The Disillusionment of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Dreams and Ideals in The Great Gatsby

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the American economy ascended, bringing unprecedented levels of affluence to the nation. The chaos of World War I left America in a state of distress, and the generation that fought the war turned to profligate living to recompense. In this novel, Fitzgerald found this new lifestyle seductive and, like Gatsby, he had always idolized the very rich. In this era, unrestrained materialism set the tone of society, which ends to the collapse of all characters and society. This novel represents Fitzgerald’s attempt to confront his conflicting feelings about the Jazz Age. Here we analyze major characters, symbols, themes and plot of this masterpiece as a tragedy, and a social novel. This creative work has been identified as one of the greatest novels of all time with Fitzgerald's incredible use of realism and symbolism. Moreover; there are some elements that make this work a modernistic and existential one. These key elements that made this work a success are obvious in the development of characters, plot, themes and setting throughout the novel. It is a highly symbolic meditation on 1920s America as a whole.