The American Dream in The Great Gatsby

Just Beyond Reach According to the U.S. novelist, Jill Robinson, “The American Dream, the idea of the happy ending, is an avoidance of responsibility and commitment” (http://www.brainyquote.com). What Robinson is saying is that a lot of people expect to achieve the American Dream, i.e. happiness, through the accumulation of external things, meanwhile avoiding the true origins of happiness, which are internal. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby’s character also faces this dilemma as he reaches for the American Dream, believing that his happiness will come from accumulating wealth, and in turn, gaining the love of Daisy. Throughout the story, the motif of the color green appears as a symbol of love and wealth for Gatsby, the pursuit of which ultimately leads to Gatsby’s demise, symbolizing the decline of the American Dream. The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock symbolizes hope and love to Gatsby, which are central to his idea of the American Dream. Daisy’s cousin, Nick, describes his /reaching out across the water trembling, appearing to be looking into a dark abyss. Nick explains, “Involuntarily I glanced seaward and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock” (21). The green light at the end of Daisy and Tom’s dock is all that Gatsby can see of their house, and Gatsby grows to associate the green light with Daisy. This green light represents a ray of hope for Gatsby in his attempt to regain the love he once shared with Daisy. However, Gatsby’s dream, like the light, is just beyond his reach, remaining remote and difficult to attain. Ultimately, hope for love fades for Jay Gatsby, as does the light across the bay, symbolic of the decline of the American Dream, and the uselessness of chasing it. The green light symbolizes Gatsby’s idea of true love, which is embodied solely in Daisy. He makes her aware of this by telling her “If it wasn’t for the mist we could see