Chasing Shadows: The Clash of Dreams and Reality in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby

Abstract

F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1925) stands as seminal  critique of the American Dream,  exposing the moral  bankruptcy  benefit its glittering facade. I argue that Great Gatsb's trajectory his obsessive  pursuit of Daisy  andcthe idealized past serves as allegory for the corrupted American Dream,  where materialism supplants  moral integrity. Key symptoms like the green light and Valley of Ashes  are examined as manifestations of this tension between aspiration and reality, while  Nick's Carraway's unreliable narration underscores  the novel's central  paradox.  The Great Gatsby's enduring relevance as both a Jazz Age artifact  and a cautionary tale about the dangers of conflicting  dreams with delusion. Ultimately, Fitzgerald's masterpiece compels us to question what is lost when society  privileges spectacle over substance and ambition over ethics.