American Literature Presents Dreams and Desires as Unattainable

‘American Literature presents dreams and desires as ultimately unattainable.’ How does your interpretation of your three chosen texts support this judgement?

The idea of dreams and their attainment has been a principle element of American literature for over a century. More specifically, the ‘American Dream’ which was a term made popular by historian James Truslow Adams in his book, The Epic of America. Many American novels have criticised the unrealistic nature of the American dream and dreams in general such as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925). Fitzgerald portrays the futile nature of chasing your dreams through the downfall of Jay Gatsby whose demise is as a result of his dreams. Not only were dreams the driving force in American novels but they also influenced playwrights and poets such as Tennessee Williams and Walt Whitman. In Williams’ play A Street Car Named Desire (1947) the main protagonist Blanche Dubois never achieved her dream and like Gatsby. Therefore, showing the pointlessness of chasing dreams as they will not be achieved. Although Walt Whitman’s collection of poems also presents dreams as unrealistic their unattainability is shown in a different way. Whitman’s Leaves of Grass collection take an optimistic view of dreams and many of the speakers in his poetry are still hopeful of their dream materialising. However, the achievement of their dream is never mentioned in his poems therefore suggesting that optimism can delude you into believing your dreams will come true but that they are ultimately unattainable. Overall, these three American texts present dreams and desires as being ultimately unattainable through the narrative of their texts.

In both The Great Gatsby and ‘A Noiseless Patient Spider’ the individual is separated from their dreams whether it be due to a physical separation or societal structure ultimately presenting their dreams as unattainable. Both Fitzgerald and Whitman portray this separation through their setting with Whitman in particular also using vivid imagery. In The Great Gatsby the main dream presented is Gatsby’s dream to be with Daisy Buchanan however, Gatsby is separated from Daisy physically due to the location of their homes. Gatsby lives on the “less fashionable” (Fitzgerald, 2001, pg5) East Egg and whereas Daisy’s home is on West Egg. These settings are based on real locations on Long Island, New York.  West Egg is based upon Great Neck and East Egg is said to be based on Port Washington which are both locations where those with substantial amounts of money to their name still live today. Fitzgerald himself moved to Great Neck with his wife Zelda in 1922 where he is said to have written around three chapters of what was to become one of the greatest American novels ever written. The fictional names that replaced the real names of these locations hold a significance in terms of the achievement of dreams in the novel. Both Gatsby and Nick Carraway live on East Egg although they are the ones still chasing dreams and aspiring for something more than they have at the present time. Nick and Gatsby did not ‘go west’ in order to achieve their dreams but decided to stay in the East suggesting that their if their dreams are in the West that they will not be attained due to them being in the East. Additionally, Gatsby’s house is separated from Daisy’s home by “a courtesy bay” (Fitzgerald, 2001, pg5) similarly to the ocean of space that separates the spider from land in ‘A Noiseless Patient Spider’. This separation by water can suggest to the reader that Gatsby’s dreams are being drowned or sinking to the bottom of the “dark water” (Fitzgerald, 2001, pg16) rather than being achieved.

Similarly, in ‘A Noiseless Patient Spider’ the spider is attempting to get its “gossamer” (Whitman, 1892, pg303) to catch onto land so it can create a web in order to “connect” (Whitman, 1892, pg303) itself to the land.  However, the spider is separated from the land by “measureless oceans of space” (Whitman, 1892, pg303). The plural noun “oceans” portrays the vast and endless space between the spider and its destination. Additionally, the use of the hyperbolic adjective “measureless” reinforces the infinite space between the spider and its dream and the reality that its dream will never be attained. Furthermore, the foregrounding of the verb “ceaselessly” (Whitman, 1892, pg303) highlights that the efforts of the spider are futile. This is not due to a lack of effort from the spider whose determination is conveyed by Whitman’s asyndetic listing of the verbs “musing, venturing, throwing, seeking” (Whitman, 1892, pg303). The spider is continuously striving to fulfil its dreams however its aims have not yet been met and it does not appear that that is going to change in the future. Additionally, the spider is waiting “till the ductile anchor hold” (Whitman, 1892, pg303) however, the adjective “ductile” juxtaposes the noun “anchor” as an anchor is meant to be a made of strong unmalleable metal in order to perform its function correctly. However, it can be said that Whitman’s anaphora of the conjunctive “till” (Whitman, 1892, pg303) is a sign that the spider’s efforts will eventually amount to something and that it will one day achieve its goal. This parallels for Whitman’s optimism for a united and fair America even though at the time Whitman was writing his poems there had just been a civil war and his optimism was out of place. His vision for America is one that he hoped would be so desirable that people would want it just as much as he does. Just like the spider it is this hope that eventually the “bridge you will need be form’d” (Whitman, 1892, pg303) that keeps both the spider and Whitman determined.  Even though, it seems there is hope for the spider to one day have its efforts pay off it seems as though this is only due to Whitman’s instinctive optimism and not based on the reality that there is “measureless” space between the spider and its dream suggesting that dreams and desires are ultimately unattainable.  

Time is a barrier that prevents Gatsby from achieving his dream just like it is for Blanche Dubois. In The Great Gatsby we are made aware that five years have passed since Daisy and Gatsby last saw each other. However, during this time Daisy had gotten married and not saved herself for him like he had for her. The moment where Gatsby meets Pammy is significant as it is the first moment where we see that Gatsby doubting his own dream. Pammy provides a sense of realism for Gatsby as he has never “really believed” (Fitzgerald, 2001, pg74) in her “existence before” (Fitzgerald, 2001, pg74). This forces him to confront the reality that he and Daisy have been estranged for so long that they may have become different people in this time. Furthermore, Pammy is a physical reminder of Tom and Daisy’s marriage that Gatsby is hoping to ignore the existence of. The fact that Gatsby never achieves his dream nor gets Daisy to say she only loved him reinforces the unattainability of dreams in The Great Gatsby.

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