Gatsby, though his wealth came from his criminal activities,was the typical symbol of American dream in that time,and the whole-hearted dedication of Gatsby and his sincere belief in what he did made him heroic, and this submerged the unpleasant details so that they did not seem important in the final outcome,as has the American dreammer who were so stubborn to believe perspirition would bring what they want.
The real killer who murderred Gatsby was the society,in which people could become rich overnight by non-moral means.A poor beautiful girl could marry a wealthy boy who may not be handsome for the purpose of being rich,and a young man could find a job in which he would do nothing but be paid.While Gatsby, the true heir to the American dream,was killed by Conspiracy of his lover Daisy ,who was actually stimulated by the vanity fair, and lived in luxury at the cost of Gatsby, to whom without mercy. The cruel reality smashed Gatsby’s dream. Fitzgerald’s comment on the failure of Gatsby’s dream was also a statement on the failure of American dream. The contrast of the dream and the reality significantly indicated a moving away from faith and hope in a world where material interests had driven out sentimentality and faith. What is more, dream, even if it persists, is utterly helpless and defenseless against a material society. It can only be defeated. Gatsby was an example. Owing to his unrealistic dream, Gatsby’s fate turned out to be a tragedy. Because he was not conscious of his unrealistic dream of love and he did not correctly handle contradictions between ideal and reality, Gatsby sunk into this kind of unreal dream so deeply that he can’t wake up. And the final result of Gatsby was surely miserable.
The Great Gatsby is Fitzgerald’s finest novel. “sensitive and symbolic treatment of themes of contemporary life related with irony and pathos to the legendry of the American dream.” ——《The Oxford Companion to American Literature》
The sharp contrast between dream and reality not only explains Gatsby’s failure at the end, it also explains the meaninglessness of that age. In a word, these contrasts provide the readers with a panorama of 1920s. And in the contrast, the theme of the novel ----the disillusion of the American dream ----is strengthened. In the mean time,the loss of the American dream reflects the corruption of people’s morality.
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