Summary of "Fable of the East and West"

Robert Ornstein points out that F. Scott Fitzgerald's Fable of the East and West is "little concerned with twentieth century materialism and moral anarchy" (54) as much as it does romance. Those who are already monetarily secure, no longer focus on their personal ambitions but instead give up and feel their life is a complete oasis. Ornstein makes the connection that Gatsby is the descendant of Dutch sailors and the rest of the characters are also searching for a port of their lives that have vanished.

We agree with Ornstein's approach that the ideology of the frontier is not centralized on materialism and morality but rather on romance and personal ambition. Gatsby is on a romantic quest not one of either of the latter. On the way, we think, he takes sup-paths down both the morality and materialism ways, but Gatsby is not concerned with either of these as much as he is with his romantic fantasies. Along with sub-path into materialism, we think that people who are as secured as the Buchannans and Gatsby are, they are not as concerned as the others, Wilsons.

Shannen Olan
Liam Regan
Susie Klein

"Delusions of American Idealism" by Joyce A. Rowe

Joyce Rowe believes that the much-coveted American dream is replaced by a superficial quest for wealth and power, ultimately leading to a sense of false fulfillment. She speaks of how Fitzgerald confirms myth with history and uses the Dream to exaggerate reality. Rowe identifies Gatsby’s father figures as people manipulated by outside forces, and that their connection with Gatsby is less than personal, as they both use him to further their own interests. She describes Gatsby as a representation of the paradox in which Americans are morally corrupt but yet guilt-free. She views Gatsby as separate from the other characters, all of whom have all lost sight of their own dreams. She explains how Nick Carraway sympathizes with Gatsby by his own attraction to Daisy and dislike for Tom. Rowe views the people who live in East Egg as snobby and arrogant, while those in West Egg are promiscuous and reminiscent of the frontier. She does not believe that Nick’s return to the West was to salvage Gatsby’s dream, but instead he goes back just to leave behind “ugliness, greed, and human sterility” (94). Rowe has a pessimistic view of the Dream, and believes that the book is a story of the fall of the American hopes.

Some of Rowe‘s views on The Great Gatsby are accurate, but others are debatable. Her opinion of Fitzgerald’s use of Gatsby—as a self-made man—is supported by his transformation from less-than-rich lieutenant to wealthy mansion-owner in East Egg. Rowe also views Gatsby as a “meretricious” man with a “Platonic conception of himself” (87), expressed by his eagerness to spend money on his mansion and gaudy car, as well as the parties he throws every weekend. In addition, Rowe’s view on the American dream as being transformed into a superficial pursuit for material things is supported by her explanation of Gatsby’s dream of following the “grail,” which is Daisy, a beautiful, wealthy, shallow girl. She also accurately points out that dreams “ennoble” reality, or exaggerates it, because Gatsby is forced by circumstance to give up his dream of being with Daisy. Rowe claims that Gatsby’s “surrogate fathers,” Dan Cody and Meyer Wolfsheim, ultimately betray him (90). This is true because Dan Cody allows himself to be manipulated by Ella Kaye, and Gatsby does not receive any of his inheritance. Likewise, Wolfsheim relies on Gatsby only for money, and does not even attend his funeral. Rowe believes that most of the characters, all except Gatsby, are connected only in terms of manipulation and dishonesty, which stresses the idea that Gatsby is separate from the others, also because he is the only one who has not lost the vision of his dream. However, Rowe views Nick Carraway’s return to the Midwest as a sort of resignation, instead of a way to save Gatsby’s dream. This is can be contradicted by the idea that Nick views the West as “mankind’s last hope for social and moral redemption” (95). Most believe that the ending of The Great Gatsby offer hope for salvation of the American dream.

Works Cited:

Fitzgerald, Francis Scott. The Great Gatsby. 1925. New York: Scribner Paperback
Fiction, 1992.

Rowe, Joyce A. Equivocal Endings in Classic American Novels. N.p.: Cambridge University Press, 1988.

Contributing group members: Daphne Tan, Kelen Jiang

Ethics in Gatsby: An Examination of American Values

The Article “Ethics in Gatsby: An Examination of American Values”, by professor Tony McAdams, discusses the ways in which Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby provides “an excellent ground for the examination of American ethics” in respect to wealth, class, and the “American dream” (McAdams 111). The article outlines his analysis of Fitzgerald’s clever characters, and of the ways that the values of the 1920’s, the era that the book was written, impacted Fitzgerald and were incorporated into his great novel. In the first movement, McAdams focuses on the main characters, such as nick who matures from a “priggish country boy to a mature wiser man” (McAdmas 113), who mirrors the six stages of physiological development. He believes that the moral and circumstantial experiences Nick is exposed to in the east has transformed him into acquire a sense of the hidden complexity and hardships of the rich life. He proceeds to discuss Gatsby’s life of delusion, and the reasons why he is such an attractive character. Although Gatsby is “adolescent in live and, and makes us of others” like Nick for “his own selfish purposes”, McAdams argues that readers still admire him because of his charm, commitment, and “embodiment of the American Dream” (McAdams 114). He also analyses Tom and Daisy and how they “personify the doubts that Fitzgerald seemed to feel towards the wealthy world”. He also brings up that all the characters seem to be in some respect—liars. Another point that McAdams touches on is the corruption of American Values, and how these corruptions affected both Fitzgerald’s life and later, the plot and characters in his Great Gatsby. After a close study of Fitzgerald’s background, McAdams found that the writer himself was turned down by two rich women that he loved because like nick, he was not rich. According to McAdams, “The Great Gatsby is a commentary on the themes of wealth and class in America in the Roaring 20’s”(McAdams 118) and that the American Dream is in fact, a “Dream corrupted by materialism”.

