Masaryk University
Faculty of Education
Department of English Language and Literature
Štěpánka Nárovcová
The American dream and the destructive influence of distorted values in An American
Tragedy and The Great Gatsby
Bachelor thesis
Supervisor: Mgr. Jiří Šalamoun, Ph.D.
2020
I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.
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20 April 2020, Brno Author’s signature
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Mgr. Jiří Šalamoun, Ph.D. for his guidance, helpful advice and supportive comments that he provided me throughout my work on this bachelor thesis. Furthermore, I would like to thank my family and friends for their support.
Anotace
Tato bakalářská práce se zabývá tématem amerického snu a hodnot ve vybraných dílech
Americká tragédie a Velký Gatsby. Práce obsahuje analýzu snahy o dosažení amerického snu hlavních postav Clyda a Gatsbyho a zaměřuje se na hodnoty, které volí na cestě k jeho získání. Závěrem této bakalářské práce je zjištění, že hodnoty hlavních postav spojené s bohatstvím, láskou a morálkou jsou pokřivené a negativně ovlivňují směr při pronásledování jejich amerického snu. Tyto hodnoty s sebou nesou destruktivní následky a vedou nejen k selhání jejich amerického snu, ale i k jejich smrti.
Klíčová slova
Americká tragédie, Americký sen, bohatství, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, hodnoty, láska, morálka, selhání, Theodore Dreiser, Velký Gatsby
Abstract
This bachelor thesis deals with the theme of the American dream and values in the selected works An American Tragedy and The Great Gatsby. The thesis analyses the pursuit of the
American dream by the main characters Clyde and Gatsby and focuses on the values chosen on their way to achieve it. The findings of this bachelor thesis suggest that the main characters’ values of wealth, love and morality are distorted and negatively determine the form of their chase of the American dream. These values imply destructive consequences and lead not only to the failure of their American dream but also to their death.
Keywords
An American Tragedy, American dream, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, morality, love, The Great
Gatsby, Theodore Dreiser, values, wealth
Table of contents
Introduction ...... 7
1. Francis Scott Fitzgerald and Theodore Dreiser ...... 9
2. The Roaring Twenties ...... 11
3. Definition and history of the American dream ...... 12
4. Plot summary ...... 14
4.1 The Great Gatsby ...... 14
4.2 An American Tragedy ...... 14
5. Background of the novels ...... 16
6. Depiction of the American Dream in the stories ...... 20
6.1 The Great Gatsby ...... 20
6.2 An American Tragedy ...... 24
7. Values ...... 29
7.1 Moral values ...... 29
7.1.1 The Great Gatsby ...... 29
7.1.2 An American Tragedy ...... 33
7.2 Value of wealth ...... 38
7.2.1 The Great Gatsby ...... 38
7.2.2 An American Tragedy ...... 41
7.3 Value of love ...... 44
7.3.1 The Great Gatsby ...... 45
7.3.2 An American Tragedy ...... 48
Conclusion ...... 53
Bibliography ...... 56
Introduction
‘Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,’ he told me,
‘just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had
the advantages that you’ve had.’(Fitzgerald 3) (Italics added)
The idea of the very first line of the novel said by the father of Nick Carraway, the narrator of The Great Gatsby, accompanies the whole story of Jay Gatsby as well as Clyde
Griffiths, the main character of An American Tragedy. Both characters are influenced by poverty of their family, which makes them think more how to better themselves. Their
American dream for a brighter future gets formed more precisely after their first encounter with wealth and women, which causes a transformation of their values.
Although the American dream is similar in both novels since it includes wealth, women and power, it is different from the original idea of the American dream. As described in the theoretical part, the idea of the American dream was according to Adams formed centuries ago in minds of European settlers who sought for a better future in America. During the centuries, the form of the American dream changed as well as the tools and ways to achieve it. While in the 17th century it was believed that the American dream can be achieved by hard work, the pursuit of the American dream in the 20th century presented by Clyde and
Gatsby is less pure. Both Gatsby and Clyde take an advantage of chances that occur in their life and thoughtlessly pursue their dream.
Both the main characters focus on their dream too much that they ignore the morality of their actions. Moral values together with the value of wealth and love are closely analysed in the literary part of the bachelor thesis that brings the main finding of thesis. It suggests that warped values of the main characters lead to the failure of their American dream as well as their death. It is because the American dream and values are closely connected since the
7 values determine the form of the pursuit of the American dream and therefore also its achievement or failure.
As for the content, this bachelor thesis consists of 7 chapters. After the introductory chapter, a theoretical part follows to introduce the authors of the novel, the history of the
American dream, brief plot of the stories and background of the works to sum up the theoretical approach of the novels which should serve as a base for the following analysis of the American dream and values. Following two literary chapters focus on the American dream expressed in the novel, especially on its form, starting point and its end determined by distorted values of the main characters which are closely discussed in three subchapters.
8 1. Francis Scott Fitzgerald and Theodore Dreiser
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, born on September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota, was an American novelist, a short story writer and representative of the Lost Generation. He was famous for his depiction of 1920s known as the Jazz Age (Mizener). Fitzgerald studied at
Princeton which he left without any degree in 1917. At the university, he met Ginevra King who became a model for his characters, e. g., Daisy Fay in The Great Gatsby (1925) or
Isabelle in This Side of Paradise (1920) which is an autobiography of his days at Princeton presented by its main character Amory Blaine (Johnson).
Soon after his studies, he joined the army and met Zelda Sayre, a daughter of a court judge (Mizener), who did not want to marry him because he did not have enough money.
However, after the success of This Side of Paradise, they got married and the Fitzgeralds started to live their American dream (Johnson). In 1922, Fitzgerald wrote his second work
The Beautiful and Damned (1922) – a novel about toxic wealth. Later, after publishing The
Great Gatsby (1925), his wife Zelda experienced several mental breakdowns. Subsequently,
Fitzgerald wrote a novel Tender is The Night (1934) which was an attempt to understand
Zelda’s mental problem which led, beside other reasons, to Fitzgerald’s growing alcoholism.
He died of a heart attack on December 21, 1940 (Mizener).
Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser was an American novelist, journalist of the naturalist school and the author of An American Tragedy which is closely linked with his life and job- experience. He was born on 27 August 1871 in Terre Haute, the State of Indiana (Hussman).
His father was originally from Germany and his mother had ancestors from Czechoslovakia
(Loving 1). Since his family constantly sought for an economic stability (Riggio), his choice of themes, including poverty, chase for wealth and success, was determined by his own experience searching for his American dream (Hussman) as well as his quest for the right woman (Loving 4).
9 In 1892, Dreiser started to work as a journalist and collected material for his later fiction (Riggio). He got inspired by works of T.H. Huxley, J. Tyndall and H. Spencer which made him believe that people are helpless against social forces or instincts (Hussman). At the end of 19th century, Dreiser married Sarah White and with her support he started to write his first novel Sister Carrie (1900). Eleven years later, he published Jennie Gerhardt, whose family was modelled on Dreiser’s one, The Financier and The Titan with a new subject – an
American financier. In 1925, he published a novel An American Tragedy that brought him into the successful life he had been dreaming of since his childhood. The story of the novel is based on his notes taken while working as a journalist in New York. He reported on crimes which in his opinion characterized American life – e. g. murders with a motive of an escape from a relationship in order to marry another woman who is believed to bring wealth into the murderer’s life. After this novel, he wrote just two more fictions –The Bulwark (1946) and the
Stoic, the third novel of the Trilogy of Desire, which remained unfinished since Dreiser died of heart failure on December 28, 1945 (Riggio).
10 2. The Roaring Twenties
Both works The Great Gatsby and An American Tragedy were written during the
1920s which is a decade known as The Roaring Twenties. The following chapter summarizes basic description of this period for a better understanding of the background of both novels.
1920s was a dynamic decade of several cultural and economic changes in the United States characterized by consumerism, technological inventions, prosperity, leisure and shift towards modern values (Sullivan). In these years, The United States was very rich thanks to the First
World War and other states owing this country a lot of money. At this period, people could afford more, and their life got more comfortable. Furthermore, many people bought items with the motto “Live now, pay tomorrow”, which meant that they first paid only a small amount of money and the rest of it through an “installment plan” (O´Callaghan 92). This change was caused also by the rise of production in electrical and automobile industries, which made cars affordable for the middle class as well, and thus people travelled further and more frequently since then (Sullivan). Moreover, by the year 1920, 50% of the population moved to cities as a result of growing urbanization (O´Callaghan 92).
Besides, this decade meant also a relaxation of the American society’s moral codes.
Before this period, women were expected to get married at a young age and stay at home with their children. Instead, they enjoyed other activities, such as spending time with their friends, in social clubs and at parties (Sailus), which can be seen in both selected novels.
11 3. Definition and history of the American dream
The American dream is the main theme and core of both stories. The phrase was created at the time of the Great Depression by James Truslow Adams who defined the term and looked closer at the history and development of the American dream in his work The Epic of America published in 1931 (Samuel 13). Adams basically rediscovered basic values in
America among which belonged success, freedom, opportunity and social equality, and put all of it together under a new phrase. Said differently, he connected the strange with the familiar
(Schneiderman in Adams 15) and created an expression known worldwide.
After his book was published, the term of the American dream was used by intellectuals, scientists as well as in academic articles or political speeches (Schneiderman in
Adams 10-12). The theme of the American dream can be found for instance in John Dos
Passos’ trilogy USA, in the novels of Thomas Wolfe, Wilber Caldwell, John Steinbeck,
Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Dreiser’s An American Tragedy as well as in cinematography and art (Shestakov). Moreover, the American dream is so widely spread that it has been used also as a metaphor for items the Americans value in their life (Schneiderman in Adams 9). It means for instance having a family, successful life, job with an appealing salary and as a result of that, being happy. Originally, it did not represent the dream of getting rich or owing a property but primarily being free from restrictions (Samuel 14).
