“The Great Gatsby” is a tragic love story on the surface, but it is most often understood as a despondent critique of the American dream. This novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925 depicts the American dream as that of wealthy individuals who work effortlessly to achieve wealth and fame through their families' "old money." The Great Gatsby is a novel that presents the events that took place in 1920 and shows Jay Gatsby overcoming his poor past by trying to achieve what is known as the American dream, only to be rejected by the "old money" crowd. . Because Jay Gatsby worked and made his own money, he was shunned and lumped into the "new money" category. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald uses symbolism to amplify the themes and characters of the story, as well as a specific goal. Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get an Original EssayThe American dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of race, gender, nationality, or the class into which they were born , can succeed no matter what. This success comes through hard work and sacrifice to achieve what you really want in life. Fitzgerald uses a variety of literary devices to describe the American dream. An example of this is the relationship between the two, Jay Gatsby and Daisy. Through the novel it shows that Jay Gatsby was poor from the beginning and because of this, Daisy did not stay or marry him. Coming from completely opposite families, Jay Gatsby grew up in a poor family, but after returning from the war, he saw what he thought the love of his life was with someone else. He needed to change, so he started working hard to get what he wanted: to be rich and respected and have a different future. Early in the novel, Nick recounts the moment he saw a figure, who we discovered was Gatsby, at the end of the West Egg side dock, reaching toward a green light on the other side of the lake. In Gatsby's mind, this green light represented his hopes and dreams of a life and a future with Daisy while Fitzgerald told this green light to describe the American dream. When Gatsby begins to tell Daisy about his knowledge of the green light after finding it, Nick remarks, "Perhaps it had occurred to him that the colossal meaning of the light was gone forever." His number of enchanted items had decreased by one. For Gatsby, this green light started to disappear as soon as he started to light up again with Daisy, which made him think that he would have her back in his life and also symbolizes money and wealth and the thought that he will be able to make Daisy move away from her husband Tom. Fitzgerald created this green light for Gatsby to represent the American dream because he comes from the lower class and worked his way to the top. Although it seems that Gatsby achieved the American dream, in reality he was always mocked and lumped into the "new money" crowd and he could never change from that and would not end up with the girl. Second, Fitzgerald introduces the Valley of Ashes which is located between West Egg and New York, and is made up of a long stretch of deserted land created by all the dumped industrial ash. The Valley of Ashes represents the poverty and social decadence that results from the quest for wealth and symbolizes the unfortunate situation of the poor, such as George Wilson and his future wife, Myrtle, who both live surrounded by dirty ashes. The lower class, like Myrtle, has hope and longs for a perfect image and a rich life, but unfortunately cannot leave..