In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, social commentary is presented not only on society of the 1920s, but on civilization as we have come to accept it in America. In this social satire, Fitzgerald brilliantly examines the product of two hundred years of America's evolved society and alludes to the death of the American Dream. By examining this narrative, we notice that a desire for wealth has jaded the American concepts of prosperity, individuality and morality. Using our modern hindsight and retrospective insights into Fitzgerald's work and society, we conclude that the American Dream is a paradox: a contradictory force that that realizes perfection only in the destruction of its core values.

The idea of the American Dream is a simplistic aspiration sprouting from the prospects of individual, domestic and moral perfection through hard work. To Fitzgerald and...