"Jay Gatsby" The American Dream and the Agrarian myth

David Trask once said, commenting on F. Scott Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby that "The Great Gatsby is about many things, but it is inescapably a general critique of the 'American Dream' and also of the 'agrarian myth' - a powerful demonstration of their invalidity for Americans of Fitzgerald's generation and after." Fitzgerald defiantly breaks down the societal boundaries of the 1920's and creates a new societal example. Although the country was rooted in the American Dream, …

…upper middle class man working to sustain himself. Fitzgerald clashes with both the Agrarian Myth and the American Dream to create the new upper middle class man of the 1920's. His representation of Gatsby shows that he does not agree with him. Fitzgerald's representation of Wilson also shows that he dislikes the Agrarian Myth. But instead of leaving America with no ideal, and no hero, he creates Nick Carraway, the new hero of the 1920's.