The roots of the American dreams are interwoven with the history of the United States and its independency (Shestakov). Adams claims that the American dream started to form in the 17th century in minds of European settlers who came to America in order to escape from their bad social and economic conditions overseas. These settlers were mainly members of the lower- or middleclass. Some of them were coming from prisons or cottages, never from palaces since the aristocracy remained in Europe (Adams 31-37). They hoped for “a better
12 and freer life” which they could not afford in their country. Thus, the early colonists valued hard work since they saw it as the way to achieve their American dream (14).
To summarize, the idea of the American dream in its original form was an achievement of a better life, which became “the very structure of the American mind” (Adams
119). It represented not only the belief that poor and rich have equal chances and opportunities (135) but also the faith in the value of a common man (198) created in hearts and souls of millions of people who came to America from all nations (416).
13 4. Plot summary
For the following analysis of the American dreams and the values of the main characters in the selected works, it is important to introduce the plot of the stories to be able to recognize specific passages, relations and connections within the whole novel.
4.1 The Great Gatsby
The narrator of the book is Nick Carraway, a young man working as a bond broker in
Manhattan. He lives in a house at West Egg on Long Island across the river from his cousin
Daisy and her husband Tom Buchanan. His neighbour is a millionaire Jay Gatsby who profits mainly from his criminal activities. Gatsby is in love with Daisy and everything he has done and possessed is to show her that he can give her the life she wants. Daisy loved Gatsby in the past but when he left for war, she did not wait for him and married Tom who belongs to the same social class as she does. Later, Nick arranges a meeting of these two after many years and it seems that Daisy is still interested in Gatsby. However, Tom can see that something is happening between his wife and Gatsby and gets jealous although he is also involved in an affair with Myrtle, a married middle-class woman. Thus, Tom makes a research and reveals where Gatsby’s money comes from. Consequently, Daisy loses her interest in Gatsby and while she is driving home very fast, she hits Myrtle who dies short after. Tom indicates to
Myrtle’s husband that Gatsby is the one responsible for her death since it was his car that hit
Myrtle. The novel ends with the murder of Gatsby by Myrtle’s husband (Cregan-Reid). At the end, all Gatsby’s guests forget about his hospitality, and no one comes to his funeral.
4.2 An American Tragedy
The main character of the novel is ambitious but immature Clyde Griffiths who grew up in a poor religious family. He is involved in their missionary work and does not get a proper education because of him constantly skipping school. After Clyde starts to work, he
14 meets manipulative Hortense Briggs who persuades him to buy an expensive coat for her. At the same time, his mother is begging him for money for his sister who is in need, but he chooses Hortense instead. Later, when he and his friends are rushing from a party, they hit a little girl who immediately dies. Although there are witnesses, they flee from the crime scene.
Consequently, Clyde runs to Chicago and starts to work in another hotel under a fake name.
In this luxury hotel, he meets his rich uncle who offers him a job in his company. Thanks to his name, he gets a certain power and people around him think that he is as rich as his uncle.
Soon after that, he finds a girlfriend, Roberta Alden, who gets pregnant with him. Yet, he already hopes for a marriage to Sondra Finchley, a very rich young lady. Roberta as well as the unborn baby stands in his way to achieve his dream. Therefore, he decides to murder her or more precisely, let her drown in the middle of a lake. When the moment comes, he freezes and unintentionally strikes Roberta with a camera when she is leaning to him to find out what is wrong with his mood. Roberta falls into water shouting for help. However, Clyde start to swim towards the shore letting her drown since he knows that she cannot swim. Roberta dies and Clyde is apprehended. Although he does not admit committing the crime, there are plenty of evidences. He is sentenced to death and executed by an electric chair.
15 5. Background of the novels
Both works reflect the society in the 1920s based either on Fitzgerald’s own experiences or a real story in case of Dreiser. The Great Gatsby is a novel defining the contradictions of the 1920s the generation of which was not moving only towards financial bankruptcy caused by the Great Depression in 1930s but also into a moral bankrupt (de Roche
37). This era influenced Fitzgerald, the same as Jay Gatsby, who was longing for a better quality of life, position and privilege. Yet, although Fitzgerald lived among the rich people on
Summit Avenue, like Gatsby, he never belonged to them - he was always outside of their world even though he was part of the community (43).
At the university, he met Ginevra King who was according to James L. W. West III, an expert on Fitzgerald, the most important romance that Fitzgerald ever experienced. When they were corresponding, Fitzgerald asked her questions about her past and affairs trying to get more material for his characters based on her. Ginevra inspired him to create Daisy
Buchanan who also came from a rich family being not allowed to marry a poor man. In connection with her, he wrote a quote in his diary saying ‘“Poor boys shouldn't think of marrying rich girls”’ (Smith), which was perhaps said by Ginevra’s father and caused the end of their relationship. This line probably led Fitzgerald to the idea of writing The Great
Gatsby. Furthermore, when Ginevra married a rich man from the same social class
(Lombardi), which is another similarity to Daisy, Fitzgerald avoided seeing her to keep the perfect illusion of her that he used in his work (Smith).
After Fitzgerald joined the army (in The Great Gatsby we can also see the reference to the army and World War I) he met Zelda Sayre, a daughter of a court judge (Mizener). Gatsby also met Daisy when he was in the army, which is evidence that Daisy portrayed not only
Ginevra King but also Zelda Sayre. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald used Zelda’s line that she told him when she was under anaesthesia after the birth of their daughter: ‘“That the best
16 thing for a woman to be was a beautiful little fool”’ (Lombardi). This statement used in the novel shows Daisy’s understanding of the world which rewards women for being foolish rather than smart. Yet, it is the only moment when Daisy expresses “sensitivity and self- awareness” (Prahl).
However, Zelda refused to marry Fitzgerald because of his lack of money but after the success of The Side of Paradise, he became more affluent and Zelda agreed to marry him
(Mizener). As a follow-up to the great success of the book, the Fitzgeralds started to enjoy their lives in New York. Their parties and behaviour powered by alcohol soon made them symbolic of the 1920s which Fitzgerald described in his novels (de Roche 44). Nevertheless, their extravagant lifestyle led soon into a debt. Although they kept enjoying their lives, they started to be worried of its consequences. Like in Gatsby’s case, wealth did not bring any happiness to Fitzgerald either (Mizener).
Another important experience implied in the story was Fitzgerald’s stay in Long Island where he saw the difference between the “new money”, people who enriched themselves during their lives, and the “old money”, people who were already born rich. This difference and division inspired him to create the fictional neighbourhoods of West Egg and East Egg
(Lombardi). However, despite the parallel between Gatsby’s and Fitzgerald’s life and experience, there is one difference. Fitzgerald reflected the whole himself into Gatsby telling the readers about his own life with one change – Gatsby is presented without an alcohol addiction, which Fitzgerald later attempted to divest of. Due to this addiction, Fitzgerald struggled with money and never became a part of the world of the rich (Lombardi).
In An American Tragedy, we can find similar parallels to Dreiser’s life and experience as well. Short after the publication of the novel, Dreiser explained in several articles its historical background. The story is mostly based on the destiny of Chester Gillette, who murdered his girlfriend Grace Brown since she became an obstruction to his rise in social
17 status, Dreiser’s own life experiences, and lastly, his observations of the American society
(Plank). Although Dreiser used Chester’s case quite precisely, he changed little details which made Clyde look more like a victim of the society. Yet, both men are examples of a failure of the American dream due to their bad values. The story of Gillette is mentioned in this chapter as well in order to understand Dreiser’s choice of themes, among which belong ambition and importance of social classes and wealth, as well as the whole pattern of the American dream in this work.
Dreiser chose the case of Chester Gillette mainly because of the availability in the newspapers, which was the only way to gain the information since he started to examine the case many years after the trial. Dreiser used the newspapers The New York World and The
New York Sun (Loving 303-306) from where he directly quoted speeches from the trial as well as Grace Brown’s letters which contributed to a better authenticity of his novel (Plank).
Moreover, Dreiser chose Chester’s case also because it depicted the American society which surrounded him. While he worked as a journalist, he experienced many similar crimes connected to warped values and a murder for a higher social status.
Nevertheless, if we examine the historical background of the story closely, we can see that Dreiser used most of the parts of the original story precisely but the details he changed and added are the most important. In fact, he created more characters and larger issues according to his pattern which should represent what was in his eyes wrong in the American society. It was his imagination that the crucial pattern of the story came from. One of these patterns is Clyde’s social and economic motivation to commit the crime. Whereas Chester
Gillette was very confident at the trial and sarcastically answered to the questions given by the prosecutor (Plank), Clyde was according to Dreiser a victim of American society and forces which he cannot control.
18 Similar to Clyde, also Chester took Grace for a trip to the lakes where he planned to murder her. In Chester’s case, he stroked Grace with a tennis racket, which makes Chester more cold-blooded than Clyde. Furthermore, he contended that Grace committed a suicide because Chester insisted on telling her parents about her pregnancy. In contrast, Clyde did not take any tool to do so and theoretically, he stroke Roberta by accident. He maintained his innocence claiming that the boat capsized, and he was too scared to help Roberta since she was kicking around herself (Loving 300). Nevertheless, the justice was done and both men were brought before the court.
