Corruption Of The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

Decline of the American Dream Americans are good dreamers who are willing to work hard to turn their dreams into reality, and some of them do succeed. By the 1920’s, a multitude of people have made large amounts of money, but due to the material excessiveness of the rich, some gradually corrupted the purity of their American Dreams. In The Great Gatsby, F.Scott Fitzgerald criticizes the theme of the decline of the American Dream in the 1920s by showing the opulence and sloth of both rich and poor characters. It is undenial that most of the characters in The Great Gatsby reflect the corruption in American Dreams from many aspects. Some of them use exsiting money for purposeless enjoyment, some of them expect to get money from rich people,
Daisy is a typical example. Except attaching to another rich man and getting the wealth she wants, Daisy has no other dreams about her future. Daisy expresses her plan about herself through the wishes towards her daughter, as she says, “I’m glad it’s girl. And I hope she will be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool”(Fitzgerald 17). She believes that her daughter does not need to be smart. She only needs to be beautiful, marrying a rich man who can give her all the vanities. It will be the best life. Her words are not only the advice for her daughter, but also imply that her intelligence finds her husband’s affair, making her depressed. In another word, Daisy’s intelligence lets her realize that her ideal life is not happy for the lack of love. In the late stages of the book, the narrator indicates that Daisy struggled for love towards Gatsby and wealth once, when she drank to numbness after receiving the letter from Gatsby before the wedding with Tom, she says,“ Take’em down-stairs and give’em back to whoever they belong to. Tell’em all Daisy’s change’ her mind. Say: ‘Daisy’s change her mind!’”(Fitzgerald 76). The letter causes Daisy to become willing to give up Tom’s wealth, so a happy life with Gatsby could be the only dream she used to own. One needs to work for any dream that he or she owns, so does Daisy, which means, if Daisy decided to marry Gatsby, she could have love and happiness, just as long as she is willing to be free from vanities, work hard for her dreams, and wait patiently for returns. However, she cannot wait until Gatsby comes back and take the risk of getting married to a poor soldier, so she gives up her dream. Roger elaborates Daisy’s situation when he says, “when the showdown occurs in the Plaza Hotel, her lack of independence is crucial”(Lathbury 28). Even if she is