Outline For The Great Gatsby

Words: 389
Pages: 2

Topic: Explain how the novel demonstrates the death of the American Dream. Is the main theme of Gatsby indeed “the withering American Dream”?
Introduction Paragraph: According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, The American Dream is a “social ideal that stresses egalitarianism and especially material prosperity; the prosperity or life that is the realization of this ideal.” After obtaining wealth, Gatsby sought to obtain this glowing, green dream for himself ever since he had laid eyes upon the love of his life, Daisy. He has dedicated himself to achieving the American Dream after departing from his homeland to the battlefronts of WWI; living and breathing only to return to Daisy. Unfortunately for Jay Gatsby, Daisy has married another man, Tom Buchannan, during his tour, leaving him to wither alone as Tom’s old,
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Supporting Quote: “Involuntarily I glanced seaward - and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far way, that might have been the end of a dock,” (Fitzgerald, 21).
Explanation: Suggesting that his ability to dream is unattainable, the green light represents Gatsby’s dream as well as the fact that it’s “distant and minute.” Also, Nick’s fascination with Gatsby’s hopes and dreams are explored as well when he, “Involuntarily … glanced seaward,” implying that he’s almost unwillingly attracted to Gatsby’s ability to dream. This possibly foreshadows some of the tension we observe towards the end of the novel when Nick’s torn between two things. One being his skeptical and inherently pragmatic instinct that these dreams aren’t realistic, and his second is desiring to believe in the beauty and power of dreams. Furthermore, Gatsby’s high hopes are seen when he references the magnitude of his dreams saying, “What share was his of [the] local heavens,” (Fitzgerald,