Mark Gabriel Dalumpines BSED 3A (EL116)

 Chasing an Empty Dream

    Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald also known as F. Scott Fitzgerald, was an American writer specializing in novels, essays, and short stories. He is undoubtedly one of America's most prominent writers. Fitzgerald will always be remembered for his work on the Jazz Age and its disillusion. His best-known novel is The Great Gatsby, published in 1925 that critiques the idea of American Dream exposing the illusion of prosperity and happiness in the 1920s.

    

    According to Winter (2021) here American Dream is the idea that anyone can succeed and achieve a better life in the United States regardless of their background. This novel tells the story of Jay Gatsby, a wealthy man trying to make his way back into the arms of his former lover, Daisy Buchanan. The famous novelist shows deep emptiness that wealth and social status cannot fill. This novel also critiques class divisions and materialism in post-World War I America. Applying both Historic Criticism over the story might release a glimpse of which issues of the Jazz Age the story reflects.

                                                                

Characters

Historical Criticism

    Historical Criticism helps us show how this novel questions the concept of the American Dream. Gatsby is a poor-born boy who becomes rich but empty and unsatisfied. This challenges the idea that money and status can bring ultimate happiness. Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy, who represents his idealized version of the American Dream, illustrates how chasing unrealistic goals can lead to disappointment and tragedy.

    The novel is set in the 1920s, a period after World War I when America was experiencing both immense wealth and moral decay. The economy was booming, but this prosperity came at the expense of deep social inequalities. Although the rich people lived lavishly, a significant number of them occupied empty spaces that held little meanings. As in characters like Tom Buchanan, whose wealth is based on inherited privilege rather than personal effort, which is something Fitzgerald hits on when showing how the life of the rich was often filled with vain pleasures and, above all, a sense of real lack of meaning. The characters’ pursuit of wealth leads them to make unethical decisions, reflecting the social inequality and the disillusionment of the time. For example, Gatsby’s belief that wealth will allow him to reclaim Daisy shows how the American Dream is closely tied to material success. Yet, despite his financial achievements, Gatsby cannot escape the realities of class distinctions, and his efforts to transcend his humble origins ultimately fail.

    Fitzgerald uses the tragic ending of Gatsby’s life to demonstrate the ultimate failure of the American Dream. In the 1920s, the idea that anyone could move up in life through hard work was a key part of American identity. But the novel shows that this dream was becoming harder to reach for many people. Even Gatsby, who worked hard to become rich, couldn’t achieve the happiness he wanted. And for others who tried to follow his example, they ended up building their dreams on false hopes and corruption. The Jazz Age, with its focus on materialism and excess, shows a country where people cared more about money than moral values, and the dream of prosperity turned out to be empty and unfulfilling. This historical context casts light upon the deeper flaws underlying the American Dream, exposing how success, wealth, and status are never enough to bring fulfillment or happiness at a tumultuous time when America is going through the digestive process of social change.

Gatsby's Death

    Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby offers a sharp critique of both the American Dream and the gender dynamics of its time. By analyzing the novel through Historical and Feminist Criticism, we see how the desire for wealth and social mobility can lead to disillusionment, while gender roles confine women to limited choices. Through Gatsby’s tragic fate and the social struggles of the novel’s characters, Fitzgerald warns against the empty pursuit of material success and calls attention to the social inequities of the Jazz Age.

  Click this video to watch the summary of the story:

Do you also have insights about this story? Please comment below!