The Great Gatsby As A Tragedy Essay example -- English Literature

The Great Gatsby As A Tragedy A hurried read of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby can generate a tragic impression. The deaths of three of the main characters and the failure of Gatsby and Daisy's romance can be viewed as tragic. However, a deeper analysis of the book reveals a much deeper tragedy. The relentless struggles of Gatsby himself parallel Fitzgerald's apparent ideas of the struggles of all Americans. The American dream romanticized by the majority of the population is really unattainable because it is, in fact, nonexistent. Every character has an unfortunate role and could be called a tragic character. However, the main tragedy is that of the title character. Gatsby experiences nothing but tragedy in his life. He begins miserable and ends miserable. He begins his life in a poor family where he feels he truly does not belong. His parents were unsuccessful and "his imaginationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦never really accepted them as his parents at all"(104). Always envisioning a better life for himself and a bigger purpose for his life, he has an amazing ability to make his dreams come true. As a child he dreams of being wealthy and living in luxury, and he attains this. When he is older he dreams of having Daisy, and for a time he achieves this dream as well. He reaches out for the green light at Daisy's dock symbolizing the embracing of his dream. Once the distance between him and this dream is removed, he has exactly what he thinks he wants. However, it is this belief in the dream that leads to his eventual downfall. Nick reflects on Gatsby's aspirations saying, "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us" (189). Gatsby has an unusual quality of persistent hope... ...is family, education, and the way he fell into his money. His name is not actually Gatsby either. Like the "Great Houdini", Gatsby can make unreal things seem real. His entire life is an illusion to everyone but Nick. It is heartbreaking that in order to be happy Gatsby feels that he must put up these false fronts and skew reality in the eyes of others to make him into something that he is not. Gatsby's struggles are very similar to those of the American society in this particular era. In one case, the contender is reaching for an unworthy dream and in the other it is the contender that is unworthy of the dream. Fitzgerald combines the two struggles to produce an overall tragic comment on society in the 1920s. The lack of heart in the old aristocracy, the death of the American dream and the falsehood of the dreams unite to form the tragedy in the novel.