Gatsby's American Dream

In the late 1800s, large batches of immigrants began to make their journey across the Atlantic Ocean to a new home called the United States of America. They made this long perilous journey because they were able to have a fresh start and the possibility of achieving the American dream. Everyone, no matter their home land, could be as successful as their determination and and initiative would let them be. In the book The Great Gatsby by Scott F. Fitzgerald none of the main characters ever seem to take grasp of the American Dream and hold on to it. The book is set on Long Island in 1922. It is a love story of Jay Gatsby trying to obtain his old lover Daisy, who is already married to a man named Tom Buchanan. Tom is cheating on Daisy with
a married woman named, Myrtle Wilson. The narrator of the book is Nick Carraway, who is a cousin of Daisy and a neighbor of Gatsby. The story ends tragically with three people dead and no one ending up happy. While no one ends up achieving the American dream they all had one. Overall Gatsby's American dream was to run away with Daisy, Tom's American dream was to keep what he has, and Fitzgerald used his writing to show that he believes that the American Dream is dead. To begin, Gatsby's American dream was to run away with Daisy.
The major aspect of his dream is for his future to be with her and only her. As Nick notices someone staring across the bay he states, "I didn’t call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone — he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way... I glanced seaward — and distinguished nothing except a single green light" (Fitzgerald 21). Nick realized that this was Gatsby staring at the green light across the bay. The green light was located at Daisy's dock and represented Gatsby's hope to be with her. Gatsby needed something to keep him positive about his relationship with Daisy and the green light is what he chose. Gatsby also needed more confirmation after he began to speak with her again. He needed to believe that Daisy never loved her current husband Tom. He eventually lashed out at Tom saying, '"She never loved you, do you hear?" he cried. "She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved any one except me!"' (Fitzgerald 130). Gatsby needed the conformation that him waiting five years to come back to Daisy was worth it for him. He believed that they were so in love with each other that she would never get over him and move on to others. Daisy states that she did love Tom but she did not love him at the time. This upset Gatsby and was the first step that was taken for him to lose her. The next step would cost his and two others
lives. To continue, Tom's American dream was to keep hold of what he has. Tom was born into the American dream. His parents were rich and he inherited all of the money. When he got married he was unfaithful to his wife mucking around with other women. In the book, Myrtle was his current mistress and he planned to keep her and his wife. In the heat of an argument with Gatsby, he became upset that his wife was cheating with him. He then ironically mentioned, "'I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife. Well, if that’s the idea you can count me out" (Fitzgerald 130). He then complains about people beginning to sneer at family life. Tom becomes a hypocrite because he has a mistress of his own but complains about his wife sleeping with another person. Tom also wanted to keep his woman on the side to make him feel superior to others. However he was not able to keep her because she ran out of her house "into the dusk, waving her hands and shouting" (Fitzgerald 137). She was hit by Gatsby's car that was being driven by Daisy. She did not stop and Myrtle laid dead on the ground. In the end, Tom did not get to keep everything he wanted, for he lost his mistress to his wife. Last of all, Fitzgerald believes that the American dream is dead. This can be concluded form what happens to the characters of The Great Gatsby. Gatsby ends up dead "making little ripples that were hardly the shadows of waves" (Fitzgerald 162). He is killed by Myrtles husband, before he commits suicide, because he did not want anything to happen to Daisy so he took the blame. Gatsby was never able to achieve his dream even when he put as much effort as to buy a house so "that Daisy would be just across the bay" (Fitzgerald 78). He also would have most likely never ended up with Daisy even if he was alive because of what happened the day before he died. In conclusion, the death of the American dream is the theme of The Great Gatsby. None of the characters dreams, two of them being Gatsby to run away with Daisy and Tom to keep what he has, ever come true. Fitzgerald uses his characters to show his opinion that the American Dream does not exist and that his readers should not make the foolish mistake of trying to achieve the impossible dream that everyone fails to achieve.