 This interpretation asserts that "The Great Gatsby" captures the American experience because it is a story about change and those who resist it, whether the change comes in the form of a new wave of immigrants or the nouveau riche or successful minorities.Americans living in the 1920s to the present are thus defined by their fluctuating economic and social circumstances.As Gillespie states, "While the specific terms of the equation are always changing, it's easy to see echoes of "Gatsby"s basic conflict between established sources of economic and cultural power and upstarts in virtually all aspects of American society."