The Great Gatsby Themes

America is a classless society. True or false? You'll have good support no matter which way you answer, but The Great Gatsby has a pretty clear answer: no. There's no such thing as the American Dre...

Only fools fall in love, and the biggest fool in The Great Gatsby is, well, Gatsby. Tom and Daisy may have some kind of affection and loyalty for each other, but we're pretty sure it's not actually...

Did the American Dream die in 2008, or did it die in 1918—or did it never really exist at all? In The Great Gatsby, the American Dream is supposed to stand for independence and the ability to mak...

In The Great Gatsby, money makes the world go 'round—or at least gets you moving in the right direction. It can buy you yellow Rolls-Royces, "gas blue" dresses, and really nice shirts, but in the...

Pro tip from the olds at Shmoop: if the best years of your life took place in high school, you're in for a long downhill slide. There's nothing wrong with remembering the good times, but living in...

You have a handsome, wealthy husband; a string of polo ponies; and a closetful of really nice white dresses. What more could you want? Apparently, a lot. None of the characters in The Great Gatsby...

There's a reason they called it the Lost Generation: the world Fitzgerald lived in, and the world his characters inhabit, is one without connections, friends, or family. People may come together in...

Sure, there's the hit-and-run and murder/ suicide at the end. (Oops. Did we spoil it for you?) But The Great Gatsby is also interested in metaphorical kinds of death: the kind where Gatsby kills th...

If the marriages in The Great Gatsby are anything to go by, we want nothing to do with marriage. Love? Optional. Loyalty? Definitely not. The only marriages we see are marked by adultery, deception...

Here's a fun scavenger hunt for you: see where and how often the word "woman" shows up in The Great Gatsby. (Helpful hint: this online text is searchable.) We'll give you a hint: it's mostly in ref...

Nick may say that he's one of the few honest people he knows, but we're not so sure about that. The Great Gatsby is built around lies, and why should this be any different? Human beings are inheren...

In The Great Gatsby, education is a must-have for the socially elite. For the most part, characters in The Great Gatsby are well-educated – this is reflected by their speech and dialogue. The n...

The characters in The Great Gatsby all show a unique combination of a willingness to forgive and a stubbornness not to. Gatsby is willing to forgive Daisy’s marriage to another man, but not her l...

The fact that religion is absent among the upper echelons of society suggests that a moral standard might also be absent – as much is borne out by characters’ actions. When God does appear, it...