Yet, not only Chester’s but also Dreiser’s personal life became an inspiration in this novel. Since the newspapers did not give Dreiser enough details, he started to fill in the gaps with his own past and experience as a journalist. He was born in a poor family with a fanatically religious father who, like Clyde’s father Asa, failed to take care of his family
(312). Thus, he sought his whole life for wealth, which determined the choice of his themes in his novels (Hussman). According to Loving, he was, like his main character Clyde, searching for his American dream and in his autobiography, he admitted his fantasy of marrying into a rich family (300). He used his dream in the novel and allowed Clyde to get very close to fulfilling it just before Roberta announced her pregnancy and created a barrier between him and rich Sondra Finchley. In fact, Dreiser found himself in a similar situation because he had set himself between his wife Helen and other women, which inspired him while writing the story. Furthermore, his relationship to his family had its impact while writing the book as well. Dreiser confessed his intentions to escape from family crises as well as being ashamed by them (300-313). He reflected that attitude in the novel by having Clyde ignore that his sister is in dire straits. Instead of helping her, he rather buys an expensive coat for a girl who does not love him. In this passage, and many following ones, Dreiser consciously exaggerates the barrier between the rich and the poor and the emergence of social category (298).
19 6. Depiction of the American Dream in the stories
The form of the American dream as well as the way of its pursuit is individual. Every person chooses different aims to chase and follows a different path to achieve it. This chapter focuses on the form and pursuit of the American dream in case of Gatsby and Clyde since the early age of their life till their death.
6.1 The Great Gatsby
The story of The Great Gatsby does not only describe the society of the 1920s, it gives us also an insight into consumerism, corruption, values determining priorities and psychology concerning the American dream and its failure. Adams, as already mentioned, explains that the American dream was first seen in the 17th century in the very clear and basic form.
Members of the middle class wished for a better future and freer life which they could not afford in their home countries. Also, the American dream was supposed to be achieved by hard work (Adams 14-31) but as we can see in The Great Gatsby, the idea of the original
American dream has not the same idea since it changed throughout the centuries. The
American dream of 1920s displayed by Fitzgerald is focused on wealth, power and success.
Moreover, the main character of the novel Gatsby, who is trying to reach his dream, does not pay any attention to the moral side of his doings and behaviour. It is a dream in which money and “material possessions” are equal to “happiness, harmony, and beauty” (Fahey 70).
A part of Gatsby’s dream is to achieve the financial and social position of the members of the “old money” (Fahey 70). In The Great Gatsby, the society on Long Island is divided into East and West Egg. East Egg is home of traditional wealth - families who have been always rich, the so called “old money”. Among them belong Tom and Daisy Buchanan born in rich families. In contrast, the society of West Egg is full of the “newly rich” who are displaying in a quite bad taste that they have arrived at financial level of East Egg (Fahey 70).
They are “too newly rich” to have the “self-cultivation” which the traditionally wealthy
20 people have (Fahey 71). They differ from them in cultural background, “sophistication” and particularly in “refinement” (71).
Gatsby belongs to the society of West Egg. Having no sense of tradition, he simply copies the style of East Egg (Canterbery 300). Nick describes his house as “a factual imitation of some Hôtel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool and more than forty acres of lawn and garden”
(Fitzgerald 7). However, Gatsby is sure that his huge mansion and expensive parties full of newly rich people make him visible enough to become a real part of the world of the wealthy, which should bring him to the fullfilment of his American dream.
On the other hand, although he is living in wealth, he is living in a paradox as well - he is “a man who equates quality with quantity, cost with value” (Fahey 70). In detail, he spends money on parties which he does not enjoy, invites people who he does not know and does not even wish to meet or befriend. In fact, his mansion with a marble swimming pool, which he does not use, and a huge library full of books, which he has no knowledge about, should only show his social status and give a signal to his love, Daisy, that he is ready to be part of her world. Nevertheless, although he thinks he has arrived at the same level of life in which Daisy lives, the members of the “old money” see him as a “clownish arriviste, crudely aping their ways” (70-71).
Yet, it is Daisy that embodies his inspiration and propulsion power for his actions on his way to achieve his American dream. Since the moment he met her, he “has lived not for himself but for his dream” (71) that was presented by Daisy and wealth she lives in. In addition, for a poor man growing up on a farm in North Dakota seeing his parents’ unsuccessful life, was meeting Daisy something extraordinary. Gatsby had never been in such a mansion and was amazed how normal this home was for Daisy – it was “as casual a thing to her as his tent out at camp was to him” (Fitzgerald 158). However, after he left for the army,
21 she disappeared “into her rich house, into her rich, full life” leaving Gatsby the same
“penniless young man without a past” (Fitzgerald 159) who she met before.
Although Gatsby has been very ambitious since his early age, which confirms also the fact that he never accepted his parents due to their poverty, the main motivation for his ambitiousness and living the American dream is, as mentioned before, Daisy. Gundle describes Jay Gatsby as a person who ‘“is not just an ambitious individual but a man who has his dream, a dream that can be seen as the American dream of success and personal happiness”’ (qtd in Bachelor 181). His personal happiness is connected to Daisy and her wealth; and success is the way to get her back into his life. Therefore, everything he has done since they last saw each other is for her since she personifies his American dream of being rich and successful. Yet, Nick sees in him also “hope, a romantic readiness” (Fitzgerald 4) and love propelling his actions and motivation. Even so, when Gatsby says about Daisy that
“her voice is full of money” (128), Nick understands what really makes Daisy attractive to
Gatsby. It is Daisy’s origin, background and social level that makes her special. In his eyes she is not just a girl he loves, she personifies a considerable part of his American dream since he idolized her in his memories.
Concerning the early stage of Gatsby’s attempts to change his fate, it took place in
1907 when seventeen years old Jay Gatz changed his name to Jay Gatsby, which should mark the end of his poverty. On the same day, he met a rich sailor Dan Cody, who noticed that
Gatsby was “quick, and extravagantly ambitious” (Fitzgerald 107). Consequently, Gatsby was employed on his yacht for 5 years where he learnt cultivated manners of the rich and studied how their mind operates. Later, after Cody’s death, Gatsby was supposed to inherit 25 thousand dollars but at the end, Cody’s wife kept the whole amount of money for herself.
Gatsby was again penniless, but he learnt a lot about the life of wealthy people, which he could use in the future.
22 Five years after this experience, he met and instantly left Daisy for war. When he came back, he started to earn money in order to become rich and get Daisy back. It was speculated that he made a fortune from bootlegging and connections with dangerous people such as Meyer Wolfsheim. As a result of this criminal connection and quick earnings, it took him only 3 years to buy his huge mansion in location which was not a coincidence - he
“bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (Fitzgerald 84-85). After that, he had waited another 5 years until he finally saw Daisy again. In fact, he hoped that Daisy would appear some day at his party, but she never did, and they meet again thanks to Nick
Caraway, who lives next to Gatsby’s house and arranges their meeting. Gatsby feels like his dream is close to its fulfilling.
Finally, Gatsby invites her and Tom to his party where they both could see his wealth.
Instead of being impressed, Daisy is “appalled” by the life in West Egg (Fitzgerald 115). It offends her that all the inhabitants of this neighbourhood took “a shortcut from nothing to nothing” to become wealthy (115). Moreover, she cannot understand the “simplicity” she witnesses there; in her eyes these people do not belong to her class, the same as she feels that she does not belong among them (115). However, Gatsby does not want to see it and keeps his hope till the very end. As mentioned before, Daisy embodies his American dream and thus, he is ready to abandon his morals, law or his own good when Daisy hits Myrtle with his car. It is because Gatsby’s American dream seems “so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him” (193). Moreover, Gatsby is sure that the past can be repeated, and his wealth can be recognized as the wealth of the originally rich people. Yet, it is only happening in his mind.
When Daisy claims she loves Gatsby, Tom decides to reveal the illegal background of
Gatsby’s wealth. Yet, Gatsby tries to explain everything to Daisy but “with every word she was drawing further and further into herself” (144). It is evident that Daisy changed her mind
23 and will stay with Tom, but Gatsby does not want to give up or leave her, not even after the car accident causing Myrtle’s death. He feels to be so close to Daisy, to his American dream, and therefore still hopes that she will come back to him. He cannot see that she is further from him than she has ever been because now she knows about his criminal background and real social status.
Thus, despite years of work, Gatsby’s American dream remains unfulfilled. His belief for a love which does not exist followed by continuous disregard for morality of his actions and overvaluing money, power and success prevent him from achievement of his American dream. In this novel, Fitzgerald implicitly describes the rottenness of the society. He shows people’s mentality, boundless behaviour while achieving the American dream and their conviction that wealth will bring them infinite happiness, power and fame. Gatsby as well as the other characters in the story is not happy with their current state and seek after more, which besides his distorted values contributes to the failure of his American dream.
6.2 An American Tragedy
Both Clyde and Gatsby were born into poor families which they were ashamed of.
Clyde’s parents were street preachers and because of their work, they kept moving all over the country. As a result, Clyde as well as his siblings did not get proper schooling since their parents “neglected to keep their children in school in any one place” (Dreiser 12). Instead, all their children were taking part in the street preachments, which caused Clyde even more abashment: “he wished that they need not do this any more, or at least that he need not be a part of it” (7). The effect of this “was to cause Clyde to think harder than ever about himself.
And the principal result of his thinking was that he must do something for himself and soon.”
(24).
24 Seeing other boys with a car, surrounded by girls, Clyde got the impression that in order to find a girl, he needs to have money and neat clothes as a “standard of equipment”
(26). Initially, his dream was to have money to attract his possible girlfriend. As Chengcheng states, Clyde believed “in American dreams and in the values promised by American society—comfort, opulence, dignity, and security” (66). As a result, Clyde is seeking a job in order to earn some money. He starts to work as a bellboy in at Hotel Green Davidson that symbolizes the start of a better life. For the first time in his life, he relates to the comfort his life lacked. Meeting wealthy people, seeing their easy life, he starts to perceive money as the only way to have a pleasant life. In the American society of 1920s, it was believed that “better jobs bring more money and possessions, hence higher social status” (Saint Jean 7), which
Clyde considers as important.
