What Is The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

The American Dream in The Great Gatsby
“But the country's disintegrating. What's happened to America? What's happened to the American dream?”-Alan Moore. This quote relates to the downfall of the American Dream in the novel, The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby, written by Francis Scott Fitzgerald, takes place in 1920s America. In the story, a man named Jay Gatsby finds out that the woman he loves, Daisy, had married another man, Tom Buchanan. He then decides to dedicate his life to become wealthy and get her back. Gatsby sees getting Daisy back as part of getting his American Dream and spends his entire life in his pursuit of happiness. He eventually becomes corrupt in his ways to achieve what he sees as the American Dream. This also ties into
After the end of World War I, the rise of the stock market led to an increase in the national wealth and newfound materialism as people consumed more and money was more accessible. The reckless, joyous parties that Gatsby throws resulted in the corruption of the American dream, as the hunger for money and happiness surpassed everything else. The parties that Gatsby held every week in the summer were a symbol of the carelessness of the time. “In his blue garden people came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne” (39). Gatsby would hide in the house while the guests, most of who were not even invited, would party, eat and drink until the early hours of the morning without even meeting the Gatsby or even knowing who he was. People would show up just to be seen or reported in the local newspapers which show their desire for pleasure and disregard for anything else. The decline in the American Dream is also portrayed in the treatment of children. Daisy and Tom's daughter, Pammy, was treated almost like an object to show off rather than a child. The child shows her uneasiness around her parents in the quote, “The child, relinquished by the nurse, rushed across the room and rooted shyly into her mother's dress” (117). The child did not know her mother very well and did not want to go
Gatsby was not a man corrupted by the American Dream, but a corrupt man driven to achieve what he saw as the American Dream. From a young age we see that Gatsby corrupts himself because he was unhappy with where he was in life. He wanted to have a better life, but at the same time, he felt that he could not move up in society. When he did corrupt actions later in his life, he tried to justify them by saying that they are for his love of Daisy, which was not true. Gatsby’s corrupt dream was expressed in the quote, “…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, that might have been the end of a dock” (20). Gatsby dreamed of his dream of a future with Daisy and used his successful life to try to impress her. He does everything to better his social standing. When he changed his name he took the first step towards reinventing himself into who he saw he should be. He was corrupt before he met Daisy, and he became more corrupt to get her back because she was his dream. She was so unobtainable to him that he wanted her more and more while the entire time he was trying to get Daisy to think that he was doing it for love. “…I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light