To what extent and in what ways is Fitzgerald purely critical of Gatsby’s dreams?

One of the main themes of ‘The Great Gatsby' is that of dreams, none of which is more noticeable than Gatsby's own dream of five years in his pursuit of Daisy. What is less obvious is how Fitzgerald wants us to react to these dreams, and whether he is being purely critical of them or whether he in fact does also reveal some good in them. In this essay I aim to show that although in a lot of ways Fitzgerald is critical of Gatsby's dreams, for example by ensuring that Daisy can never live up to the vision of herself which Gatsby has created, he is not entirely disapproving and in several cases even goes as far as to suggest that dreaming is what makes us human. One way in which we may be unsure about Fitzgerald's presentation of Gatsby's dreams is whether they are meant to appear romantic or slightly pathetic. At face value it can seem to be extremely romantic that Gatsby has waited these five years and remained so loyal to Daisy, and I think that it this way Fitzgerald wants us to be on Gatsby's side. Gatsby himself is portrayed as being a very romantic character and this can be seen in his speech when he talks about the past, for example telling Nick that â€Å"His heart beat faster as Daisy's white face came up to his own. He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God†. Fitzgerald clearly is making Gatsby appear to be very wistful and dreamlike, and also is making us more sympathetic to him by making his affair with Daisy and his dreams appear to be very romantic. This would obviously cause the reader to sympathise more with Gatsby later in the book when everything falls apart, and I think that it is clearly true that Gatsby believes that his love of Daisy is very perfect and beautiful. However, this quotation could also be read that Gatsby is going too over the top and is trapped in the past by his dreams. Another good place to see this occurring is when Nick warns Gatsby that he cannot recreate the past and Gatsby replies with â€Å"‘Can't repeat the past? Why of course you can! ‘†. This seems like a very irrational thing for Gatsby to say and it begins us questioning what he really wants from his dreams, whether it is Daisy or just to have the past back as it was. Fitzgerald may be doing this to show Gatsby as a man who is just clutching at a past he no longer has and this may make him appear slightly pathetic. The exclamation mark gives him a sense of panic and questioning makes him appear to be almost incredulous to any other way of seeing the situation, which I think is more critical of Gatsby's dreams as they have blinded him to reality. Overall however, when it comes to romanticism or a slightly pathetic appearance, Fitzgerald remains quite ambiguous and leaves it more up to the reader to reach a decision by themselves. , Whichever way it is viewed however, I think in both situations we still have sympathy for Gatsby when his reality doesn't quite live up to the vision. When Fitzgerald comments that â€Å"no amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man can store up in his ghostly heart†, I think that he is making the quite depressing point here that dreams will always disappoint in the end because reality can never live up to what you can dream of. This is quite a negative view of the outcome of dreams but is perhaps not entirely critical of the idea of having dreams and something to strive for in the first place. Although it may appear that Fitzgerald is condemning dreaming, I actually believe that in this case he may be more positive about it than it seems at first. The character of Gatsby is portrayed as a dreamer, and these aims and human feelings which he possesses ensure that he is much more of an attractive character than for example, Jordan, who has no such dreams or ambitions for the future and is often associated with words such as â€Å"lazy† and â€Å"cool†. This makes her seem a lot less human than Gatsby and we empathise with him far more, which I think Fitzgerald wants us to do. This suggests that Fitzgerald is supportive of ‘the dreamer' and tells us that he is not opposed to the idea of dreams in general. In fact he associates the illusion with the phrase â€Å"colossal vitality† which again evokes the idea that dreams are linked with the essence of being human and that Fitzgerald views Gatsby's dreams with something other than pure criticism. One of the main criticisms which Fitzgerald does have of Gatsby's dreams is the materialism inherent with them. To gain Daisy's affections, Gatsby accumulates extortionate wealth and belongings to attract her, and Daisy herself represents something of the materialistic upper class which Gatsby strives to become a part of. This is very concisely put when Gatsby says of Daisy â€Å"her voice is full of money†. Daisy's voice has particular prominence as a motif throughout the book but at this point it is almost a leit motif as it gains meaning. All we can judge Daisy by is her voice, we never know her thoughts or what she is really thinking as what she says is usually quite empty. By saying that her voice is full of money, Gatsby is pinpointing that superficial charm which she has and perhaps even that in being entranced by her voice he has actually fallen for her wealth. This is an extremely critical way of looking at Gatsby's feelings and we probably don't want to believe it of him, but I think we can see it very clearly in Daisy, especially when she sees his Gatsby's house for the first time. In her exclamation of â€Å"that huge place there? † and her reaction to the extravagant wardrobe, we can see that Fitzgerald is showing Daisy as well as Gatsby to be very focussed on the material and the possessions. I think that this is a point Fitzgerald wants to make on the subject of ‘The American Dream', of which Gatsby's own dream is quite symbolic. As Americans, the characters would have been brought up to believe that they could strive to achieve anything and, in short, that nothing was out of their reach. Fitzgerald is not only questioning the belief in this, but also the means of getting to it and is making a point about how society has taken this dream to be something materialistic and to do with what you can own, rather than more spiritual or meaningful dreams. In respects to materialism I think that Fitzgerald is almost purely critical of Gatsby, as what he appears to be searching for is not just Daisy but the entire social and economical class which she represents. Another interesting way in which Fitzgerald portrays Gatsby's dreams is by making Daisy seem quite an unworthy person to long for. Although, as said in the previous paragraph, she is superficially very beautiful and rich, there appears to be very little under the surface and she tends to talk in quite empty and fantastical phrases such as â€Å"I'd like to just get one of those pink clouds and put you in it and push you around. † In that case Fitzgerald's alliteration of ‘pink', ‘put' and ‘push', as well as the polysyndeton, make her phrasing seem childish and simple – not really that of someone who could be relied on for a long lasting relationship. In some ways we may think that Fitzgerald is criticising Gatsby's dreams at this point, after all it seems worthless that he would have spent all this time loving someone who is in fact not worth it at all. This is incredibly clear to us after we see Daisy's awful behaviour after the accident when she drives away without stopping, and in a way we can see her treatment of Gatsby as quite similar to this, driving along with him, leaving destruction in her wake and escaping away as fast as she can. In this way Fitzgerald is being very critical and it could seem as if his message is that no matter how much you love someone and dream about them, they could just as easily let you down and run away. I think that there is also a slight positive side to Fitzgerald's choice of making Daisy an unworthy dream, as it shows that everybody can be loved by someone, however this is not very strong as Gatsby does not love Daisy with her faults, and rather it seems that he is just immune to seeing her flaws. Fitzgerald in fact, is probably somewhere in between these views; he is not directly attacking dreams or even Gatsby's dreams, but he is more in this case attacking Daisy's character. Although it may be a large lack of judgement skills on Gatsby's side, we cannot blame him entirely and again we still feel sorry for him when Daisy does eventually let him down. Overall I think that it is clear that there is a strong sense of ambiguity when it comes to Fitzgerald's attitude to Gatsby's dreams. However, I feel that the main point he wishes to make is that there is nothing wrong with dreaming, you just have to be careful when choosing your dreams that what you are longing for is actually worthwhile and won't end up hurting you more than it can make you happy. In Gatsby's case his aim appears to be more to make us feel sorry that he was so misguided in his choice of dream, rather than to berate him for dreaming at all.