The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

Throughout history people have strived for success. The definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams , "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement" regardless of social class or circumstances of birth. This idea is obviously farfetched, but also somewhat obtainable. The belief that you can make anything of yourself through any means necessary is obviously very inspiring to those that come from poverty and misfortune. If you are raised with wealth and material possessions the basic idea of the American dream may be more easily obtainable. However, this idea is more than just material prosperity. When someone is rich with material possessions, but not in morals or
James Gatz was a boy from rural North Dakota, where he was born to a poor German American family. Gatz felt restrained by the limits of poverty. After dropping out of college he went to Lake Superior, where he met Dan Cody. Cody became Gatz's mentor and invited him to join him as his apprentice. At seventeen, Gatz changed his name to Jay Gatsby and, over the next five years, learned the ways of the wealthy. Gatsby was supposed to inherit money after Cody died but Cody’s mistress gypped Gatsby out of the money. Jay Gatsby then fell in love with a woman named Daisy. Daisy left Gatsby for a much more wealthy man named Tom. Gatsby then went to War and came back and became rich due to questionable means. After Gatsby became rich, pretty much achieving the American dream by definition, he still wasn’t happy or satisfied. Jay Gatsby seems really ungrateful, because he is. Gatsby did not reach his personal American dream, which was to be happy and be with Daisy. This goes to show that even when people do achieve the American dream in a financial and materialistic sense, they stay may be unhappy, making them question the dream