Shortly after, Clyde starts to work in another hotel in Chicago and meets his uncle from Lycurgus who represents for him (like Cody for Gatsby) a stroke of luck and a chance to become more successful under his mentoring. Although he is offered only an inferior job, he feels that his name finally means something. He is finally treated with respect: “And Clyde, noting the unusual deference paid him—a form of deference that never in his life before had been offered him—was strangely moved by it” (Dreiser 174). Like Gatsby, he suddenly moves up the social ladder as he gets a chance to change something about his poverty. Yet, since his social status changes all of sudden, he reacts rather emotionally to this new perspective of his life. He cuts off the relationship with his new friends since he feels to be socially higher than them and in general, they do not fit in his plan to become wealthy:
What! Mix with people so far below him—a
Griffiths—in the social scale here and at the cost of endangering his
connection with that important family. Never! It was a great mistake. (Dreiser 207)
On the other hand, he appreciates the presence of Sondra Finchley (a parallel of Daisy
Buchanan) who, as a beautiful rich girl, creates a tempting combination for a man like Clyde
25 who has been very sensitive to money and social classes since his childhood. She becomes another stroke of luck on Clyde’s way towards his American dream. In fact, Sondra herself is amazed how quickly he was accepted in her world. He knows how to behave and dance but as
Orlov comments, it is only “a gathering of qualities (necessary but never sufficient) for a self that he cannot possibly be” (144). Therefore, despite these features and qualities compatible with those of rich people, he still fails to “access real wealth and power” (Phipps 229). He responds rather sensitively to the promises of the American dream while missing the ability to
“pursue the path to profit and status with sufficient rigour” (225). Moreover, his individuality starts to disappear “through his attempt to personify” his American Dream (223), which happens when he starts to meet Sondra more often. He overvalues wealth, increases the importance of it, stops to weigh the consequences of his actions and his values start to fall.
Nevertheless, Clyde still believes in his American dream which is now personified by
Sondra, her social standing and wealth that he hopes to obtain as well. Shortly before Sondra says that she wants to marry him and thus fulfil his American dream, an obstruction in form of Roberta’s pregnancy occurs. Roberta insists on a marriage otherwise she will come to
Lycurgus and let everyone know how he treated her. Consequently, Clyde connects this threat with the loss of his position in Lycurgus and therefore a devastation of his dream: “And then destruction! Ruin! The end of all his dreams in connection with Sondra and everything else here” (Dreiser 405).
A short time after Roberta’s threat, Clyde reads and article in the newspapers about a tragical accident on a lake where he has just been. It gives him an impression that it is not just a coincidence but his chance since the closing argument was that a boat capsized and both passengers died although only the body of the lady was found. Clyde immediately starts to contrive a plan based on this article. He chooses a path which is critical concerning the fall of his American dream as well as his life. This moment is similar to the one in The Great Gatsby
26 when Gatsby clutches at some last hope that he can get Daisy back and decides to carry
Daisy’s guilt on his shoulders, which is not only illegal but also brings him to his death.
Phipps points out that Clyde essentially becomes “one more element in the Great Society, a person who valorizes profiteering and glorifies action in a vacuous and predictably destructive manner” (223). Briefly, he can only see the profit but no consequences of such an action.
The murder of Roberta, or more precisely letting her drown, causes Clyde’s downfall:
“Charged with murder! Roberta dead! And Sondra dead—to him! And the Griffiths! And his uncle! And his mother!” (Dreiser 540). Clyde is sentenced to death and finally sees the consequences of his actions. In fact, he values his American dream over law, love, morality or life of Roberta Alden. Yet, Phipps indicates that Clyde’s problem “is not that he is a cold- blooded opportunist trying to live the American Dream, but rather that he is not cold-blooded or opportunistic enough to fulfil the American Dream” (231), which indicates that his behaviour should be even worse in order to achieve the American dream. However, according to Dreiser and his experience working as a journalist, the standard result of the American dream is only “a personal disaster, not a socioeconomic success” (Phipps 230).
Like Gatsby’s dream, also Clyde’s dream started to form already in his childhood when he had to take part in the street preaching organized by his poor parents and developed during the years in Lycurgus to his final form – a marriage to wealthy Sondra Finchley.
Whereas the American dream was connected to love in The Great Gatsby, Clyde was interested in Sondra mainly due to her wealth which he mentions more frequently than affection for her.
Finally, at the end of the book, there is Clyde’s nephew Russell, not even 4 years old, being a part of the sermon in the same poor conditions as Clyde was. By this closing part,
Dreiser possibly indicates that Clyde’s pursuit of the American dream as well as his destiny can be easily repeated due to the influence of the family background and society in particular.
27 It is not only Clyde’s personality and his distorted values but mainly the influence of the society of which Clyde is a victim since its values shaped his.
28 7. Values
Values and their form play a crucial role in both stories since they influence the main characters while making decisions. The main characters value wealth over any other aspects while moral values and value of love remain ignored. Moreover, we can see a parallel in the fall of values and the fall of the American dream since these two phenomena are closely connected and depend on each other throughout the whole novel.
7.1 Moral values
Moral values generally help us to distinguish what is right and wrong. The main characters of the novels experience a gradual fall in their moral values throughout the whole story, which determines their priorities on their way to achieve their American dream.
Distorted moral values can be considered as directly related to the fall of the main characters since they chose an immoral way to achieve their dream which proves fatal for them.
7.1.1 The Great Gatsby
In the story, Gatsby seems to have “shifting identities” depending on the person who is speaking about him. Most of the opinions are unreal and create a negative, almost fantastical picture of him (Lathbury 46):
Somebody told me they thought he killed a man once.
A thrill passed over all of us. The three Mr. Mumbles
bent forward and listened eagerly.
‘I don’t think it’s so much THAT,’ argued Lucille skeptically;
‘it’s more that he was a German spy during the war. (Fitzgerald 48)
He later recounts his life story to Nick and a reader can see that none of the stories told by his guests is true. Gatsby focuses mainly on improvement of his social status by earning money in order to get closer to Daisy and her social stand. In other words, he attempts “to buy into a tradition instead of accepting one” (Lathbury 54).
29 In order to earn money very quickly and equal Daisy on the financial side, he gets involved in illegal bootlegging working for Meyer Wolfsheim who represents the criminal element of the story. Gatsby perceives only the result of the work, which is money, but not the morality of bootlegging as such. Throughout the story, he makes several mysterious phone calls with “Chicago” on the wire (Fitzgerald 177) and it is obvious that although he has a residence and money he needs, he would not leave his job but rather stay a criminal. Although he did not choose Wolfsheim and his bootlegging business because of himself but for Daisy, it does not make his moral values less warped. In fact, he breaks the law as well as the whole idea of the Great Prohibition which should have decreased criminality and alcoholism. In addition, we can see the connection of values and the American dream here as well. The fact that he values wealth over law and morality is in Daisy’s eyes unacceptable and Gatsby suddenly loses his chance to get her back and fulfil his American dream.
Nevertheless, Gatsby does not see anything wrong about it and tries to fight Tom’s accusations about him being a criminal. He is denying everything and defending himself, but
Daisy is not listening. She instantly forgets everything positive she saw about Gatsby because she cannot keep relationship with criminals or lower class. This passage also emphasises the fact that Gatsby does not have enough morality to respect an idea of a marriage since the very first moment he learnt about it. All the years he naively thinks that Daisy would divest herself of a long-lasting marriage including their 2-year-old daughter Pammy. Moreover, he does not know whether Daisy still loves him, he is just obsessed by his vision of a perfect life consisting of wealth, power and a lady improving his social stand. Yet, as Voegeli suggests,
Gatsby is loyal to his “heart’s desire” but acts naively as though the world has “ineluctable realities” which can be ignored.
In order to get to Daisy, he uses Nick and makes him organize a meeting with Daisy in his house. He tells him the story of his life and calls him an “old sport” (Fitzgerald 52) to
30 create an artificially friendly atmosphere between them. This fact indicates that Gatsby is not interested in having real friends. He is focused only on his dream and ignores people around him and therefore his behaviour to them as well as to Nick is rather superficial. In other words, he is using people for his own purposes, which is another sign of distortion of his values in order to achieve the American dream. Additionally, after Gatsby sees that Daisy is still interested in him, he starts manipulating her as well. He compels her to tell her husband that she is leaving him, but she hesitates and repeats the words with visible reluctance:
“‘Daisy’s leaving you.’ - ‘Nonsense.’ - ‘I am, though,’ she said with a visible effort”
(Fitzgerald 142). Daisy is not sure if she agrees with the words she is saying, and Tom can easily see that she has been manipulated by Gatsby and tries to win her back. Yet, Gatsby foolishly believes that she will be still attracted in him despite his manipulation and inappropriate demonstration of his possessions.
Nevertheless, for Nick is Gatsby’s love the item which “redeems” him from his wrongdoing (Voegeli). Due to his love, he can see also his good part, but he is the only one who does: “I found myself on Gatsby’s side, and alone” (Fitzgerald 175). Thus, although
Gatsby’s moral principles are not proper, Nick still thinks of him better than of any other character of the story: “‘They’re a rotten crowd,’ I shouted across the lawn. ‘You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together’” (164). It is because Nick can see the “intensity of his longing”, which makes him according to Nick’s judgement a better person and soon he thinks of Daisy as “unworthy Gatsby’s devotion” (Voegeli). Yet, it is possible that also Nick has been manipulated by Gatsby and his charming gestures and therefore he ignores his mistakes.
