The Great Gatsby Allusion Analysis

Many people want to create their bright future, and James Scott attempted to do so in mid-1600s. James Scott was the eldest illegitimate son of Charles II, and he was created the Duke of Monmouth with subsidiary titles of Earl of Doncaster at age of 13. He married Anne Scott, the 4th Countess of Buccleuch, and the couple were made the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch. However, James was ambitious and declared himself as King. He was defeated by the army and died (Wikipedia contributors). The allusion of “the Dukes of Buccleuch” (Fitzgerald 3) in the Great Gatsby foreshadows Jay Gatsby’s ambitious “American Dream” of creating himself from beginning and implies his devotion in pursuing dreams.
The allusion foreshadows that Gatsby is living in an illusion he creates. In the beginning of the novel, Nick introduces himself and his family. “[W]e have a tradition that we’re descended from the Dukes of Buccleuch” (3). Nick knows his family tradition is only an imagined one, saying “the actual founder of my line
Jay shows a picture of a man standing in front of Oxford to Nick, saying he “is now the Earl of Doncaster” (67). The Earl of Doncaster and the Dukes of Buccleuch were both created for James, as which indicates that Jay Gatsby creates his own life. His original family was poor, so was James. In Gatsby’s mind, the Duke of Buccleuch is only a character in the book, but Daisy is a real person, the “golden girl” of his dream. Both of them are incarnations of Gatsby’s imagination. Gatsby’s American Dream is to create a wealthy world, and he knew what he wanted at early age and started to pursue it from that moment. For James Scott, the Duke of Monmouth, Duke of Buccleuch, and Earl of Doncaster, nothing would suffice his imagination except that he assume the English throne. So did Jay Gatsby. Daisy is his dream. He does whatever he can to become wealthy, to find Daisy, and to pursue his love and