Analysis Of The American Dream In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Do you believe in the American Dream? What is the American Dream, really? F. Scott Fitzgerald has a pretty good idea of what that dream might be. In his book, The Great Gatsby, all the characters are attempting to become happier with their lives. The characters in the novel are divided into two groups: the rich upper class and the poorer lower class (West Egg and East Egg). Though the main characters only try to make their lives better, the American Dream they are all trying to achieve is eventually ruined by the harsh reality of life.
Though Tom and Daisy Buchanan seem to have everything they could have possibly ever wanted with their lives, they seem to be unhappy and seek change. Tom drifts on "forever seeking a little wistfully for the
dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game" (10) and reads "deep books with long words in them" (17) just so he has something to talk about. Even though Tom is married to Daisy, he has an affair with Myrtle Wilson and has an apartment with her in New York. Daisy is an empty character, someone with hardly any convictions or desires. Even before her relationships with Tom or Gatsby are seen, Daisy does nothing but sit around all day and wonder what to do with herself and her friend Jordan. She knows that Tom is having an affair, yet she doesn't leave him. Not even when she hears about Gatsby loving her. This doesn’t make any sense to me. Why are Daisy and Tom still together even though they both know they aren’t meant for each other? Daisy knows Tom is having an affair, yet she doesn’t do anything to make herself any happier! Daisy and Tom are perfect examples of wealth and prosperity, and the American Dream. Yet their lives are empty, and without purpose.
Even though Myrtle Wilson makes an attempt to escape her own class and pursue happiness with the rich, she ends up gaining nothing. She is basically a victim of the group she wanted to join. Myrtle tries to become like Tom by having an affair with him and taking on his way of living, but in doing so she becomes unsatisfied with her life. Her constant clothing changes show how unhappy she is with her life. She changes personalities every time she changes her dress: "with the influence of the dress her whole personality had also undergone a change. The intense vitality... was converted into impressive hauteur" (35). Myrtle obviously attempted to become someone who she wasn’t. Clearly her perspective of the American Dream is to be wealthy. Unfortunately, not everything always works out how you want it to, and Myrtle got the worst thing she could possibly get. Death.
Similarly, for five years Gatsby sees Daisy as the perfect woman, someone that Daisy could be, "no amount of fire or freshness can challenge what man will store up in his ghostly heart” (101).
Gatsby is disappointed that the woman he loves is not really who he wants her to be. Gatsby wants a better life and he thinks he can do it if he puts his mind to it, which is also a part of the American Dream. However, Gatsby's dream collapses when he fails to win Daisy and is not accepted by the upper class. Without his dream Gatsby has nothing, nothing to keep him going, no direction, and no purpose to live. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald shows how dreams are destroyed, no matter what the dreams consist of, money, material status, or just simply to be happy. Fitzgerald also shows that the failure of the American Dream is unavoidable in a sense that nothing can be as perfect as one could imagine. Without hopes or dreams life would be empty, as shown by Tom and the Buchanan’s.
Given these points, I agree with the author’s perspective of the American Dream. The author’s point was clear. Everyone has his or her own dream. The American Dream is something people work for throughout their life and everyone has different goals and achievements they want to reach. Although the dream is admirable, it is impossible to achieve eternal satisfaction. The American Dream is just that, a
dream.