The Destructive American Dream In The Great Gatsby

Mackenzie Boughen
Mrs. Vrankic
ENG 4U1
Monday, October-27-14

The Destructive American Dream in The Great Gatsby “Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for her too, Till she cry ‘Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, I must have you!’” (pg. 6). The Great Gatsby is an extraordinarily telling story of the fatal flaws within the ‘American Dream’, in disguise as a love story. It appears to be a novel portraying Jay Gatsby’s love for Daisy Buchanan when, in truth, it speaks more toward the self-centred, hollow reality of the American Dream. The destructive nature of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby is evident through Gatsby chasing his dream, Daisy and Tom living an unhappy life, and Nick realizing the imperfect essence of the American Dream. Jay Gatsby is the namesake of the novel, the entire story appearing to focus on him. Gatsby’s chase for the conceited American Dream is all in the name of gaining Daisy’s love. When Gatsby finally has Daisy inside his house, Nick says, “he hadn’t once ceased looking at Daisy, and I think he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes” (pg. 88). This quote reflects how Gatsby yearns for Daisy – his dream. He spends the length of the book trying to impress Daisy with parties and wealth, but to no avail as Gatsby’s version of the American Dream eventually destroys him and he dies. Another measure of Gatsby’s struggle to attain his dream is the green light. When he first notices his neighbour, Nick says, “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” (pg. 25). Looking from his own backward, Nick sees Gatsby stretching out and reaching for the green light which is in fact at the dock near Daisy’s house. Once more it can be seen that Gatsby cares about nothing more than acquiring Daisy. He puts all of his efforts into reaching out for the symbolic green light, yet his dream falls apart as she is unattainable. Through Gatsby’s reassessment of his possessions and his hopeless stretch for the green light, it is evident that Gatsby wants only to earn Daisy’s forbidden love and Gatsby’s dream destroys him. Another exhibit of the shallow American dream is the relationship between Tom and Daisy. Tom and Daisy Buchanan are both prime examples of the self-centered American Dream. The couple are rich, ignorant people who expect other, less fortunate people to clean up their messes. For example, when Daisy kills Myrtle in Gatsby’s car she takes no responsibility for it. Nick asks Gatsby about the details of the car accident, “’Was Daisy driving?’ ‘Yes,’ he said after a moment, ‘but of course I’ll say I was (. . .) first Daisy turned away from the woman toward the other car, and then she lost her nerve and turned back’” (pg. 137). Gatsby admits Daisy killed Myrtle, and Daisy lets Gatsby take the blame for the incident. Daisy feels she is immune to punishment, and she is too important to deal with legal issues, which truly emphasizes the arrogant portion of the American Dream. As well as the car accident, the American Dream can be seen as egotistic through the actions of Tom Buchanan. From the beginning of their marriage, Tom cheats on Daisy with different women like Myrtle Wilson, with whom Tom has an obvious affair. Tom is even unhappy with his mistress, and breaks her nose in an argument, “Some time toward midnight Tom Buchanan and Mrs Wilson stood face to face discussing, in impassioned voices, whether Mrs Wilson had any right to mention Daisy’s name. ‘Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!’ shouted Mrs Wilson. I’ll say it whenever I want to! Daisy Dai –‘ Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose” (pg. 39) Tom lives his American Dream, but is still melancholy towards his life, because of the emptiness of the American Dream. Within Daisy’s car accident and Tom’s unhappiness, The Great Gatsby truly emphasizes the destructive triviality of the American Dream. A final illustration of how destructive the American Dream can be, is Nick gradually realizing the negative atmosphere plaguing the American Dream. At multiple different points in the novel, Nick discovers that people who are living the American Dream are often false, unfaithful people. Nick Carraway sees himself as an honest person among liars, “every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people I have ever known” (pg. 59). Nick sees Tom cheating on his wife, and Jordan cheating in a golf tournament, among other liars, and he notes that all of these people living the American Dream are unvirtuous, disloyal people. Furthermore, Nick concludes the narration with a quote referring directly to the chase for the American Dream. “As I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night” (pg. 171). Nick completely understands the reality of how destructive the American Dream can be. Nick sees a man who only has one goal on his mind, and Gatsby’s dream destroys him. Viewing the falsehood of his peers, and the mistaken dream Gatsby had, Nick sees the true side of the American Dream. The destructive nature of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby is evident through Gatsby chasing his dream, Daisy and Tom living an unhappy life, and Nick realizing the imperfect essence of the American Dream. The American Dream is an ideal held dear to some people, but it will often ruin a person who aspires for it. The Great Gatsby is truly a mentor, warning society of the dangerous materialistic essence behind the American Dream.