The Great Gatsby - Critics

Nick “chooses to make a corrupt man (Gatsby) great” - Lillia Grindlay

Highlights the romanticism of desire, loyalty and ambition and homoeroticism on Nicks Character. Moreover, it shows the warped nature of Gatsby due to his greed and involvement in the moral decay of 1920s American society

“The American Dream was sold to anyone who would buy, but the cost of buying into the dream was ruin” - Paul Staveley

This highlights the impossibility of the American dream but its widespread appeal as it offers hope and comforts when life is unfulfilling. Illustrates how those who chase these dreams are punished by society of strict social classes and limitations.

“The hero of the Great Gatsby is ‘Mr Nobody from Nowhere’” - Julian Thompson

Admirable qualities of self betterment and ambition. Outlines the cruelty of restrictions in society that limited social climbing (In a supposedly meritocratic society).

Gatsby’s “doomed attempts to create (or recreate) himself” - Paul Staveley

Showcases the impossibility of social climbing and he corruption of greed and materialism in American Society.

Gatsby “faces loss, confusion and a struggle to understand his new world” - Mike Haldenby

He mirrors the lost generation’s struggle to identify with the American values from before the war after devastation and confusion. Feel alienated from new America

“Hollow Materialism of the age” - Mike Haldenby

Showcases the greedy capitalist society that Fitzgerald was documenting.