Five reasons 'Gatsby' is the great American novel
Deirdre Donahue, USA TODAY
It's time to revisit that ultimate literary cage fight: Which classic deserves The Great American Novel victory belt. In March, a Publishers Weekly poll crowned To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Other factions agitated for Moby Dick, Huckleberry Finn, The Sound and the Fury and The Grapes of Wrath.
Set on Long Island and New York City, The Great Gatsby is narrated by 29-year-old Midwesterner Nick Carraway. After coming East to learn the bond business in the summer of 1922, Nick reconnects with his cousin, a Southern debutante named Daisy. She is the wife of Nick's racist Yale classmate, the staggeringly wealthy ex-football star Tom Buchanan. Nick also becomes friendly with his neighbor, a mysterious millionaire named Jay Gatsby. Gatsby's obsession fuels this tale of longing and loss, of dreams and disillusion.
Here are five reasons why The Great Gatsby should rank as The Great American Novel:
1. It's the most American of stories. Encoded at the very center of our national DNA is admiration for the self-made success story, the mythic figure who pursues and fulfills his dream — someone like Jay Gatsby, a "Mr. Nobody from Nowhere" who rises from obscure poverty to immense wealth.
"It's the Great American Dream," says Jeff Nilsson, historian for the bimonthly The Saturday Evening Post. "It is the story that if you work hard enough, you can succeed."
Leading Fitzgerald scholar James L. W. West III agrees. He calls The Great Gatsby "a national scripture. It embodies the American spirit, the American will to reinvent oneself."
West says it is no coincidence that The Great Gatsby is probably the American novel most often taught in the rest of the world. "It is our novel, how we present ourselves. ... [Fitzgerald] captured and distilled the essence of the American spirit."
Yet Gatsby also explores the dream's destructive power. "Americans pay a great price for that dream," says Nilsson.
The Great Gatsby also captures money's power to corrupt, to let the rich escape from the consequences of their actions. Here's Fitzgerald's description of that original 1% couple: "They were careless people — Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money …"
2. The romance of the Roaring '20s. Fitzgerald was the poet laureate of what he named "The Jazz Age," the most raucous, gaudy era in U.S. history.
"The 1920s is the most fascinating era in American culture," says Nilsson. "Everything was changing so much." Youth in revolt didn't start in the 60’s with Woodstock.
It was the 1920’s flappers, cars, sex, movies, gangsters, celebrities, a stock market minting money, everything awash in illegal booze. The wildest parties and bad behavior among the rich and famous today have nothing on the you-only-live-once hedonism depicted in The Great Gatsby.
3. It remains relevant. It offers complicated characters who can be interpreted in fresh ways for new readers. Is Nick in love with Gatsby? Could Gatsby — the other, the outsider — actually be a black man? Often dismissed as a selfish ditz, is Daisy victimized by a society that offers her no career path except marriage to big bucks?
At a recent press conference, the most recent actor to play Gatsby noted its relevancy today. "It is one of those novels that is talked about nearly 100 years later for a reason," says DiCaprio who first read Gatsby when he was 15. "It's incredibly nuanced and it's existential and at the center of this movie is this man who is incredibly hollow."
4. Crazy love. What makes Gatsby magical is his motivation. Although he's made his fortune as a bootlegger and gambler, greed doesn't drive him. Rather he's on a quest to reclaim Daisy.
Still, The Great Gatsby isn't a romance about how a nice millionaire almost wins back the girl of his dreams. It's about a narcissistic obsession with the past. To Gatsby, Daisy isn't a married woman with a daughter. She's an object, something he lost and wants back. Which makes his actions — such as buying a mansion across the water from the Buchanans so he can stare at the green light at the end of their dock — well, kind of creepy and stalker-like.
5. Imperishable prose. Forget the critics, the theories, even the characters. For Fitzgerald's fans, it's the language. "Fitzgerald had a pitch-perfect ear," says West. "There's not one flabby sentence," says Nilsson.
For evocative beauty, what can ever beat the last line of The Great Gatsby, which is engraved on the grave Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda share. "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
-Do you agree that The Great Gatsby is “The Great American Novel?” Why or why not?
-If not, then what novel do you think should be considered for that title?
-According to this article, how does The Great Gatsby relate to this idea of The American Dream? And does the book believe in the dream or critique it?
ReplyDeleteI agree that The Great Gatsby is “The Great American Novel” because all of the reasons are true. It’s a very popular book and movie. A lot of people have read it/watched it, and it’s enjoyable to most. It does have crazy love. Fighting, heartbreak, cheating, and a whole lot more. The Great Gatsby, as I can agree, does remain relevant. It relates to what happens now. Cheating and loving someone other than who you’re married to or dating. The book has all of what went on in the 1920’s. All of the crazy violence, love, cars, and a lot more.
