In Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby, the American dream is presented as an unachievable and corrupt dream of many. As Nick Carraway moves to West Egg, his small house is overshadowed by the expansive mansion of Jay Gatsby. As Nick becomes acquainted with Gatsby, he observes him watching a green light across the water and longing for his lost love, Daisy. Gatsby is considered to be ‘new money’ and as such has in fact reached some level of the American dream. Although Gatsby has become very rich, he still doesn’t have everything he wants and is still striving to get Daisy but he never succeeds in doing so.
Gatsby grew up in a poor family and through bootlegging he became very rich and used this money to try and win back Daisy. Despite finding great success, Gatsby was not satisfied and he strove to gain even more material wealth. Upon finally meeting with Daisy he boasts of the wealth he has achieved and feels as if he has finally reached the American dream now that he is with Daisy. Tragically, his happiness doesn’t last long as after a hit and run car accident, Gatsby is killed. In Great Gatsby, the American dream is an unrealistic goal of many Americans. Forever longing for more and more wealth and success, Gatsby’s American dream is ended immediately after gaining everything he though he wanted.
The life Gatsby lives may seem opulent and glorious to the rest of West Egg, but only Gatsby himself knows how he achieved such high social status. Even then, he does not necessarily think he did anything wrong. His morals are wrong and his life becomes convoluted due to his lifelong determination to win Daisy over, despite moving on from him. He cannot accept change in order to better himself as a person, thus demonstrating one of the main dimensions of the false American Dream.
I disagree that the American dream was an unrealistic goal for many Americans during the 1920’s. I believe that the American dream was certainly different than that of the previous generation of Americans, but not unrealistic. These men wanted money and power and they most definitely succeeded in acquiring both of these things to a great degree. The thing they failed to obtain was happiness because of their lack of moral values and respect.
I think the American dream is realistic in terms of accumulating wealth in every single way the person could. But getting into the upper class is another completely different story. Even though Gatsby was rich, the other rich people never respected him because they knew he was doing illegal business.
I completely agree. I think that in reality achieving the American Dream, legally, was extremely difficult. Fitzgerald uses Gatsby to show the corruption behind the American Dream. He highlights the only realistic way of achieving the American Dream is through illegal terms. Although the America Dream attracted a lot of people, very few people came out on top.