While "The Great Gatsby" is a highly specific portrait of American society during the Roaring Twenties, its story is also one that has been told hundreds of times, and is perhaps as old as America itself: a man claws his way from rags to riches, only to find that his wealth cannot afford him the privileges enjoyed by those born into the upper class. The central character is Jay Gatsby, a wealthy New Yorker of …showed first 75 words of 1584 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1584 total…tries to elicit Nick's sympathy; he believes that all of his actions were thoroughly justified, and he wants Nick to agree. Nick muses that Gatsby, alone among the people of his time, strove to transform his dreams into reality; it is this that makes him "great." Nick also believes, however, that the time of such grand aspirations is over: greed and dishonesty have irrevocably corrupted both the American dream and the dreams of individual Americans.