The Great Gatsby Displaying the Corruption of the American Dream

The Great Gatsby: The Corruption of the American Dream In the 1920’s many people left their countries to come to America seeking for the American dream. The American Dream meant being successful and happy. Many people started to learn that they couldn’t find that happiness without the money. In Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the characters based their lives off of wealth and materialism, forgetting what the real idea of the American dream was. Throughout the story, Daisy, Gatsby and Myrtle illustrated disillusionment of the American dream. To start off, Daisy illustrated disillusionment of the American dream throughout the story. For example, Daisy was born into a rich family, married a rich man, was reunited with her lost love, but still wasn’t content with her life, “Daisy’s face was smeared with tears, and when I came in she jumped up and began wiping at it with her handkerchief before a mirror” (Fitzgerald 89). Daisy was handed everything a girl could ever want, but still was not happy. Her long lost love had set up a tea invite just to see her, yet she was shocked and embarrassed. Although Daisy almost left Tom, she never did because he was rich. Another reason why Daisy illustrated disillusionment was the fact that she married Tom because he was rich. When she was about to marry Tom, she initially called it off because she knew it wasn’t right and she wanted Gatsby. Then Daisy looked at the pearl necklace that Tom had bought her and called it back on. In the end, Daisy was never fully content with her life after she had everything, which was one of the main factors of the disillusionment of the American dream. Without a doubt, Gatsby illustrated disillusionment of the American dream because of the ways he tried to win Daisy back. For example, Gatsby hosted lavish parties at his mansion in hopes that Daisy might find her way to attend them. When Nick said “Sometimes people came to his parties without having met Gatsby at all” one could assume