The Great Gatsby and the Destruction of the American Dream

The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is about the corruption of the American Dream, and the downfall of those who attempt to attain its illusionary goals. As the novel shows, the 20th century is a moral wasteland and a corruption of the original idealistic American Dream of the past. Fitzgerald's moral wasteland is shown physically in the "valley of ashes" scene of the novel. This 'dismal' and 'desolate' wasteland exists side-by-side with …

…materialism cannot be successful without accompanying morality. Cut off from their mid-West traditions and ethics, the characters in the novel live in a sort of sick parody of the American Dream. They cannot be truly happy because they lack the inner reserves for such an emotion. This parallels modern society's rootlessness and accompanying corruption of the American Dream. Without something to believe in, to hold on to, we can not attain anything of genuine worth.