“The Great Gatsby” is a tragic love story on the surface, but it is more often understood as a despondent critique of the American Dream. This novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925 portrays the American dream as wealthy individuals who work effortlessly to achieve wealth and fame because their families have "old money". The Great Gatsby is a novel that shows events that occurred in the 1920s and shows Jay Gatsby overcoming his poor past by trying to achieve what is known as the American Dream, only to be rejected by the "old money" crowd. Because Jay Gatsby worked and earned his own money, he was rejected and lumped into the "new money" crowd. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald uses symbolism to amplify the story's themes and characters, as well as a specific purpose. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of race, gender, nationality, or the class they were born into, can be successful no matter what. This success comes with hard work and sacrifice to achieve what you truly want in life. Fitzgerald uses a variety of literary devices to portray The American Dream. An example of this is the relationship between the two, Jay Gatsby and Daisy. Through the novel, it is shown that Jay Gatsby was poor from the beginning and because of this, Daisy did not stay or marry him. Coming from completely opposite families, Jay Gatsby grew up in a poor family but after returning from the war he saw what he thought was the love of his life with someone else. He needed to change, so he started working hard for what he wanted, to be rich, respected and have a different future. Early in the novel, Nick talks about when he saw a figure, who we learned was Gatsby, at the end of the West Egg side dock, holding out his hand towards a green light on the other side of the lake. In Gatsby's mind, this green light represented his hopes and dreams for a life and future with Daisy while Fitzgerald retconned this green light to represent the American dream. When Gatsby begins to tell Daisy about his knowledge of the green light after reuniting with her, Nick notes, “Perhaps it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of the light was gone forever. His enchanted item count had decreased by one." For Gatsby, this green light began to disappear as he began to rekindle Daisy, making him think that he would have her back in his life, as well as also symbolizing money and wealth and the thought that he will be able to win Daisy from her husband Tom Fitzgerald created this green light for Gatsby to represent the American dream as he comes from the lower class and worked his way up to the top have achieved the American dream, he was actually still being mocked and lumped into the "new money" crowd and would never be able to change from that, as well as not end up with the girl, Fitzgerald introduces the Valley of Ashes that lies between West Egg and New York City, and is made up of a long stretch of empty land created by the dumping of all the industrial ashes. The Valley of Ashes represents poverty and social decay which results in the pursuit of wealth and symbolizes the unfortunate situation of poor, like George Wilson and his future wife, Myrtle, who both live surrounded by dirty ashes. The lower class, like Myrtle, has hope and wants a perfect picture and a rich lifestyle, but unfortunately cannot leave. This proves what the American dream is.