Great Gatsby Essay

Gatsby and The American Dream What is the American dream anyway? In the book The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby represents the American dream. This novel says some things about the condition of the American dream in the 1920s. The ideas of dreams, wealth, and time all are related to each other in the novel’s exploration of the idea of America. Many people have their own idea of what is the American dream. The definition can differ from person to person. It can be things simple as having freedom or having a lot of money. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby is a rich guy who throws these parties that people from around come to but no one ever actually ever sees Gatsby in person. “I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby‘s house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited” (41). Nick the narrator is saying that he actually met Gatsby in person and he has actually invited him to the party as a guest. Gatsby is considered as having the American dream and represents it in some ways. Gatsby wants to live a lifestyle of living the American dream and to achieve it. “But 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, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward—and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock. When I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone again in the unquiet darkness.” (20-21). Gatsby is reaching out for the green light which symbolizes his American dream which is to have Daisy and he seems to be achieving it. Gatsby represents the American dream by a few things such as he is rich and has a lot of money most of which he inherited it from his parents that are dead. He has a luxurious car, a huge house where his parties are held at. Gatsby has the life of the American dream and has