Another sign of Gatsby’s morality shaped by his longing for his American dream can be seen when Myrtle is killed. Gatsby expresses no grief addressed to Myrtle or her mourning husband. He is interested only in Daisy’s mental state and managing the guilt:
‘Did you see any trouble on the road?’ he asked after a minute.
31 ‘Yes.’
He hesitated.
‘Was she killed?’
‘Yes.’
‘I thought so; I told Daisy I thought so. It’s better that the
shock should all come at once. She stood it pretty well.’ (153)
Although a human being is killed, Gatsby only cares about Daisy: “he spoke as if Daisy’s reaction was the only thing that mattered” (Fitzgerald 153). On top of that, he plans to take her guilt only on himself since he does not want to leave or better - let the justice be done. He feels to be so close to his dream that he does not want to loose it. He would rather sacrifice his morals, his freedom, literally anything for Daisy and his American dream, but he is the only one who cannot see that it has already been lost. Nick advises him to flee to another city and hide but Gatsby would not listen to that. There is no chance he would leave Daisy because he is “clutching at some last hope” (158).
This wrong decision and ignoring the law as well as the morality of his final decision to protect Daisy, even if it is against the law, lead to Gatsby’s death. It is visible that Gatsby is determined to sacrifice his morality to achieve his American dream since the day he learnt that Daisy is married, and he needs to do everything to get her back. Yet, he cannot see that he is basically sacrificing his own personality by his wrong choice of moral values starting with bootlegging, finishing with covering Daisy’s car accident. In fact, Gatsby understands Daisy’s love as well as his love for her incorrectly. His love is rather platonic and unreal and therefore his moral sacrifice comes unrewarded. In general, Gatsby chooses wrong moral values which determine his doings such as criminal activities, the attempt to break Daisy’s marriage and finally – taking Daisy’s guilt on his shoulders. All these decisions bring him in his eyes closer to his American dream of a successful life with a rich woman by his side but in reality, they bring him closer to his death and failure of his American dream.
32
7.1.2 An American Tragedy
Clyde’s moral values, similar to Gatsby, also develop throughout the story due to different experiences and stages of his life. At the beginning of the novel, Clyde is described as a decent, innocent, ordinary boy with a lot of ambitions. Yet, after his first encounter with money, his personality has started to change. The impact of money on his personality can be first seen when his mother asks him for money for unknown reasons. Clyde follows her one day and finds out that his sister Esta got pregnant and she needs money to survive. “How sorry he was that he had followed his mother, for then he might not have known” (Dreiser 92) and his mother would not have asked for more money. Although she is clearly desperate about the situation of her daughter, Clyde thinks more about himself and his chance to impress the girl who he likes, Hortense Briggs:
For here was fifty dollars in his pocket at the
moment, with Hortense on the one hand and his mother and sister on the
other, and the money would solve his mother’s problem as fully as it would
Hortense’s, and more respectably (113)
Clyde does not need to think long about his preferences and gives her mother 5 dollars with an excuse of having no money at that moment. It is an ironical situation because when Clyde needs to finance his additional trial at the end of the novel, his mother sacrifices almost everything to collect the money.
However, when Clyde moves to Lycurgus and starts to work for his rich uncle, his social status suddenly changes and despite his persisting poverty, he feels more powerful.
Consequently, his moral values start to fall rapidly. Not only that he rejects his friends who are lower on social ladder, but he also forces his girlfriend Roberta to have a more intimate relationship with him: “For with what qualms—what protests on the part of Roberta; what determination, yet not without a sense of evil—seduction—betrayal, on the part of Clyde”
33 (292). It is visible that Clyde does not have enough courtesy to respect Roberta’s reasons and concerns. As a result of a significant pressure from his side, Roberta agrees, which is seen as the first step to Clyde’s downfall because after few months, Roberta announces her pregnancy.
Another development in his morality on his way to achieve his American dream can be seen when Clyde becomes aware of the chance to marry Sondra Finchley. At this period, he focuses on his American dream too much that he starts to break standard moral values. Too much focus on the American dream changes both Gatsby’s and Clyde’s personalities since they he stops to see what is right and morally acceptable. As a result, Clyde does not find enough courage and judiciousness to tell Roberta the truth, stop seeing her and using her body for his pleasure. Yet, the narrator claims that “there was about Clyde at times a certain strain of tenderness, evoked by experiences, disappointments, and hardships in his own life”
(Dreiser 454). His tenderness makes him feels sorry that he cannot provide any more care for
Roberta because of his new interest in Sondra: “At other times it caused him to feel that indeed he was a sly and shameless and cruel person who had taken undue advantage of a girl”
(361).
Nevertheless, these feelings disappear when danger occurs in form of a baby and marriage:
The truth was that in this crisis he was as interesting an illustration of the
enormous handicaps imposed by ignorance, youth, poverty and fear
as one could have found (376)
Phipps makes it clear that these “handicaps” are Clyde’s “emotional shortcomings” among which belong ignorance, fear and “limitations imposed on him by a stratified society” that imply his poverty (Phipps 226). This devastating combination biases his understanding of the
“connections between his desires and the actions” since he considers the fulfilment of his dream the most necessary (226). Although Roberta offers him a friendly option of a temporal
34 marriage, Clyde rejects it and thinks about ways to get out of this situation without losing his name.
When he sees an article in the newspapers which brings him to an idea of drowning
Roberta in one of the lakes which he visited with Sondra, he does not consider any moral side of this action. As Phipps writes: “Clyde’s distorted perception of the connections between subjectivity, action, and tangible consequences also is evinced when he first develops his plan to murder Roberta” (Phipps 226). In brief, Clyde loses his reason during the pursuit of his
American dreams, he can see neither the consequences, neither the morality of his actions. In addition, Phipps states that “Clyde’s perspective of the American Dream excises considerations of morality: instead of a dichotomy between good and evil, there is simply a choice between one evil and another evil.” (226). Firstly, he tries to kill the baby with pills which made Roberta feel very sick, then he makes her to go to the doctor to ask for an illegal interruption. When nothing works, he is considering fleeing with Sondra and finally, he comes up with killing Roberta. In fact, Clyde’s actions consist mainly of evil, which is a consequence of the fall in his values, which started to manifest itself after Clyde’s arrival in
Lycurgus.
As mentioned before, Clyde can only see what he can get as a result of the murder, not the real consequences or morality of such a criminal offence. He compares these two women to make clear that he needs to choose Sondra because she has a lot to offer compared to
Roberta who is only asking for help: “The difference between the attitudes of these two girls—Sondra with everything offering all—asking nothing of him; Roberta, with nothing, asking all” (Dreiser 461). Indeed, he does not seem to be aware of the fact that he was the one who caused Roberta’s distress. Even while plotting the murder, he stays cold and thinks only of the result. He has not been considering any obstructions or punishment yet:
35 … he and Roberta were in a small boat somewhere and it should capsize at the
very time, say, of this dreadful complication which was so harassing him?
What an escape? What a relief from a gigantic and by now really destroying
problem! Just an accidental, unpremeditated drowning—and then the glorious future
which would be his! (428-429)
His “warped perspective” on morality is the most visible when he is trying to assure himself that killing Roberta will set him free (Phipps 226). He can see a “choice between an evil which threatened to destroy him (and against his deepest opposition) and a second evil which, however it might disgust or sear or terrify, still provided for freedom and success and love”
(Dreiser 452).
After Roberta dies, he assures himself that he did not kill her: “after all, he had not really killed her. No, no. Thank God for that. He had not” (Dreiser 481). In fact, he does not fulfil his plan of capsizing the boat. He freezes and instead of that, he strikes Roberta unintentionally with his camera, which makes her lose her balance and she falls into the lake.
As Cassuto & Clare state, Clyde “lacks the emotional equipment to be a hard-boiled murderer”, contrarily, he is “too sentimental to act selfishly but too hard-boiled to act unselfishly” (205) and therefore his initial plan to murder her is de facto done by an accident.
Yet, he does not help her out of water and keeps swimming towards the shore letting Roberta drown. Indeed, his moral values are different from those at the beginning of the novel before he set his American dream personified by Sondra.
He does not find enough humbleness to accept that he made a mistake which he needs to expiate and rather thinks of an escape from the prison: “might one be able to break out of such a jail as this, maybe, and run away?” (Dreiser 613). In general, he expected that it will end up differently:
At once he felt sick, weak. He had never imagined that it was going to be like this;
that he was going to suffer so. He had imagined that it was all going to be different. (523)
36 Additionally, he allows the lawyers defend him and call him “mental as well as a moral coward” (Dreiser 652) to make it clear why he did not help Roberta to get to the shore. He sees his mother seeking for money, help and solution although he is clearly guilty. Yet, he claims that he is not and lies at the court in front of Roberta’s family:
“No! No! I never did plot to kill her, or any one,” protested Clyde (676)
“You swear that it was an accident—unpremeditated and
undesigned by you?”
“I do,” lied Clyde (686)
All these are signs of Clyde’s warped values. He planned everything cold-bloodedly and although he did not murder her as such, Roberta died. Therefore, despite his lawyers’ defence and lies, Clyde is sentenced to death. Yet, he still believes in his innocence and justifies his actions by Roberta’s torturing him and the passion for Sondra:
they had not been tortured as he had by Roberta with her determination
that he marry her and thus ruin his whole life. They had not burned
with that unquenchable passion for the Sondra of his beautiful dream
as he had. (780)
Yet, after Clyde spends his last weeks of his life with the Reverend McMillan, who gives him strength and prayers, it seems that Clyde changes and finds the matter of God as his parents did. He confesses to the Reverend that he indeed planned to kill Roberta to redeem from his sins before he dies on the electric chair.