In general, we agree with Tony McAdams views about the novel. We all love Gatsby, even though he is shady and has a murky past. He is deceitful, and yet we root for him to win Daisy, the love of his life. Also, as McAdams pointed out, it seems as though all of the major characters are liars. Tom cheats on Daisy with Myrtle, Gatsby lies about how he amasses such a great fortune, and Myrtle lies all of the time to Wilson. We also really enjoy the part of the article when McAdams explains how Gatsby relates to Fitzgerald. We agree that sometimes Americans focus on their material possessions rather than on their true happiness. Often. As can be seen in Gatsby, people marry because of material wealth rather than love.

Tony McAdams is a professor of business law at University of Northern Iowa.

McAdams, Tony. "Ethics in Gatsby, An Examination of American Values ."
The Great Gatsby as a Business Ethics Inquiry. Vol. 12. N.p.: n.p., 1993. 111-119.

Alexandra Giedd
Stephen Rigaux
Rachel Zidar

Gatsby Is a Fairy-Tale Hero for the Middle Class

Robert Emmet Long suggests that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s vision in The Great Gatsby describes a fairy tale situation, filled with enchantment and illusions. The birth of the American dream, rising from the middle class, creates a fairy tale-like enchantment or illusion, distorting reality. This enchantment, Long writes, hides reality for those under its shadow. He describes how it may hide social barriers, and make them seem to disappear. True reality, however, is not eliminated because of the enchantment, and the barriers eventually reemerge full force, often causing failure. He also writes about his view revolving around the impending evil that contrasts the good in society. He describes how the Buchanan’s and Wilson’s life styles appear to be “bewitched by evil forces, which are beyond containment or control” (71). They eventually cause a “good prince” (71), Gatsby, to give way to the “dark prince” (71). In the fairy tale world of Gatsby, certain enchantments may make things appear better than they are, but eventually give way to what truly exists, and the evils that this reality may involve.
Long describes The Great Gatsby as a struggle between good and evil forces. Gatsby represents the good, or the hope that exists within society. Although this feeling of hope is suggestive of positive and beneficial feelings, it has the tendency to cause overly confident people to fabricate their goals until a point where they are out of reach. This holds true in Fitzgerald’s novel as Gatsby is perfect example of this hope. He remains successful and has acquired enormous wealth his dream of finally achieving his love with Daisy lies slightly out of his grasp. This is because of his instability and lack of real upper class background. Although he has somehow slipped through the social barrier that now does not seem as solid or restricting to him, Long’s predictions seem to hold true, as he is still not truly and upperclassmen at heart, and he is not fully able to succeed in trying to be one. Thus, his dream of being with her disappears in failure, leaving him with disappointment. Long’s assertions also hold true for the impending evils in the world, as evil does seem to eventually outlast the goodness and “good prince” of Gatsby. He eventually ends up dead, along with Wilson, while the source of the evils, the Buchanans, live on as if nothing has ever happened. In Great Gatsby, all evils are hidden at some point, only to reemerge and for the most part, triumph, over the goodness of the original fairy tale.
Robert Emmanuel Long is a critic of British and American Literature. He also has contributed as a writer and editor to many literature pieces, in addition to writing numerous pieces for various journals and other writing sources. He has contributed to The Nation, and The Saturday Review, along with many other contributions to various sources.

Continuum. 11 Dec. 2008 .
Fitzgerald, Francis Scott. The Great Gatsby. 1925. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1992.
Long, Robert Emmet. “Gatsby Is a Fairy-Tale Hero for the Middle Class.” The Achieving of The Great Gatsby. N.p.: Associated UP, 1979. 68-71.

Kyree Clark
Hunter Oppler

The American Dream: All Gush and Twinkle

In his article, "The American Dream: All Gush and Twinkle", Louis Auchinclos discusses the idea tat the American dream is a myth. He describes the dream as being as fake as "the tinselly department store window ar Christmastime" (84). To the author, the American dream is represented by Daisy. It is vain, superficial, and full of itself, unable to put anyone else's desires before their own. Gatsby's "dismal atmosphere" represents the average American's life, consumed with that beautiful store window just as an "urchin on the street would be" (84). Gatsby, like the average American, is entirely consumed with that possibility, and can think of nothing else besides that possibility.

