"Great Gatsby" by Fitzgerald and "Death of A Salesman" critical analysis . Material wealth leads to corruption? Death of a salesman and Great Gatsby are allegorical representations?

In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald repeatedly criticizes the American society, during a period where all Americans believed that material wealth would derive happiness and fame. Fitzgerald is showing that in the Jazz Age, people in America were delusional and had meaningless existences. These criticisms and objections of this notion are expressed through the portrayal of several unique characters.

These pivotal characters are Midwesterners who have sprawled East in pursuit of this notion of deriving fame, success, respect, and happiness from material wealth. All these characters are, in one way or another, attempting to achieve a state of happiness in their lives. The main characters are divided into two groups: the rich upper class and the poorer lower class.

Tom and Daisy Buchanan together are representative of the rich upper-class. They seem to have derived happiness from the American Dream; however, though their lives are full of material possessions, they are bored with their bare existence.

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

Wealth

The Great Gatsby

They acquired their wealth from 'old money', and their lives have had little purpose or meaning. Fitzgerald ironically reinforces this notion by placing these wealthy characters in "eggs" which are symbolic of growth and a new life. However, in reality there are no realistic possibilities for them. They "drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together", suggests that life holds no possibilities once achieving the material dream. In an attempt to negate this sense of boredom, Tom has an affair with Myrtle Wilson to seek personal fulfillment and as a diversion from this loss of identity.

This is directly a key comment which the composer is trying to convey. Willy and Gatsby are the accurate portrayals as victims of the American Dream. They both reveal the notion that humans are attracted to this idea of material wealth as...