However, although Clyde comes from a religious family, he has completely ignored the Ten Commandments as well as basic moral principles. According to Phipps, Clyde’s beliefs have been “grotesquely distorted” (221) since he has set out on his journey towards his
American dream. It is obvious that he thinks only about himself and his own good since the very beginning when his sister Esta needed money to survive. In general, almost none of
Clyde’s actions in the story is moral. He thinks mainly of his own good and profiting from
37 people. Yet, when he sees no profit anymore, like in the case of his friends Dillard and Rita or his girlfriend Roberta, he cuts them off. According to Orlov he believes ‘“an Aladdin world”’ which is full of magic and moral responsibly goes aside (qtd in Brennan 382). Therefore, his desire for a ‘“fantasy-self”’ (Orlov qtd in Brennan 381) brings up “his own nature, with tragic consequences” (Brennan).
Yet, despite his warped morals, improper behaviour and a crime, he still naively believes in a better future for himself. He has chased success and the American dream
“without considering how it was won” (Chengcheng 66), which proves fatal for him. Like
Gatsby, he ignores law, crime or other people’s freedom. Even though Gatsby did not kill anybody like Clyde, both end up death because Gatsby decides to go against law by covering
Myrtle’s death caused by Daisy.
7.2 Value of wealth
Wealth plays a crucial role in the selected novels. Both main characters value wealth very highly, which makes them ignore other aspects and values of their life. Whereas Clyde explicitly conveys that a marriage to Sondra would mean a direct link to her wealth and social status, Gatsby does not express it directly, but it is Daisy’s wealth that makes her attractive for him and therefore he wishes to marry her.
7.2.1 The Great Gatsby
Clyde and Gatsby share a specific sensitivity to money as well as the ambition to become rich. Since his childhood, Gatsby has disdained the lack of success of his poor parents. As a result, he has always wished to reach a higher position in the society. A
“specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career” (Fitzgerald 104) takes part in the year 1907 when he was “chosen for mentoring by rich, powerful, childless” man named Cody
(Froehlich 211). The time spent with him helped Gatsby to catch the manners of rich people
38 and understand their mental processes. Gatsby uses this knowledge later when he moves to
Long Island and tries to convince Daisy about his wealth and social stand.
Since his early age, he has considered himself as “a son of God” (Fitzgerald 105), which he has kept till the very end of his American dream that first started to form when he met Daisy Buchanan:
His dream gets more shaped when he first meets young Daisy. She shows him the world
of wealth and he is convinced that this is the kind of life he would like to attain.
[H]e had never been in such a beautiful house before. But what gave it an air of
breathless intensity was that Daisy lived there (158)
As the quotation indicates, Daisy’s house is for Gatsby very unusual and makes her look in his eyes even more attractive. Yet, it is not just meeting Daisy, getting to know her and her background, it is also his first closer encounter with real wealth. As indicated, it is her money that increases her value. Daisy is connected to wealth the same as wealth is connected to her and in Gatsby’s mind, these two aspects are inseparable. This perception indicates that in order to reach Daisy, he needs wealth and vice versa - to be truly wealthy, he needs to marry
Daisy. In fact, Daisy gives him an idea how a wealthy life can look like and since then,
Gatsby has followed this paragon.
Soon also Nick finds out that Gatsby does not love only Daisy as a person but also the fact that she is wealthier than him:
‘She’s got an indiscreet voice,’ I remarked. ‘It’s full of—
—‘
I hesitated.
‘Her voice is full of money,’ he said suddenly.
That was it. I’d never understood before. It was full of
money—that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell
in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song of it…. High in a
white palace the king’s daughter, the golden girl…. (Fitzgerald 128)
39 As we can see, although Gatsby claims to love Daisy, wealth is the item which makes her interesting enough to love. Indeed, Gatsby’s value of wealth is very high in his list of values considering that he can even hear money in Daisy’s voice. Moreover, he knows that a relationship with her, a member of the “old money”, would bring him to the world of the “old rich” where he cannot get on his own because although he is wealthy, he still lacks of many of their original features, such as “self-cultivation, sophistication, and refinement” which are typical for the traditionally rich inhabitants of East Egg (Fahey 70).
Back in the 1919 when Gatsby returned from war, he had neither money, nor Daisy who got married in the meantime. However, Gatsby was determined to win her back and
Wolfsheim, Gatsby’s second mentor, gave him a new start. After 3 years Gatsby possessed a huge mansion and a big fortune thanks to illegal bootlegging. Yet, in spite of the description of his father that Gatsby is a man who is “earnest, hardworking, ambitious, and determined to succeed” (Froehlich 217), the way he achieved all his money did not mean any hard work as such. In fact, Gatsby experienced a simple stroke of luck by meeting Cody and Wolfsheim who helped him to move towards his dream.
Nonetheless, Gatsby’s wealth, even though he does not see it, gives a grotesque impression rather than admiration. He lives in an enormous house that he barely can use only on his own, dresses up in pink suits and drives a yellow car - such combination shows that he belongs to West Egg rather than to East Egg. Said differently, it demonstrates that he has acquired his wealth lately and was not born into a rich family. His material possessions as well as his actions, such as organizing big parties, are nothing but tools to display his wealth.
He is neither interested in his guests, parties, nor the expensive house equipment itself. On the other hand, Nick admires that Gatsby uses his wealth for higher motives (getting Daisy back) expressing “exceptional sensitivity” in contrast to Tom who spends his fortune on lower
40 motives (buying attention of his mistresses), which proves his “negligible concern” for people around him (Voegeli).
All in all, Gatsby has put so much effort to obtain this social position, sacrificed his own personality and erased his past. Despite all these efforts and money, he can never be a part of the rich world and get Daisy back - the same as without Daisy he would not get into the same social class as she is. It is a pitfall which brings Gatsby closer to his fall and his
American dream ends in failure. Generally, wealth is very high on Gatsby’s system of values; it is part of his American dream as well as a necessary feature of him to impress Daisy.
Gatsby’s love for wealth clouds his individuality and that causes him to follow a wrong path in order to achieve his American dream filled with wealth and success.
7.2.2 An American Tragedy
Clyde’s family also lived in similarly extreme poverty to Gatsby. The origin of their shortage of money is according to Clyde’s uncle Samuel Griffiths the fact that his father bequeathed most of his money to him and another brother assigning nothing “but a petty thousand” to Clyde’s father Asa (Dreiser 155). Yet, the profession of Clyde’s parents does not help their financial situation either since they work as street preachers, which does not yield much: “Yet the family was always “hard up,” never very well clothed, and deprived of many comforts and pleasures” (7). Accordingly, Clyde disdains his parents’ profession as he does not see anything practical in it since it does not bring any money into their household:
During all this time Clyde was saying to himself that he did not wish to do
this any more, that he and his parents looked foolish and less than normal
—“cheap” was the word he would have used if he could have brought himself
to express his full measure of resentment at being compelled to participate in
this way (10)
41 As he is suffering from this extreme poverty, he is “constantly thinking of how he might better himself” (11), which brings him to his first jobs and salary. He is convinced that a good appearance, neat dress and money are the only way to find a girlfriend. Accordingly, his ambition brings him to the job in the hotel Green-Davidson which is the most luxury place he has been to: “he gazed about in awe and amazement” when he entered (29). It is his first encounter with rich people and money in general: “He felt as if he could squeal or laugh out loud. Why, thirty-five cents—and for a little service like that” (41).
Spending more time with people of his age, he starts to imitate those who seem to be socially higher or more successful. In fact, he has been “haunted by the desire to make himself as attractive looking as any other well-dressed boy” (50). Orlov claims he is basically
“imitating other people and then mistaking the roles he is playing for his genuine individual nature or status” (120). Like Gatsby, he learns to behave in company of rich people, which gives him an advantage. It comes into use in Chicago where he encounters his uncle who he has always wished to meet:
The one thing that really interested him in connection with his parents was
the existence somewhere in the east—in a small city called Lycurgus, near
Utica he understood—of an uncle, a brother of his father’s, who was plainly
different from all this. That uncle—Samuel Griffiths by name—was rich. (Dreiser 14)
Thanks to him, Clyde starts to work in his company producing shirts in Lycurgus. Yet, despite his high salary and nice clothes which make a false sign that he is as rich as his family, he does not feel that this job will help him to become truly rich.
Yet, later after his arrival, he meets young and rich Sondra Finchley who astonishes
Clyde by her wealth. Just as Gatsby used to dream about Daisy, also Clyde is wondering
“where Sondra in her imaginary high social world might be” (308) till he finally gets a chance to meet her again. He sees her as a direct and the only way to the wealthy life he has started to long for. In fact, before he moved to Lycurgus, he only wanted to better himself financially in
42 order to find a girlfriend and spend money on her. Yet, his attitude changes when he comes to
Lycurgus since his family name gives him an advantage and a chance to change his social status.
Unlike Gatsby who expresses certain affection for Daisy, Clyde mainly mentions
Sondra’s social stand, wealth and other superficial features. He never praises her personality or qualities, which suggests that her wealth is the only attribute that matters: “Sondra, Twelfth
Lake, society, wealth, her love and beauty. He grew not a little wild in thinking of it all”
(413). This promise of a wealthy life clouds Clyde’s mind and makes him murder Roberta, who happens to become an obstruction. After the murder, he feels relieved that Roberta is gone and celebrates his open door to Sondra’s wealth and world: “A clear path! A marvelous future! Her beauty! Her love! Her wealth!” (520).
