Decadence, Deceit, and Death of the American dream The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a vivid recounting of an historical era. Its depiction of social climbing, greed and ambition portray the dark side of the American dream. More than any other American novel written in the 1920s, the reader is led into a world where one can become convinced that they hear the voices of people speaking from that decade. The narrator, Nick Carroway, is the medium through which those voices are heard. He is the principal speaker in the text, serving as translator of the dreams and social ambitions of the people surrounding him. What the Great Gatsby portrays so adroitly is a moment caught in time. A moment where the decadence, deceit, and death of the American dream become transparent.

F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in 1896 on the edge of one of the most elegant and fashionable areas of St. Paul, Minnesota. His mother came form a wealthy background. Her family had made a fortune in the wholesale grocery business. She was, however, an eccentric and absent-minded individual. On Mrs. Fitzgeralds oddness a family friend commented that if they met her on the street she might be wearing one brown shoe and one black shoe and a goofy hat twenty years out of date. Her son, it seems, was not happy with his mothers odd behavior. Letters written to her indicate he wished to keep her out of his life.  His father, Edward Fitzgerald, on the other hand was someone the boy admired. His father came from a prominent Maryland family. He always represented the upper-class Southerners traditional manner of elegance. He seemed to provide his son with a perfect model of behavior. Good manners notwithstanding, Edward Fitzgerald could not compete in the aggressive business world of the North. He lost a small wicker furniture business in 1897 and went to work as a grocery salesman for the Proctor  Gamble Company. In 1908 he lost his job and never recovered from the blow. The family had to exist on the money from Mrs. Fitzgeralds family (Hook 03-04).

Fitzgeralds courting and eventual marriage to Zelda Sayre is another telling point in the authors life. Zelda was a rebellious Southern belle who turned down Fitzgeralds initial marriage proposal because he wasnt rich enough. Once he had sold his first and second novels, Zelda reconsidered. They were married in 1920 (Hook 25-28).

Mrs. Fitzgeralds eccentricities, Edward Fitzgeralds failures, Zeldas indecisiveness and the money troubles that plagued F. Scott Fitzgerald from childhood helped to lay the groundwork for the characters in The Great Gatsby.  

The characters of the Great Gatsby bring out in detail the darker side of the American dream. Tom Buchanon is the most sinister character in the book. He lacks a great deal of feeling, but is also completely confident the cards are stacked in his favor. He is able to effortlessly woo and wed Daisy while Gatsby is off fighting the War. When Gatsby sets out to win her back, Tom ruthlessly exposes the shady nature of Gatsbys wealth. A showdown at the Plaza Hotel turns Daisy into a prized possession, fought over on the basis of social and economic conventions. Buchanon asserts himself as a lord, Gatsby as a serf. Daisy is the woman who is the property of the American estate. Tom has a domineering quality which adds to his cruelty. He is described by Nick Carroway as having a cruel body. Other words used to describe him and add to his power are aggressive, dominance, and hard (Fitzgerald 11). Tom leads a superficially enviable life. He achieves the pinnacle of excellence at the age of twenty-one. Everything that comes after is anti-climactic. He comes from a wealthy family and spends his money through college without a care in the world (Fitzgerald 11).  His irresponsible attitude spills over into his morals as well. Tom has that element of power that overwhelms. He is portrayed as a constant predator, even if he is just taking a stroll down the street. He represents the American Dream at its most dangerous. The character who believes he was born to be King of the Mountain and will not let anyone forget it.

Daisy herself is reminiscent of Zelda. The woman who only wants to wed a successful man. Tom is Daisys ticket to a good life. Just as Zelda refused to marry F. Scott Fitzgerald unless he was a successful writer (Bloom 18). Daisy wants her life shaped immediately and waiting for Gatsby to come home from the War proves to be too much for her. She must have a decision, be it by love or money and she chooses money.  Her love for Gatsby was dangerous and defiant. He was the poor boy from North Dakota. Without any assurance of his standing in the world Daisy surrenders to a safe, material, propertied union with Tom Buchanon. But she is not the victimized soul she likes to portray herself as being. Like her friend, Jordan Baker, she is apathetic and vapid. She is not as worthy or valuable a goal as Gatsby seems to think she is. She also lacks a conscience and is incapable of resisting corruption (Bruccoli 81). Her immobility rises from a lack of values. She is so rich and bored that she lacks true self reliance and cannot commit herself to anyone or anything. She depends on the society she lives in for validation, but her wealth only gives her a false sense of independence. She fits in the category of the materialist who respects society, luxury, the establishment. She lives her life in a languor like a lotus eater (Fitzgerald 62), defining her emotions against extreme boredom and flighty desires. Daisys contrived affectations imply that she is a woman who is well aware of her actions and their effects. She abstains from making any concrete decisions. When her friend Jordan wishes to plan something for the longest day of the year Daisy turns to Nick and asks helplessly Whatll we plan What do people plan  (Fitzgerald 16). Affected and disingenuous, Daisys words are inconsequential, and they indicate an inability to see the significance of actions and relationships. Even in Daisys relationships with Gatsby and Tom one sees this apathy and absence of self-reliance. The day before her wedding to Tom, Daisy is drunk as a monkey (Fitzgerald 81) with a letter from Jay Gatsby in her hand. Daisys apathy seems to disappear when she begins to resist this wedding Say Daisys change her mine  (Fitzgerald 81). Then, in the face of opposition, she didnt say another word (Fitzgerald 81), and the Next day at five oclock she married Tom Buchanan without so much as a shiver and started off on a three months trip to the South Seas (Fitzgerald 81).

