To become a Great American Novel, a book must represent the lifestyle of the United States in the best way possible. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, I believe the American life is portrayed well enough to allow the book to be called a Great American Novel. The most apparent aspect of this novel that makes it American is the main characters’ quest to achieve the American Dream.

In the early plot development of the novel, the setting is displayed as a time where the ethics of the people were declining. People were becoming greedy and were losing their moral values. They did not follow the true American Dream that was to be followed by all Americans for a successful life. Instead of using their abilities to the fullest and working hard to support themselves and their families, they went to the weekly parties hosted by Jay Gatsby. They did not think much of the parties as having a degrading impact in their lives. Instead, they thought the parties were just something that was normal and something that everybody went to. Showing the thoughtless actions of Americans: “Sometimes they came and went without having met Gatsby at all, came for the party and a simplicity of heart that was its own ticket of admission.”

This novel takes place in the time shortly after World War I. This was the time when stock market prices soared and anybody could make an easy fortune just by going to the stock market and trading stocks. This greatly reduced the Americans’ motivation to work for their money, as they could easily make millions by trading stocks. There were many people that had riches running in their family, and these wealth people had a higher and a better quality form of education: “’I am the son of some wealthy people …. I was brought up in America but educated at Oxford, because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years. It is a family tradition.’” People getting into high quality colleges with very little or no effort worked against the American Dream.

Working more against the American Dream, because of the Eighteenth Amendment, alcohol was banned from being sold. This resulted in many people illegally selling alcohol to others, which brought illegal bars. This lack of ethical behavior is displayed during some of Gatsby’s parties. There are people who appear to be random that come to Gatsby’s parties, and may be up to behavior that may not comply with the law. Even when asked who comes to the parties, there can only be a few people that are recalled by name, and the rest’s names, “if I ever knew it, I have forgotten. All these people came to Gatsby’s house in the summer.”

Within the story, there are many different characters that portray the different types of people that lived during America in the 1920s. For example, Nick and Gatsby both fought in World War I, and they have the cynical stereotype of people who have fought in wars in the past. Due to their experiences during the war, they have lost trust in other people and believe others are dishonest towards them. They believe other humans are not to be trusted, as Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby depict in their characteristic.

Further portraying the ways of American life, the main setting of the story is divided up into two different portions: East Egg and West Egg. The differences between the two eggs show the differences in the classes of America and how the country developed with its differences.

East Egg displays the established aristocracy. The people who live there are well developed and organized in their society and have ethical and orderly ways of living. This wealth has been passed down for generations, and ancestry brought along the riches and intelligence the people of East Egg have now. It displays the traditional portion of America, and the proper ways its older people have lived up by.

West Egg displays the people who made themselves rich. The people who traded stocks, for example, had an effortless way of making money. With a very low amount of experience, they were able to make small fortunes with almost no hard work. These people were the modern day people who had the lazy characteristic. They did not comply with the traditional rules of ethical behavior, and brought in their own ideas of what was right and what was wrong.

A symbol in the novel that displayed improvement in the way people followed the American Dream was Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. In the mind of Nick Carraway, Eckleburg was always watching for things that were right and things that were wrong. He was always looking over the people of America, and he was always watching if they were doing something wrong, and he was similar to the supervisor that prevented people from committing crimes or doing illegal activity.

In conclusion, I believe The Great Gatsby should be considered a Great American Novel due to its dedication to describe the ways of Americans in the 1920s. Although it portrays how Americans did not follow the American Dream more than it did, it gives a depiction of America in the time period that it was written in.