dream. In Scott F. Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, the main character, Jay Gatsby, throws huge parties in West Egg, New York, that many people from all over come to, in order to find his goal and to achieve his dream. Fitzgerald portrays Gatsby’s parties as a symbol of the corruption of the American Dream; the immoral actions, shallowness of the party guests, and impossibility of his motives reveal the flaws of the American Dream. At Gatsby’s parties, the alcohol symbolizes good times and no†¦show more content†¦When Gatsby finally meets Daisy after all of the lost years, he feels he no longer needs the illusions of the parties to bring her in, so he can finally embrace his view on reality. Fitzgerald uses the parties as a symbol of the moral debase of the 1920’s, especially about the i mmoral actions of the party, â€Å"One of the men was talking with curious intensity to a young actress, and his wife†¦appeared suddenly at his side like an angry diamond, and hissed: ‘You promised!’ into his ear† (Fitzgerald 51). The party now settles down throughout the night, and reality strikes for many people, similar to the man and wife arguing about the actress. What started off as a wonderful night to go out now becomes just another night of couples fighting and people crying, just one of the consequences of the wrongful acts people commit, which turns into even more acts of sinning. This is parallel to the â€Å"amazing and wonderful† lifestyle of the wealthy, but it is only on the outside appearance that the middle class and the poor think and desperately want of the rich. Dan Seitler also agrees with the symbol of light in the story: â€Å"†¦Darkness offers a more realistic picture than light does† (Seiter 3). In a different way , Dan says that the light in the parties and all around are fake.