The Great Gatsby analysis

Fitzgerald's elusive, hopeless view of society and mankind reveals the struggles that the world undergoes to move forward and provide changes to the world, but also the inability to remain enthralled with unspoiled world around them, often ending in a worse situation in which they began.

In Fitzgerald's view of the shore, he notes the "inessential houses," and watches the "shadowy, moving glow" of the ferries on the river, all the while contemplating the "vast obscurity beyond the city." He uses language that gives a sense of transparency and an unrealistic tint to the objects that society has deemed necessary and essential for life, spinning the objects as mere illusions, detracting from the actually view of the world- the area "beyond the city", where society has not obtained and improved. Fitzgerald offers these thoughts as an explanation to the faults of society- namely the need to alter and change and buy "stuff"- that was very prevalent in the 1920s and continuing today, with our consumerism culture leaving all who participate with an unfulfilled sensation, showing how everything that we attempt to use to change the world is not fully the answer, how it is the ghost of what we truly want to do in the world.

Fitzgerald also discusses the short attention span of society, with "man...face to face for the last time something to commensurate to his capacity to wonder," with man always trying to "run faster, stretch out our arms farther" to something new, while the dream-what man actually wants- "was already behind him." These phrases give an unreachable sound, like the dream is always one step ahead and can not be attained, or so we think; Often times society places more interest on certain goals that we think we must have, when the actual goal may have already passed by, and we did not reach out to grasp it. By showing humanities lack of interest in the vast wonders of untainted society, the author demonstrates how society is always running for the newest object, like culture today, with new products being unveiled constantly, never to be satisfied with what they have-ultimately leading to a downward spiral back to the original and the past.

Fitzgerald paints a bleak picture of a world riddled by consumerism and dissatisfaction with the world surrounding them. If this general trend continues, the entire system may implode in on itself, and history will repeat itself; maybe not a situation as serious as the Great Depression, but before long, society will return to the unspoiled pleasures of the world. Once society terminates the habit of chasing after the manifestations of dreams, the world will right itself and recover the lost ground caused by the consumerist trends plaguing our nation.