"The Great Gatsby".

My purpose in writing this essay can be divided in two objectives. The first is to examine in The Great Gatsby how is developed the American Dream and the collapse of it, represented mostly in Gatsby. The second duty I will carry out is to find the elements in the novel that make reference to the decadence of the period in which the story takes place, since I think that this is necessary to mention to have a clear idea of the first purpose.

The American Dream

The first question that arises to us is what the American Dream is. For answer to this we have to travel backwards in time. We have to put ourselves into the first Europeans colonist that arrived to America. America was seen as the land of the opportunities. It is a new nation in which one can be whatever he wanted by his own effort.

The American Dream, New Jersey 1991

The Statue of Liberty front shot, on Liberty Islan...

My American Dream

The first colonists thought of America as a wild land, a paradise in earth in which they could fulfil all their aspirations. It was a new chance for a better life than the one they left in Europe. A person who works hard and incessantly can achieve any goal if he does his best. That is what the American Dream is about.

Therefore the novel represents that ideal in the way that Gatsby, coming from a low, non-wealthy class achieve to amass a great fortune. Gatsby, with his own effort has reached the goal of moving from his social status to a greater one. But the novel is not only about the American dream of Gatsby's life, on the contrary the American dream can be found in all the characters and how it fails, because society's rules. The rich do not like to be dispossessed of their privileged position...