The Great Gatsby Corruption

The American Dream became a widespread term to describe the American way of life. It deals with the act of individuality, and working hard for what you have. Despite having these dreams, money and social values appeared to be the key to happiness. Reading The Great
Gatsby allows the audience to witness the act of corruption for themselves, as they take a glance at how many individuals are living with the wrong idea of the American Dream. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on 24 September 1896. He developed an interest in writing stories at an early age. While attending the Newman School in
1911, he met Sigourney Fay, who noticed his literary talent. On 3 April, 1920, F. Scott Fitzgerald married Zelda and on
The Twenties were also known as the Jazz Age as art and music flourished. F. Scott Fitzgerald was a lyrical Romanticist, who uses metaphors, symbols and symbolism to delicately describe through Nick Carraway’s point of view, the biggest theme in
The Great Gatsby, which is love, and corruption due to wealth. There is no doubt in our minds that Gatsby loved Daisy, but just how much Daisy loved Gatsby is something to be unsure about.
Through his hopefulness in this story, Gatsby has high hopes of winning his one true love back.
Colors have a way of standing out in this book. As one may notice the articulate descriptions of the appearance of someone, another may understand that this is a symbol for something much larger in meaning. In the beginning of the book, Nick describes Daisy and Jordan saying “they were both in white” (2) She is constantly linked with this color, and is understood to be innocent and pure in a world filled with the opposite. It is in fact, quite powerful to give Daisy such a persona, as she herself is putting up a front. As we witness Daisy’s front, we also
Gatsby always knew that he wanted to be rich. Since the American dream is so obviously corruptive with Daisy, it is kind of hard to see that Gatsby’s relationship with money is the same as Daisy’s relationship with money. One of the most mindful, and appropriate metaphors to be considered in this story is the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg which represent the eyes of God, which is explained to the audience, "God knows what you've been doing, everything you've been doing. You may fool me but you can't fool God! God sees everything"
(167). It seems that through everything Gatsby, Daisy, and even Nick went through, in the act of forgetting who they were, there is always one that knows, when the others don’t. Fitzgerald ‘s genius use of metaphors, symbols and symbolism make for an incredibly interesting story, and that is indeed mindful of the corruption and self-idolized reputation of those living the American
Dream.
Some critics believe that Nick Carraway is not a reasonable for the telling of the story of
The Great Gatsby. “In the last two decades, critical acceptance of Nick’s judgements has yielded to some disenchantment with the narrator and his moral actions.” (Cartwright) To