American Values as Depicted in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

An some other instance -- hooter Eyes -- is shown to be a person compar fitted to Eckleburg in some way, specifically in his watchfulness. Eckleburg and Owl Eyes argon characters watching the deterioration of not solo the physical landscape painting but the spiritual landscape as well. They "see" what the other characters do not see, particularly the lies in the Ameri gutter Dream, the differences so starkly present between what is apparent and what is real. As Goldhurst writes:

Considering the setting of Gatsby's world and his papiermache palace with its tinsel trappings, Owl-Eyes' surprised discovery (that the books in the library "are real -- 'they have pages and everything"') is not without relevance. Fitzgerald has widen the implication of Eckleburg's divinity (as a god watching the people and seeing inside them the negative qualities they try to hide nevertheless from themselves) and applied it to Owl-Eyes, one of the few characters in the novel who can distinguish between the apparent and the real (Goldhurst 38).

If we consider that paragon in the novel is seen as a billboard, an advertisement for an optometrist, and then we can see that Fitzgerald is clearly portraying the "degenerate kingdom of religious belief in the modern society Fitzgerald is depicting. The visualize -- ' theology is a billboard,' -- is appropriate to the morality of self-interest that animates most of the major characters in the novel" (Goldhurst 38).

cut off sees more in Gatsby which is worthwhile and which marks him as a unique victim of the American Dream. Nick himself is a character who, again, has one foot in two worlds and therefore is able to give the reader both a critical and an thankful view of Gatsby.

As Donaldson writes, "The power of Gatsby's imagination made him great....He feature 'an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness' such as Nick had never found in some(prenominal)one else.

He flat brought part of his dream to life....The seventeen-year-old James Gatz planed just the kind of Jay Gatsby that a poor boy (under the influence of the American Dream) was likely to invent: a man of fabulous wealth....To fulfill his dream it remained only to capture the golden girl..." (Donaldson 109). The issue of class differences in The large Gatsby is one of the crucial elements of Fitzgerald's portrayal of the differences between the real and the false. The generous in the novel are, for the most part, with the exception of Gatsby himself, able to construct that they are different, and they pretend successfully.

In Fitzgerald's novel, business and the worship of gold are shown to be inextricably tied in with religion, and in fact replacing religion. It is clear that the American Dream in Fitzgerald's view is based not on the opportunity for every individual to succeed, but rather on the opportunity for any individual to lose his soul in the pursuit of literal goods and the false status which goes along with placing those goods and that status above God Himself.

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