Jordan Baker is another character consumed with decadence and deceit. Nick speaks of her as being incurably dishonest. She wasnt able to endure being at a disadvantage and given this unwillingness I suppose she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was very young (Fitzgerald 63). He details another story about Jordans deceit. At her first big golf tournament there was nearly a row that reached the papers. Someone had suggested she had moved her ball from a bad position in a semi-final round. It approached the proportion of a scandal then died away. A caddy and a witness both retracted their statements. She also lied about a car at a party. A car she borrowed was left out in the rain with the top down. Jordan lied about being the one who left it out (Fitzgerald 68). Jordan understands the concept of right and wrong, but she is like Daisy in that she does not resist the world in which she lives. Her spiritual emptiness rivals Daisys own.
Dishonesty reigns supreme in this society, almost all of the characters engaging
in some sort of dishonest activity. Toms illicit relationship with Myrtle Wilson is
revealed by Jordan Baker, who announces to Nick that Toms got some woman in New York ((Fitzgerald19). Myrtle, as Toms mistress, is treated as callously as Tom treats all his relationships.
Their relationship is definitely flawed, cemented only by sex and money. Tom satisfies Myrtle just enough so that she does not complain.  Myrtle gets what she wants, but she is not truly connected to Tom or his world in any way.  She has the furniture he gave her and the dresses, but neither she nor Tom have any understanding of love (Carnes 91).

One of the incredible acts of cruelty occurs when Daisy kills Myrtle in a hit and run car accident. Gatsby tells Nick, Daisy stepped on it. I tried to make her stop but she couldnt so I pulled on the emergency brake. Then she fell over into my lap and I drove on (Fitzgerald 151).

Daisys response is plainly cowardly and disturbingly callous. She does not even try to take responsibility for her own actions, in this case the death of Myrtle. When Nick sees Tom and Daisy through the window into their kitchen, he sees them sitting opposite each other at the kitchen table with a plate of cold fried chicken between them and two bottles of ale. He was talking intently across the table at her and in his earnestness his hand had fallen upon and covered her own. Once in a while she looked up at him and nodded in agreement (Fitzgerald 152) Daisy simply reverts into her position as a rich society wife, and seems to have no visible second thoughts for Gatsby, and the woman she has killed, when she and Tom leave town.

Nick Carroway, the storys narrator, is the outsider who observes and reports. He is an example of innocent ambition. Its his basic goodness that draws the reader in. It is through Nicks eyes that we observe this crumbling, fragile world. Nick has his own ambition to accumulate wealth through the bond business. He strives through hard work and perseverance to accomplish his dream by lunching with the bondsmen and clerks (Giltrow, and Stouck). He too possesses a desire for wealth. But he manages to keep a level head. Especially when the disasters start mounting.  Gatsby and Tom fighting over Daisy. Daisy running over Myrtle, Toms mistress, in Gatsbys car. In the end his is the voice of wisdom as he presents this story as a cautionary tale (Schnakenburg 115).  

Without Nick Carroway it would be extremely difficult to see any good in Gatsby himself. Jay Gatsby is a bootlegger and a fraud, but he is defrauding a system that is a bigger fraud. Prohibition is a farce. The generation of the roaring twenties is captivated by glittering success and who- cares- how- you- came- by it mentality. Gatsby is the quintessential, but doomed dreamer. No matter how wealthy he is he will never win over Daisy. Gatsby believes in himself, and this speaks well of him. Through Nick, we are given a positive sense of Gatsby. Nick portrays Gatsby in a romantic manner, but the truth of the matter is that both he and Gatsby are the least dishonest of all the characters (Smart).  Both Gatsby and Nick share sensitivity toward their fellow human beings and an idealism that is the opposite of the decadence and deceit shown in the other characters.

F. Scott Fitzgerald experienced a decline and a loss of his own dreams towards the end of his life. He always lived beyond his means with his wife Zelda. She was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent her last days committed to various institutions. Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood to work on screenplays. He died there in August 1940. He had 706 to his name, most of which covered funeral expenses (Schnakenberg 193).

The Great Gatsby speaks of the decadence, deceit, and death of the American dream. Gatsby wants to buy Daisy with money, but win her with love. The people around them, Tom Buchanon, Daisy Buchanon herself, Jordan Baker, Myrtle Wilson, the inhabitants of West Egg and East Egg are ultimately proven to be worthless, self-serving socialites. Even though Gatsby does not see it, Daisy is not a prize worth keeping. Nick is honest enough in his own business dealings and its through his eyes that we come to sympathize with Gatsby. Gatsby himself is no innocent. But his love for Daisy and for life elevates him above all the others, even Nick Carroway. The tragedy F. Scott Fitzgerald describes in his work is not the tragedy of American materialism, but American idealism. Not born of American thinking, but American feeling. It is not about calculations but aspirations.