The Great Gatsby is One of America's Greatest Novel: Literary Analysis Essay

Introduction

The Great Gatsby is a novel by Francis Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby was published in 1925 and is Fitzgerald most famous novel. Today the book gets considered as an American Classic as a result of various adaptations of the narration getting used and made for radio, television, and film. It is one of America's greatest novels, and for about half of the century among the 20th-century best-selling books, it holds a high place. Ninety years later after the publication of The Great Gatsby, it gets regularly recognized and also named one of America's greatest novels to ever be written in the English language.

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The American Dream and Corruption

There are numerous reasons why The Great Gatsby is one novel considered one of the Greatest American Novel: First, the novel is the most American in the context of the stories. The book gets encoded at the center of America's national DNA as a success story self-made for a mythic figure who in his efforts and pursuit achieves his dream. He rises from the poor boy living in deep poverty to a person wielding immense wealth. James West III, a leading scholar, refers to the story as, "a national scripture. It embodies the American spirit, the American will to reinvent oneself." It also gets exemplified by the fact that The Great Gatsby is one novel that is probably the most taught American novel worldwide (Buell). The novel is also the most famous of Fitzgerald, and this is in no doubt a coincidence. It is a story that is motivating in many respects, for instance, if you work hard you will succeed. The novel captures many stories that relate to the America way of life. It captures the power that money has to entrench corruption and let the rich people escape, in this case, from the acts that are unlawful. Fitzgerald describes the one percent original couple as "They were careless people - Tom and Daisy-they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money..." The book accurately captures the way in which the system is easy to circumvent for the rich people (Scott 145). They go about doing wrong things such as the smashing then when in trouble seek reprieve using their money.

Timeless Relevance and Staying Power

The second, the novel remains relevant. The story got published in 1925 about 93 years ago but remains among the most prominent selling and read books not only in America but also outside the country. The novel is one that does not lose its modernity. West, an English literature professor, highlights that he has taught the book for decades to the college students, but its relevance never fades and has a staying power that keeps it on the upper end as one of the significant dominant novels. The novel brings an unfailing teaching delight. In a press conference recently, an actor Leonardo DiCaprio notes that the book is one that gets talked about nearly a century later. He informs that the novels coverage and relevance is for a reason.

The Roaring Twenties and Romantic Fascination

The third, the novel has an accurate depiction of the romance in the 1920s. The author was the "Jazz Age" Poet Laureate of the gaudiest and raucous era in American history. The novel makes the 1920s seem like a fascinating time in the American culture. It began with the "Lost Generation" in which The Great Gatsby created a scene of bad behavior and wildest parties among the famous and rich with the hedonism of you live only once.

Complexity of Love and Motivation

The fourth, Crazy Love. The novel is not just about romance concerning how a good millionaire wins back his dream girl. The story entails a narcissistic obsession concerning the earlier times. Daisy is not married to anyone even though she has a daughter according to Gatsby. To him, she is like something he lost once and wants it back. It makes Gatsby activities, for instance, purchasing a mansion from the Buchanans across the water to stare at the end of the dock at the green light. In the novel, Gatsby Motivation makes him magical. Gatsby fortune is as a result of being a gambler and bootlegger, but greed does not in any way drive him.

The last, it expresses the quality of the art in the novel with its artistic work. Namely through truth, beauty, and representation of life. The creative work in the story is perhaps the most superior quality in The Great Gatsby. The novel has imperishable prose that is mind boggling and captivating. West states, "Fitzgerald had a perfect ear." For the fans the language in the novel is captivating, and this gets captured in the last line in the novel which reads, "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." Nilsson says, "There's no one flabby sentence." He denotes the prowess by Gatsby in writing the novel to achieve such accuracy (Scott 153). The end of the story in a way justifies the means with the kind of quality in the novel.

Conclusion

In conclusion, The Great Gatsby is indeed one of America's greatest novels. Its expressive art, its high place, and position in comparison to the other books written in the 20th century show that it holds a high place. The novel revived the1920s, set the current fashions and ultimately provided space for dialogue amongst the readers for three generations. Even without dwelling on the literary merits of The Great Gatsby comfortably qualifies as one of America's great.

Works Cited

Buell, Lawrence. The Dream of the Great American Novel. Harvard University Press, 2014. Accessed 5 April 2018.

Scott, Fitzgerald F. The Great Gatsby(1925). Ripol Klassik, 2017. Accessed 5 April 2018.