Research Essay After nearly one hundred years since its publication, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby continues to be critically acclaimed as the Great American Novel, with millions of copies being sold annually. Fitzgerald’s slim novel perfectly encapsulates the highly sought-after American Dream in a way that hadn’t been written before in the era of its publication. The story of greed, envy, jealousy, and wealth implores readers to re-read and decipher its deeper-meanings, and serves as a worthy contender for the title of the Great American Novel. Fitzgerald began his novel in his late twenties, pouring his heart and soul into the soon-to-be masterpiece. Finally, after numerous revisions and edits, Fitzgerald’s third novel was …show more content…
Fitzgerald died in 1940, believing his third novel to be a failure. He received $13.13 in his last royalty check, and “remaindered copies of the second printing of The Great Gatsby were moldering away in [publisher] Scribner's warehouse.” (How ‘Gatsby’). However, Fitzgerald’s death sparked an interest in his work again. And although his literary friends tried to revive Fitzgerald’s name, the real rejuvenation of The Great Gatsby occurred during WWII. Wanting to sustain the country’s morale, the United States assembled a program that would send “Armed Services Editions” of books to soldiers fighting overseas. Fitzgerald’s third novel was chosen to be one of these books, resulting in the distribution of nearly 125,000 copies. Over one million soldiers read The Great Gatsby, and a new appreciation for the novel had been found. Fitzgerald’s name and his third novel had been revived. By the 1960s, The Great Gatsby had been printed for high school classrooms. Today, four screen adaptation of the novel have been created. (Churchwell). This serves as great evidence that The Great Gatsby is truly a great …show more content…
Every single word, phrase, and sentence has significant meaning in the story, allowing readers to uncover more of the story by making inferences and reading in-between the lines. Fitzgerald also carefully structured each of the nine chapters in the book. For example, every single chapter in the novel, is focused on a party. From the meet-up at the Buchanan residence in the first chapter, to Gatsby’s massive party in the third, to the hotel showdown in the seventh, and finally Gatsby’s funeral in the last, the focus of every chapter is a party. However, Fitzgerald went deeper than the structure of chapters. He went as far as to provide common themes and symbolisms between every character. Maureen Corrigan believes that “with the exception of Daisy (the femme fatale), every major character in the novel is stretching out their arms for someone or something that’s out of their reach.” (Achenbach). Evidence from the text suggests this to be true; with examples including: Daisy for Gatsby, Tom for Mertyle, and Gatsby for Nick. The intricate weaving of The Great Gatsby proves as evidence of Fitzgerald’s hard work to make his third novel a true masterpiece, and also provides as a perfect reason to why Gatsby is one of the best American books ever