Book Review: "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The American Dream being ridiculed by American Society

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Wordsworth classics

This novel is generally to be considered to be F. Scott Fitzgerald's best. It is an undisputed classic of American literature from the post-war period and is one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century.

This book is set in America, post-war in the 1920s, the emergence of the 'Jazz Age'. The novel explores the social culture of the high and low classes of American society, their interactions through parties, get-togethers and even on their way to the petrol station. The story is based around the character Nick Carraway's recollections and memories of his encounters with the American society after his return from fighting in the war. He decides to live in West Egg where he meets his second cousin Daisy Buchanan and her husband Tom along with a few other characters that are influential towards Nick such as Jordan Baker a famous golfer and Mr and Mrs Wilson of whom is Tom's mistress.

My American Dream

The cover of the first edition of The Great Gatsby...

The Great Gatsby

But Nick also comes across 'The American Dream" as his neighbour Jay Gatsby. Gatsby represents the dream by having everything money can buy, fast cars extravagant clothing, a large mansion on the shore and a large staff. Through the novel we see that the high and low classes of society representations ridicule the American dream as an out cast. This seems to be ironic as the society longs for the dream and yet when is has been achieved they scorn upon it.

Throughout the novel we are come familiar to four main characters each with a sense of their own section of society they include;

Jay Gatsby or also known as his former self James Gatz is the product of an idealistic life. Starting as a...