Soon he finds out that he chose a wrong path to become rich, which cannot be redressed. As he finds himself in the prison, he immediately loses all his hopes about a relationship with Sondra. In contrast to him, Gatsby keeps his optimism although everything is ruined. This difference indicates contrasting stands of these two main characters. Whereas
Gatsby sees Daisy as a part of his dream connected to wealth, Clyde perceives Sondra only as a tool to better himself as he always intended. Indeed, he thinks of wealth extremely highly, which makes him ignore people around him, their personalities and freedom to live. He cares only about his clear way to wealth although it includes a murder with inevitable consequences. His upcoming fall is compared by Phipps to “a stockbroker who buys capitalist ideology and ends up ruined, or a soldier who follows orders and ends up dead” (223). In reality, Clyde simply believes in an ultimate fulfilment of his American dream without any consequences following his actions.
Another ironic fact is, that he is sentenced by a society that “believes in absolute justice”, which causes him being executed by an electric chair, but he lives in a society in
43 which wealth has “created a double standard justice”, which caused him to pursue wealth in this specific way (Lehan 190). In fact, Clyde’s American dream and fate were inevitable in a society that appreciates wealth over any other values. Also Orlov states that “many in
America have dreams of wealth aroused in them by the social environment” (113), which is another sign that not only Clyde but also the whole society of that period thought of wealth as highly as he did. Moreover, Matthiessen states that Dreiser’s central idea of naming the tragedy as “American” was because of the “overwhelming lure of money” in the American society (qtd in Phipps 222) which influenced not only Clyde but also many other young men who appeared in the newspapers as murderers for money and a higher social status.
All aspects considered, Clyde values wealth even higher that Gatsby does. He does not need money to impress a woman like Gatsby does, he simply wants to be rich and successful.
He dreams of cars and clothes of his cousin Gilbert, walks around the rich neighbourhood and wonders what the wealthy people are doing. Indeed, wealth occurs to be the most important item of Clyde’s life as well as the only way to make his life pleasant. Moreover, while making decisions, he is considering only wealth and profiting of particular actions. He forgets about his principles and his conscience replaces an imagination of money which he should acquire after the marriage to Sondra Finchley. Like in Gatsby’s case, also Clyde’s American dream seems to be very close to its fulfilment but because he starts to focus on wealth too much, he fails to see the consequences of the murder as well as his foolish getaway from the crime scene.
7.3 Value of love
Although the main characters long for a marriage to the women they chose, they do not value love as highly as wealth. In fact, love is only a background that covers the original aim of the main characters to become truly wealthy and get a respected social status. They try
44 to justify their actions by their love for the chosen women but in fact, it is love for wealth that clouds their minds.
7.3.1 The Great Gatsby
Both Gatsby and Clyde are young and inexperienced in relationships in general. In contrast to Clyde who considers love as minor, Gatsby regards his love for Daisy as very important. His love, either to wealth or Daisy as a holder of wealth, is crucial for his actions.
The commencement of Gatsby’s greatest love dates back to 1917 when he met 9 years younger Daisy Fay after he came to Louisville as a soldier. Comically, his love got more intense after he left to war and did not see Daisy anymore. He remembered Daisy mainly from his imagination to which he devoted everything (Lathbury 49). Yet, after he came back from war, his life became distorted since he found himself in “new world, material without being real” hunting money and a better social position (Fitzgerald 172).
Later, Gatsby built a house just across the bay from Daisy’s house and every day he saw the green light of her docks which he associated with Daisy and his hope to be with her again. Nonetheless, the “romantic and fantastic nature” of Gatsby’s love seems to be inane considering that it takes him 5 years to finally see Daisy again (Lathbury 49). Yet, although a person with such power could have found many easier ways to meet, he arranges his meeting with her through Daisy’s friend Jordan and her cousin Nick. Lathbury claims that it is because after all the years his love “becomes more important than the object of it” (49). Said differently, it is because his love for Daisy, who he idealized in his thoughts, is rather platonic and therefore the real object of it went aside over the years when he did not see her.
Although Gatsby is eager to see Daisy again, readers cannot see many moments when either of them expresses the love expected. Based on Lathbury, it is because Gatsby’s way to show his love to Daisy is expressed by showing his wealth and possessions to her (45). After he finally invited Daisy to his mansion, “he revalued everything in his house according to the
45 measure of the response it drew from her well-loved eyes” (Fitzgerald 91). Indeed, his love to
Daisy is inseparably connected to money. It is visible for instance in his description of her voice as “full of money”, which he says with a loving tone. This statement is typical of a person who is very sensitive to money (Lathbury 51).
However, Gatsby stubbornly believes that past can be repeated, and everything can be fixed because he wants to. He does not seem to admit the option that Daisy might not be interested in changing the life that she has now:
‘I wouldn’t ask too much of her,’ I ventured. ‘You can’t repeat the past.’
‘Can’t repeat the past?’ he [Gatsby] cried incredulously. ‘Why of course you can!’
He looked around him wildly, as if the past were lurking here in the shadow
of his house, just out of reach of his hand. (Fitzgerald 118).
Yet, he tries to force her to leave Tom and her old life. It is the sort of manipulation typical for Gatsby because Daisy barely notices it. In the following paragraph we can see Gatsby’s attempt to enforce love from Daisy:
She looked at him blindly. ‘Why,—how could I love
him—possibly?’
‘You never loved him.’
She hesitated. Her eyes fell on Jordan and me with a sort
of appeal, as though she realized at last what she was doing—
and as though she had never, all along, intended doing
anything at all. But it was done now. It was too late.
‘I never loved him,’ she said, with perceptible reluctance. (Fitzgerald 141)
Nevertheless, although Gatsby is sure about his love to Daisy, her feelings are not so intense.
In fact, she admits having loved both Gatsby and Tom. In 1919 she decided to marry Tom although she was not sure and almost changed her mind after she had received a letter from
Gatsby. Later, in 1922 when Gatsby comes back in visibly better social conditions, she chooses Tom again because compared to Gatsby, he belongs to her world and social class. In
46 other words, she chooses comfort, money and social status over Gatsby who sacrificed his own personality for her.
Despite the clarity of her statement that she is choosing Tom again, and a murder of
Myrtle with his car, which puts him in danger, Gatsby keeps his hope and does not want to leave Daisy: “He couldn’t possibly leave Daisy until he knew what she was going to do. He was clutching at some last hope and I couldn’t bear to shake him free” (Fitzgerald 158).
Accordingly, it is visible how much Daisy means to Gatsby and how little he means to her.
He is waiting for a call, but she is already prepared to flee with Tom and start a new life leaving Gatsby and her crime behind. She neither comes to his funeral, nor sends flowers to express her grief after Gatsby’s death. It is like Gatsby never existed. Yet, he revalued everything in his life and sacrificed his own individuality for a woman who does not love him.
After all, Gatsby’s love is only an illusion. He is not in love with the present Daisy, but with the one from the past, or more precisely from his imagination created over those 5 years when he did not see her. He idolized her to such an extent that she became the core of his American dream. However, his “idealism and faith” collide with “hollowness and emptiness” of Daisy’s materialistic character (Bani-Khair et al). In other words, his love cannot exist or survive where “the love of materialism can be the norm” as well as it is not possible to buy or achieve it with wealth (Bani-Khair et al.). That is the critical point of
Gatsby’s dream and a reason why it has never come into being.
To conclude, Gatsby’s value of love is inseparably connected to wealth. Although he claims to love Daisy, he values her not only as a person but also as a source of the wealthy life and higher social stand he has longed for. Love means in Gatsby’s case a retrospective look back in time expecting people to be the same as they used to be. As a result of this, his love is not and cannot be connected to reality. Gatsby’s vague idea of love brings him to a
47 wrong path during his pursuit of the American dream which is in his case connected to love that nearly does not exist. Indeed, the combination of wealth and his longing for the fulfilment of his American dream created a superficial love to Daisy which was formed in Gatsby’s mind and influenced him throughout his life. Consequently, he loses his individuality, common sense and morality on his way to get Daisy back. Finally, it leads to the end of his journey to achieve his American dream since he devoted his life to a promise of a successful life in wealth with a person who does not share his feelings which are, either way, more connected to wealth and illusion than a real love.
7.3.2 An American Tragedy
Clyde’s perception of love is influenced by the society that he lives in which makes him think that before he can ever find a girlfriend, he must have some money to spend on her in order to maintain the relationship. Clyde chooses Hortense Briggs, which he affectionately reveals to her: ““Well, I’ll tell you one thing,” he blurted boastfully and passionately. “I could spend a lot more on you than they could. I got it”” (Dreiser 74). Hearing this confession,
Hortense senses his devotedness which is not appealing to her, so she only plays with him as she usually does. Although Clyde is aware of her manipulation: ““I can’t help it. I wish I could sometimes. I wish I wouldn’t be such a fool”” (121), he decides to do nothing about it:
“if she wanted to lie and pretend he would have to pretend to believe her” (Dreiser 129). He is so eager to spend time with her that he ignores Hortense’s manipulation and acts rather foolishly. However, his foolishness is not only because of his inexperience with women but also because of his current social stand which differs from the one in Lycurgus which was considerably higher and therefore he was more confident with women.
When Clyde moves to Lycurgus and his uncle makes him a supervisor with tens of women working under him, his social status and the importance of his family name changes,
48 which makes women more interested in him. He is proudly aware of that but his cousin’s order not to get closer to any of his co-workers is more important for him. Yet, he decides to break this rule when he meets a new worker Roberta Alden. He is conscious of the power of his name as well as of his position in the company:
Whereas here, and especially since he had had charge of this stamping room,
he had seemed to become aware of the fact that he was more attractive than
he had ever thought he was before. (265)
Although he is still as inexperienced as he was in Kansas City when he tried to impress
Hortense Briggs, in Lycurgus he does not need to do much to impress Roberta. In fact, a person from such a powerful family as Clyde is, is Roberta’s dream. The same as Sondra later becomes a dream for Clyde. Yet, the narrator mentions that Roberta and Clyde “found love” and “were deliciously happy” (Dreiser 268). It is perhaps the happiest period of Clyde’s life:
“It seemed at the moment as though life had given him all— all—that he could possibly ask of it” (266).
