Examples Of Dreams In The Great Gatsby

Dreams. Hope. Destiny. These three words have one thing in common, the American Dream. The American Dream is about liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the pursuit of dreams, it is about the ability to chase and follow your dream. That is what the American Dream is about, that is what Americans dream about, that is what Gatsby dreamt about, That was what Gatsby died for. However did Gatsby have to die or was there a chance that Gatsby could have challenged his fate? No, Gatsby was doomed from the start. Gatsby was a hopeless dreamer that died because of his dreams. He is the prime example of what happens when someone follows their dreams to the extreme, they get chewed up and spat right back out, but this is the nature of such a cruel world.
First of all Gatsby was preyed upon by a foul idea, the American Dream. Our unbiased narrator Nick Carraway describes Gatsby as such; “Gatsby turned out alright at the end, it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams” (Fitzgerald 2). Dreams can be Nightmares in disguise, that rule applies to every dream, The American Dream is no exception. Gatsby needed to achieve his dreams no matter what, the ends justified the means to him, that's why he took up bootlegging. The American Dream drove Gatsby to do illegal things and he also tried to have affairs with married woman, all for the sake of achieving his dreams, this is why the American Dream is not a dream but a nightmare, it drives men to capture their dreams no matter the means. Furthermore Gatsby could not achieve his goals as himself, he had to change, James Gatz was no more, out from the proverbial smoke came Jay, Gatsby a changed man. Gatsby’s dreams drove him far enough to change his identity. “The vague contour of Jay Gatsby had filled out the substantiality of a man” (Fitzgerald 64). Gatsby changed his identity, more importantly he changed his surname, the most important name. With one name someone’s heritage, wealth, and social status is easily uncovered, from the richest Buchanan to the
Gatsby had too much optimism, there is a phrase that states that having too much of something is not a good thing same goes with optimism. First of all, Gatsby tried to pursue a married women with a child. We find out that Daisy has a child here; “-Daisy, and began to clog on the brick fireplace. Then she remembered the heat and sat down guiltily on the couch just as a freshly laundered nurse leading a little girl came into the room. Bles-sed pre-cious, she crooned, holding out her arms. Come to your own mother that loves you” (Fitzgerald 118). Daisy is a mother and Gatsby is still pursuing her, Daisy’s already settled down yet Gatsby just will not give up on her. Gatsby is being too unrealistic and optimistic here as he has no chance of winning Daisy over, yet he acts like he's already won. Second of all Gatsby wanted to get married to Daisy, an impossible task considering the time period and the fact that Daisy was already married. The following quote proves this: “wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: I never loved you. After she had obliterated four years with that sentence they could decide upon the more practical measures to be taken. One of them was that, after she was free, they were to go back to Louisville and be married from her house—just as if it were five years ago.” (Fitzgerald 95). Gatsby wanted to the impossible he wanted the marry an already