In the first Chapter of the Great Gatsby, and more importantly in the first pages, Fitzgerald points out the whole theme of the book : a materialistic decadent way of living in the United States during an era of decline of the American Dream which it actually provoked. Nick is both excited and disgusted by Gatsby's lifestyle, and even though it represents everything he hates about New York, he still admires Gatsby. Fitzgerald starts to depict a materialistic America and slowly point out the reasons of such a decline through Nick's disgust of the excess of American way of living.
To Fitzgerald, these excess are just a facade that tries to hide an inevitable fall of the American Dream. Indeed, the East Egg scene is a perfect representation of the mask : Tom and Daisy's beauty and wealth only hides a more important hidden emptiness, corruption and even unhappiness.
I agree. All the trouble in the novel comes from the characters trying to achieve "the american dream", but in the end everyone comes up miserable. Though Daisy, through Tom, was able to find wealth she is still deeply unhappy. Her less fortunate counter-part Myrtle is unable to, and so she seeks a loveless affair with Tom who breaks her nose! As the market got worse, people became more opulent until it finally crashed. It would be interesting to read a sequel to this novel that takes place after the crash, where all the characters have woken up from the dream.
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