The Great Gatsby

In the book “The Great Gatsby”, arguably the finest work of art by F. Scott Fitzgerald, none but a few people had the idealistic “American Dream.” To some characters, it seems that the American Dream has been replaced by just materialism and greed. What does the American Dream mean? What does it stand for? If a person has achieved their American Dream how should they go about living? The American Dream is the vision to be successful and to provide from our pocket to ourselves as well as our families, the best way we can. The characters such as Tom and Daisy Buchanhan, Jay Gatsby, and Myrtle Wilson have all misplaced the American Dream with greed and materialism. Tom has done it in many ways. He works for nothing and plays all day. Another thing he does which takes up much of his time is have an affair. Nevertheless, he has his wife, Daisy, sitting in his huge mansion alone with his daughter which he barely sees regularly. He has an affair with a woman named Myrtle Wilson. A woman who has no feeling for anybody but herself and cares about living the highlife rather than living her own life. She loves to see Tom shower her with gifts and take her as his number one priority. A great example could be when she said, “I want to get one of those dogs”(Fitzgerald 27); Tom hesitated at first but still paid for the dog. Jay Gatsby’s obsession with materialism and greed is somewhat different to others in the novel. Gatsby had and overwhelming love for Daisy, Tom’s wife. He felt so in love that his greediness of wealth overwhelmed his actions. He began buying everything to buy her love, all to impress his long lost love of five years. Daisy is a lightheaded, non-chalant woman. She too was obsessed with material items. Her life was based on money. As Nick Caraway, the narrator of the story (in the story) implied, “Her voice is full of money” (Fitzgerald 127). She herself wouldn’t marry the man she loved because he was poor. Some of the characters in the