Connection of Great Gatsby to the American Dream

Connection of Great Gatsby to the American Dream

The American Dream is a happy way of living that is desired by most Americans as they view it as something that can be achieved by anyone in the United States, especially through working hard and becoming successful. The American Dream represents the ideals of a nation, the pursuit of happiness, liberty, equality, and democracy. The desire to live the American Dream also pushes people into doing unorthodox activities so as to achieve the dream. By concentrating on the Great Gatsby’s pursuit of the American Dream, Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” demonstrates how the dream cannot be successful because of the way it is misunderstood by people and society’s materialistic perception of modern life.

The narrator, Nick Carraway, in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby,” tells a story that mostly focuses on Jay Gatsby. Jay Gatsby was born into a poor family and became one of the richest men in the West Egg. The richness that Gatsby manages to have is attributed to the relationship he had with Dan Cody, a millionaire. The desire for wealth by Gatsby was motivated by his love for Daisy Buchanan. However, after he manages to have the wealth that he had been pursuing so that he can be with Daisy, he finds out that Daisy has been married to a man named Tom. After learning that Daisy has been married, Gatsby does not give up on his love for Daisy as he concentrates on throwing numerous parties each week, hoping that Daisy will show up and see how successful he has been. After Nick Carraway finally shows up in the neighborhood, he is used as a foundation for an affair between Gatsby and Daisy because Nick is a close relative to Daisy. Even though Gatsby somehow manages to get close to Daisy and they have an affair, in the end, she goes back to Tom, and this proves that their relationship was not real. By focusing on Great Gatsby’s futile pursuit of the American dream, Fitzgerald shows that the American Dream cannot be fully achieved mainly because those who believe in the dream constantly strive for something better than themselves. By using Jay Gatsby, the author of the novel demonstrates how dangerous it is to attempt to reach for something more than one attains. Through this, Fitzgerald shows that the desire to achieve the American Dream usually pushes people to become so involved in material things that they miss the chance for real happiness.