Nonetheless, when Clyde sees that “she is hopelessly and helplessly drawn to him”
(257), he starts to pressurize her to have a more intimate relationship with him because he thinks he can ask her of anything with his current position in the city. Yet, Roberta has her principles and refuses to get closer to anybody without a marriage. Consequently, Clyde starts to ignore her in work and talks more with other women in order to make her change her mind.
Hence, Roberta clearly suffers: “He couldn’t be that cruel to her now—could he? Oh, if he but knew how difficult—how impossible was the thing he was asking of her!” (Dreiser 287). Yet, after days of Clyde’s merciless torment, Roberta yields to him, which causes her pregnancy followed by a murder. Cassuto & Clare state that the crime is caused not only by his “sexual appetite and sexual carelessness” but also by the “religious abstemiousness” of his parents
(209). Briefly, owing to his parents’ abstemious profession, Clyde has no sexual education and does not think of any protection methods.
49 Nevertheless, Clyde has everything that he initially wanted. He earns enough money and has a girl to spend it on. Yet, due to his new surroundings, presence of wealthy people and his potential connection with them, Clyde does not value the love that he receives and thinks badly about Roberta: “For after all, who was she? A factory girl! The daughter of
Parents who lived and worked on a farm and one who was compelled to work for her own living” (294). Instead, he keeps thinking of Sondra Finchley, who he accidentally meets when he strolls in the neighbourhood of his rich family. Yet, although he barely knows her since he has seen her only for a couple of minutes at his uncle’s dinner, he secretly wishes to be in a more intimate relationship with her and thanks to that, to be part of her wealthy world:
Ah, to know this perfect girl more intimately! To be looked upon by her
with favor,—made, by reason of that favor, a part of that fine world to which
she belonged.
… if he only had as much money—or a part of it even. (301)
Later, Sondra mistakes Clyde for his cousin Gilbert, who she does not like, which makes her think of possible consequences of her closer relationship with him: “And that would mean perhaps that Gilbert would find himself faced by a social rival of sorts—his own cousin, too, who, even though he was poor, might come to be liked better” (304). This opinion of hers allows Clyde to spend more time with Sondra and her rich friends. Due to this, he starts to neglect Roberta and forgets all the love they had together. Yet, he does not want to tell her about Sondra because she still means somewhat of a pleasure for him. He knows that Roberta would not know about Sondra, “unless he told her” (Dreiser 306) because there is no connection between poor and rich people in Lycurgus. At this point, Clyde stops to value the love he feels with Roberta and rather appreciates Sondra, who he barely knows, because of her wealth and high social stand in the county.
Since Clyde loved Sondra even before he learnt something about her character, it is clear that he is more interested in her money and social stand than her love and personality:
50 The effect of this so casual contact was really disrupting in more senses than
one. For now in spite of his comfort in and satisfaction with Roberta, once
more and in this positive and to him entrancing way, was posed the whole
question of his social possibilities here. And that strangely enough by the one
girl of this upper level who had most materialized and magnified for him the
meaning of that upper level itself. The beautiful Sondra Finchley! (301)
Similar to Gatsby, Clyde also mentions several times that Sondra is beautiful and amazing but never explains or elaborates why. It can be seen as another proof of his real interest - wealth which makes her beautiful and amazing. Furthermore, although Clyde finds happiness and love with Roberta, he replaces her by his American dream personalized by Sondra. It is ironic because he lets the girl who he loved drown, because of a rich girl who he barely knows or truly loves. Yet, Sondra disappears when Clyde is arrested and sends him nothing but a short letter. The only person who still cares and tries to help him is his mother who he once refused to help because of his platonic love to Hortense Briggs.
In summary, Clyde values his whole life something or somebody else over people who truly love him. Starting with Hortense over his mother, finishing with Sondra over Roberta and in general - wealth over any person, even himself. In fact, both Gatsby and Clyde go beyond the law to get the love of their life expressed either by a person, money or both.
However, although in the narrator’s eyes Gatsby seems to love Daisy, it is unsure whether
Clyde loves Sondra. He can only see her wealth that makes him think he loves her. Yet, similarly to Gatsby’s thoughts about Daisy every day, also Clyde thinks of Sondra very often but in his case, he mainly wonders and dreams about her wealth and power of her family name. On the other hand, the narrator mentions that he “found love” with Roberta (268) but
Clyde would never admit it since he could only see her lower social stand, lack of money and poor family background. Accordingly, he rather admits loving Sondra, which is not real.
51 Nonetheless, not only that Clyde moves his value of love lower than value of wealth and the American dream, he also changes the addressee of his love. He does not feel love to a person anymore but to money which can be provided by Sondra. This distorted value of love clouds his real love to Roberta who he kills instead of marrying. Yet, he has already possessed the American dream which is according to the pattern from 17th century a dream of a happy and successful life which he achieved by a leading position in the company and happiness with Roberta. Yet, Clyde focuses mainly on achieving wealth and puts the other aspects of his life aside. He chooses a wrong path and therefore, his personal American dream of a wealthy life remains unfulfilled.
52 Conclusion
The selected works of F. S. Fitzgerald and T. Dreiser give us an insight into the society of the 1920s. Dreiser with his experience as a journalist and Fitzgerald with his own pursuit of the American dream had enough material to create novels demonstrating the theme of the American dream of 20th century.
The first chapter deals with a brief biography of the writers which is further elaborated in the fifth chapter focused on the background of the novels. Like the main characters, also the writers wished for a better future and success. For Fitzgerald, similar to Gatsby, was wealth the only way to marry the woman he loved, Zelda Sayre. Dreiser and Clyde shared poverty in their families and constant seeking for success and wealth since they were both influenced by the values of the society of 1920s which is briefly described in the second chapter – The Roaring Twenties.
The third chapter focuses on the historical background of the American dream. This chapter serves as an introduction to the term American dream and its origins in order to analyse this phenomenon in the novel. According to J. T. Adams’ The Epic of America, the
American dream represents in its purest version a belief that the poor and rich have equal chances and opportunities. Yet, the idea of the American dream changes throughout centuries and appears in a different form in the selected works. Both main characters seek mainly for wealth and believe that they can achieve their American dream ignoring the consequences and rightness of their actions and principles.
Concerning the literary part, the main aim of this bachelor thesis was to closely examine Gatsby’s and Clyde’s American dream as well as its pursuit and values chosen on their way to achieve it. As a result, we can see that the form of the American dream is identical in both novels – it represents pursuit of success, wealth and power represented by a rich woman.
53 The second chapter of the literary part focuses on the values which determine the main characters’ destiny and failure of their American dream. Having read the first subchapter about moral values, we find out that although they do not realize or admit it, almost none of their actions is moral. Gatsby tries to achieve his dream by illegal bootlegging during the
Great Prohibition which should have decreased the criminality and alcoholism. Also, his choice of covering Daisy’s car accident and killing Myrtle Wilson proves fatal for him since he is killed by Myrtle’s husband out of revenge. Yet, whereas Gatsby presents himself as a gentleman, Clyde chooses a path of a manipulator. He uses people and chooses only those who he can profit of. Therefore, when his girlfriend Roberta Alden starts to lack the benefits but also, at the same time, announces her pregnancy, he decides to murder her in order to escape from his responsibilities and marry Sondra Finchley.
The next subchapter deals with the value of wealth. Having analysed the main characters’ values, we can see that both are very sensitive to money. This feature clouds their reason and makes them blindly follow their plan to become wealthy. In fact, their dream gets formed when they meet Daisy Fay and Sondra Finchley. They perceive these women as a direct way to become truly rich, powerful and respected. Yet, both main characters value money too much that they forget about other aspect of their life as well as courtesy. They choose to ignore that their chase for wealth, which they overvalue, brings them gradually to their downfall.
Last subchapter focuses on the value of love. Neither Clyde nor Gatsby feels pure love to Sondra and Daisy since their love is inseparably connected to money. Nevertheless, Gatsby claims he loves Daisy but in fact, he is in love with an illusion which he created during the years he had not seen her. He sacrificed his individuality, morality and his own life for love which does not exist on either side. In Dreiser’s novel, Clyde expresses amazement at Sondra mostly because of her possession; he does not convey love to her. On the other hand, the
54 narrator mentions that Clyde found love with Roberta. It is ironic because he chooses the opportunity to become wealthy over her and lets Roberta drown. Indeed, he does not value the love which he has for her and she has for him.
To conclude, values together with the American dream and individuality of the main characters are closely connected. The excessive focus on the American dream causes the main characters’ loss of their identity which they used to have before their American dream started to form. This change is followed by fall in values which brings them to wrong decisions and actions on their way to achieve their American dream. Moreover, if we have a closer look on the reasons of the failure of their American dream, it is not because that they did not endeavour enough to reach it, it is the poor choice of values on their way to achieve it, which is the main finding of this bachelor thesis. In fact, distorted values of the main characters have a considerable impact on their decisions that are mostly wrong – Gatsby’s illegal bootlegging, an attempt to break a marriage, a getaway after a deadly car accident and covering the driver at fault. In Clyde’s case, he has always chosen money over anything else, does not help his family in need and thinks only about himself. As a result of his sensitivity to wealth and an excessive focus on it, he murders Roberta in order to marry Sondra.
Each of these actions mentioned brings the main characters closer to the downfall of their American dream as well as their death. Although it is arguable whether they could have achieved their American dream if they had chosen a moral path during their chase, it is mainly the immorality of their actions that results in the end of their life, which can be understood as the moral message of the books since moral values are important in every century and situation.
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