F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby and Winter Dreams

F. Scott Fitzergerald had been one of the most accomplished writers of his time. The Great Gatsby was one of the works that brought most of the attention to his writing skills, published in the year 1925, the book brought to light about the lack sustainability of the American dream. In the book, Scott brings out the fact that, the idea of social mobility is an illusion (Clark). This he does, through the story of Jay Gatsby, who falls in love with a lovely woman from high social class. In an effort to please the lady, he works hard to make money to marry her. In the end the lady marries a man from her social class. In the end Jay dies with the illusion that he was a self made man, while in the real sense he had over reached his social status. In this book there are several themes that come out and that build on the story and meaning that Scott wanted to the masses to understand. Of the main themes in the book are gender roles and the American vision in the American dreams.
Great Gatsby
1.Gender roles On the eighth page of the book, tom Buchanan is seen to close the windows in the room. In the expression of the writer, there is wind that is locked in within the room as the windows close. Some of the objects in the room that are affected by the blowing winds are the rugs, curtains and some two women that are in the room as well (Denby).
In this context, the women as shown as objects and the men are shown as powerful and more valuable than the women.2.Gender rolesOn page fifteen as both miss Baker and daisy the wife to tom converse, the theme of gender roles is also exalted. In the conversation Miss Baker seems surprised that Daisy does not seem to know or have any clue to the fact that her husband was having an affair with a city girl. The same statement is also illustrated between Jordan and Nick.3.Gender rolesOn the seventeenth page there is a statement about girls are supposed to be fools. This implies that daisy is a fool, a reflection of the girls of the time.4.Gender rolesOn page 18 and 19 as both Tom and Daisy talk about Jordan Bakers, they show a lot of sexist ideas of the time. According the, Jordan should not be let to go round the country on her own, according to Daisy, she should be staying at home as it is good for her.5.Gender rolesOn page thirty, Mr. McKee is described as having some features of the body that are quite feminine (Bbc.co.uk).6.Gender rolesOn the thirty seventh page of the book, Mrs. Wilson is seen to shout Daisy’s name and at the same time there is the element of Daisy breaking her nose as Tom hit her with his open hand. Tom was always quite dominating and he never at any one time wanted to be the one to be a subordinate.7.Gender rolesOn page seventy six, Scott writes about the fact that daisy was drunk. She lay on the bed drunk with a bottle of Sauterne on one of the hand and a letter on the other hand. This extract, shows that the women of this society in the 1920s were not allowed to behave like this (Fitzgerald, 76).8.Gender rolesOn page 116, Jordan is seen to whisper in a manner to signify that she did not want to be heard. This illustrates the theme of men having been very dominant.9.American Dream On page three there is a statement that talks about America having the best of advantages in the world. This signifies that America is the best country in the world. For the rich it is always easy and they do not have to work as hard to make a living as they have many advantages in life. For the poor it is not as easy and they have to work very hard to match up to them. 10.American DreamOn page 4 and five, Nick is seen to explain that he did not come from one of the noble families. However, his is quick to explain the fact that his family is now noble through the hard work of his grandfather, who started a wholesale business.11.American DreamOn page seven Nick talks about his idea of the American community in Chicago. According to him there are two types of the American people; including the hard working ones from middle east and those from the East Egg, who are hard working and fashionable respectively.12.American DreamOn page 24, as nick and Gatsby row across the waters, all which is visible from the boat out into the darkness is a light green at the docks. When...