Louis Huchincloss’s article on the American Dream in The Great Gastby merely seems to ask questions about Gatsby’s motives and summarize the story in terms of how it reflects the questionable ideals of the characters and the times. One of the more important questions it raises is whether “falling in love with a beautiful heiress with a moneyed smile; regardless of her shallow, deceiving, selfish tendencies... justifies criminal activity?” This seems to bring up the question of whether or not Gatsby was right in his pursuit of Daisy, who was introduced in the article as embodying the American Dream. While it would seem admirable that Gatsby was madly in love with Daisy and was a classic romantic about it, it does appear questionable that he used illegitimate means to attain his wealth and that his entire life was centered around the attainment of a woman, who, by any legal means, was out of his reach, and who also was not even that desirable, apart from her beauty. Daisy was merely a greedy girl whose rearing in money led her to desire it even more. And if Daisy is the embodiment of the American Dream, it only makes sense to say that greed has it’s price.

The True Heir of the American Dream- Marius Bewley

Summary: Although many think F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Great Gatsby" is about living the American dream, the underlying message is the corruption of the dream. Gatsby is the midpoitn between illusion and reality. Everyone knows and has a sense of who Gatsby is. When it comes down to it, both Daisy and Gatsby are overrated and two dimensional characters. Daisy's only purpose is being nothing more than another disappointment to Gatsby. Gatsby is naive for liking her because she is just as destructive as Tom is. The reason Daisy and Tom are together is because they are a mirror image of each other, two destructive people. Although "The Great Gatsby" shines some light on the good parts of the American dream, all in all, it is a harsh criticism of it.

Analysis: We agree with Bewley--to an extent. His ideas get to be a little too extreme. "The Great Gatsby" is about the corruption of the dream but Gatsby isn't a mythic character or an impersonal character. The article digs deeper into the book, especially in terms of Daisy. All Daisy ends up doing is disappointing Gatsby, and she really is a lot like Tom. Daisy represents a dream that is dead and gone, something Gatsby had a little too much faith in, only to disappoint him.

Works Cited
Fitzgerald, Francis Scott. The Great Gatsby. 1925. New York: Scribner Paperback
Fiction, 1992.

Beweley, Marius. "The True Heir of the American Dream." Fitzgeral'ds Criticism
of America. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 96-105.

Roya Shariat
Jenny Zaki

"The Grotesque End Product of the American Dream" by Richard Lehan

Richard Lehan believes that “Gatsby never learns that his dream is dead, but that realization is Nick’s nightmare” (Lehan 104). Lehan equates Gatsby’s dream with nostalgia, pragmatism, and a woman. Gatsby moves to West Egg because he “longs for the unattainable” (107). Gatsby is from a different time period that is being replaced by a new “order” (107). Since Gatsby is too caught up in his past, he prevents himself from moving forward. Lehan claims that Gatsby is the “absurd incarnation of Benjamin Franklin” (109). Lehan explains how Gatsby became a self-made man without the style and authenticity of the upper class. All of Gatsby’s actions reflect his desire to be with Daisy. However, Daisy was never destined to be with him. Gatsby never realizes this fate, but Nick becomes restless upon seeing Gatsby’s dream fade away. Nick returns home to the West because he can no longer “exercise the will to realize an ideal” (106). Lehan views Nick’s return as “a meaningless gesture that is antiheroic” (106).

Lehan discusses many precise conclusions regarding Gatsby’s dream. Gatsby yearns for his past relationship with Daisy and still has hope of being with her. Nick noticed how Gatsby always “talked about the past,” as if “he wanted to recover something” (Fitzgerald 110). Gatsby wants to relive the days of romance when Daisy was madly in love with him. Although Gatsby has made a fortune, his new money cannot buy him the high class taste that Daisy likes. Gatsby’s “cream colored” car “bright with nickel and green leather” displays his tacky and flamboyant style (63). Gatsby tries to attract Daisy with his huge mansion, luxurious cars, and over-the-top parties. Gatsby fails to see his dreams have “diminished by one” (93). Unfortunately for Gatsby, Daisy is more comfortable with Tom’s old money. Daisy will never leave the security and stability that Tom provides with his old money. Nick is troubled by Gatsby’s eternal hope for being with Daisy. After Gatsby’s untimely death, Nick returns to the West to restore his morals. His return is anything but “meaningless” (Lehan 106). Nick wants to leave the immaturity of the recent events and grasp what is left of his ideals.

Richard Lehan is an English professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. Lehan has written many literary criticisms on books written by American and European authors who include Daniel Defoe, Charles Dickens, Emile Zola, Bram Stoker, Rider Haggard, Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, Theodore Dreiser, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Raymond Chandler.

Works Cited
Fitzgerald, Francis Scott. The Great Gatsby. 1925. New York: Scribner Paperback
Fiction, 1992.
Lehan, Richard. “The Grotesque End Product of the American Dream.” Focus on F. Scott
Fitzgeral’s The Great Gatsby: The Nowhere Hero: 104-10.

Kevin Chen
Daniel Jean
Mullin Weerakoon