The Great Gatsby relates to “The American Dream” because it’s all about extravagant parties. Gatsby also lives in a luxurious mansion. Just what some people want. Jay Gatsby seems to have a lot of money, which is also apart of the dream. Money can’t buy happiness, but a lot of people, or most people, would love to have a lot of money. Gatsby also has many friends and is able to have fun and pretty much do what he wants. Gatsby has people decorate his house for the parties, then has people clean up the messes and fix whatever was broken or ruined after the parties. A lot of people also know him. Some not in a good way. I also think that the book critiques “The American Dream” because it never mentioned if Gatsby had a job or not. Not saying you can’t be successful without a job, but usually people that are successful have good paying jobs. Plus, where does he get all of this money from.
I would say the Great Gatsby is a great novel. The book is read all over the united states. Its a great book/movie about love partying and fighting. Many people have watched or read the Great Gatsby. The things that happened in this story still happen today. Couples fighting cheating on each other and some well actual love.
ReplyDeleteThe american dream does relate to this book. They are rich men whom sleep around with their wives and cheat. They party and have agreat life. They are mostly happy.
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I agree that the great gatsby is “The great American Novel” because most of the reasonings are true about the novel and how popular the book can be. Even though we haven’t read all of the book yet, we have learned a lot. it describes the american dream throughout the book and has good reasons that it could be it . Even though I think that it describes all the reasonings and all, another novel that I think is good as The great gatsby is To kill a Mockingbird because there was good points to consider it one of america’s great novels. The great gatsby can relate to this idea because Gatsby is a wealthy guy that has parties like every weekend. He has a lot of money and I think that’s one everyone’s dreams even though some don’t care for the money or luxury things. He has people who are always working for him, like cleans his house and decorates for his parties. The american dream would be like that but there are also a lot of things going on in the novel like cheating and fighting.
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ReplyDeleteYes I think that “The Great Gatsby” is the Great american novel because people read it all over the United States. A lot of people have watched it and read it. There are reasons in the book that are real life and people can relate. There are so many themes throughout the book like you can put the american dream and see how it can relate to it.The Great Gatsby can relate the American dream. The book has cheating, fighting, and past feelings and it makes everything harder. However It can relate because in the book Gatsby has so much things for example a good house, so many cars, nice clothes, he has people doing things for him and has money.. Some of us want things like that & to be successful.
Yes i do agree that the great gatsby is the great american novel because there’s events in this book that relate to people everywhere, events that happen in real life like the cheating, or betrayal, fighting, all of this can relate to normal everyday people and can happen to literally anyone. Also this relates to the american dream because gatsby has a huge mansion and tons of money, which a lot of people want and desire to have. Gatsby also has a lot of friends as well and is well known in a lot of places, unfortunately for him he has all this money but not the girl he wishes he had, which in this case it’s daisy. Along with him being well known, he always throws these huge parties that a lot of people go to. All of these things and events in the book can relate to what people think is the american dream, but money cannot buy happiness.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the novel The Great Gatsby is “The Great American Novel” for a couple of reasons. For one it’s a great novel and it’s pretty popular if you ask me. Another thing is all of the reasons you can relate to the novel. For example, the novel shows love, successfulness, cheating, anger, and etc. Gatsby had came along way from being in the Military to becoming a gambler and bootlegger. Which those two had made him wealthy and rich. Especially finding his true love in the mix of everything. One thing you can say about Gatsby was that he never gave up and was chasing the American Dream. One thing he conquered was becoming rich .. getting a mansion and living his life . The only thing he struggled with was romance. Also in the novel there were heartbreaks and affairs but at times there was love. For example, pretty much everyone that was married was also having an affair. There was fighting too. For example, when George Wilson thought Gatsby killed his wife. Wilson went out and shot Gatsby while he was in his mansion poolside. Most importantly the novel took place in 1920 where everything in the novel was pretty much like the real world. The novel relates to the American Dream because they were all wealthy in some type of way . Also Gatsby has the most relatable story to the American Dream . For plenty amount of reasons . He has a mansion , luxury car , and expensive clothing . He throws parties every weekend at his mansion with thousands of people. Not everyone can do that. Also, Gatsby came up from nothing. Meaning nothing was given to him. He was doing illegal things that put him to the spot he is at now . Not everyone can do that, especially without getting caught in the mix of it. It’s pretty impressive. But I do think the book critiques the American Dream .
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