gatillus Unattainable Illusions in The Great Gatsby :: Great Gatsby Essays

undoable Illusions in The gravid Gatsby The work of Fitzgerald is the product of the Jazz era, a judgment of conviction when tout ensemble gods had been declared dead, all wars fought, and all faiths in men had been shaken. Fitzgeralds manner is a combination of American idealism and nihilistic pessimism. In The Great Gatsby, whose originally proposed title was Among the Ash-Heaps and Millionaires, we also find a narrator and expressive demeanor that make honorable judgements through the narrator pass, a constant overseeing moral vision that is symbolized by the ever-watchful eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. Despite the glittering appearances and tangible ostentation of West Egg, something is perceived as being not quite a right with the conventional American dream and those who achieve it. Nonetheless Nick opens the novel by remembering his fathers advice Reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope. I am still a little afraid of missing something if I forget that, a s my father snobbishly suggested, and I snobbishly repeat, a sense of the fundamental decencies is parcelled out unequally at birth (Fitzgerald 1). The briny character Gatsby, despite the appearance that he has achieved the American dream, is actually a man alone who tries to turn back the clock and win his honest love Daisy. However, despite the glittering parties and material luxuries of Gatsbys world, Fitzgeralds style admits a ripe stream of cynicism that is pervasive throughout the novel. When Daisy tells Nick her baby might be a girl she says And I hope shell be a fool-thats the outflank thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool (Fitzgerald 17). This cynicism and world of false appearances are evidentiary to Fitzgeralds style, especially because the author discovered in his own existence that all that glitters is not necessarily gold. As much as Gatsby loves Daisy, she is far from a paragon of virtue. As much as Gatsby is admired for his material victory only two people attend his funeral. The cynicism and nihilism in the novel are products of an era that was discovering that even the American dream is an illusion. In Fitzgeralds style this is true even for heroes like Gatsby, a man who is described at the beginning of the novel as being in control of vivification to the point where he even owns a piece of nature Something in his leisurely movements and the secure position of his feet upon the lawn suggested that it was Mr.