The Search for Utopia in The Great Gatsby Essay - 1131 Words

In Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, the reader discovers multiple interpretations of utopia. Each character is longing for one particular paradise. Only one character actually reaches utopia, and the arrival is a mixed blessing at best. The concept of paradise in The Great Gatsby is â€Å"a shifting, evanescent illusion of happiness, joy, love, and perfection, a mirage that leads each character to reach deeper, look harder, strive farther†(Lehan, 57). All the while, time pulls each individual farther from the moment he seeks. There is Myrtle Wilsons gaudy, flashy hotel paradise in which she can pretend that she is glamorous, elite, wanted and loved. She clings fiercely enough to this threadbare dream to brave the ire†¦show more content†¦But -- she began in obscurity and in obscurity she dies, her life violently extinguished, knelt in the road and mingled her thick, dark blood with the dust (Fitzgerald, 145). There is an ashes to ashes dust to dust element to every action in the novel, and Myrtle is no exception. We as readers focus more on Daisy and Tom, Gatsby and Nick; Myrtles fall is telling the same story as Gatsbys, as Daisys. In the end, her life is worth no more and no less than the great millionaire in his mansion on West Egg. Daisy and Tom are bereft of these dreams. Daisy at one point in the novel suddenly rebelled, realizing that she did not love the man she was going to marry despite his rich gifts, and Jordan describes her struggle Tell em all Daisys change her mine. Say Daisys change her mine! She began to cry -- she cried and cried . . . She wouldnt let go of the letter. She took it into the tub with her and squeezed it up into a wet ball and only let me leave it in the soap dish when she saw that it was coming to pieces like snow. (Fitzgerald, 81). Society in the form of Jordan Baker was there to spread on more lies to cover the rough spots, to make the surface elegant and hope no one had depth enough to look beneath it. When Daisy marries Tom without so much as a shiver she becomes an empty person, who lives but takes no joy in it. It could be said that she exists. When Gatsby returns with all her old dreams in his hat andShow MoreRelatedEssay about A Critical Review of F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby1555 Words   |  7 PagesA Critical Review of F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a universal and timeless literary masterpiece. Fitzgerald writes the novel during his time, about his time, and showing the bitter deterioration of his time. A combination of the 1920s high society lifestyle and the desperate attempts to reach its illusionary goals through wealth and power creates the essence behind The Great Gatsby. Nick Carraway, the narrator, moves to a quaint neighborhoodRead MoreThe Dream in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby Essay1780 Words   |  8 PagesThe Dream and The Great Gatsby      Ã‚   The story of America is an exciting one, filled with swift evolution and an amazing energy unprecedented in world history. In Americas short existence, it has progressed from a small collection of European rebels to the economically dominant nation that it is today. Mixed up in the provocative reputation of America is the celebrated ideal of the American Dream, the fantasy of complete independence and self-reliance mixed with the opportunity to attain wealthRead MoreInterpretations Of The American Dream1718 Words   |  7 Pagesinterpretations and instructions along the very term ‘American Dream’ ranging from its definition, the different concepts of people about it and its ultimate aim to the doubts upon its realization. Alfonzo Reyas, a Mexican humanist, says that â€Å"America is a utopia†¦ it is the figure of human hope† (qtd. In Parrington Jr. Preface). James Truslow Adams, who was firstly coined the phrase in his 1931 book The Epic of America, however, defined it as a â€Å"dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and