Accidental Murder and the American Dream in in "The Great Gatsby"

Tom, Nick and Jordan are driving home when at Wilson's garage they come to find that Myrtle has been hit and killed by a yellow car. Tom immediately knows that it is Gatsby who was driving the car and seeks revenge. What he does not know is that the actual driver was Daisy. Gatsby does not tell anyone but Nick that Daisy was driving the car because he does not want anything bad to happen to her. This shows how much he truly cares for Daisy. It also shows that by not letting anyone else know the truth regarding the accident that Gatsby will only trust key people. This trust issue causes many problems for Gatsby and others.

The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a story about a wealthy man named Gatsby. Gatsby lives a luxuriant life in West Egg of New York. Gatsby’s wealth has an unknown secret because nobody seems to know where his wealth emerged from. Despite of having so much fortune, Gatsby’s true American dream has not been achieved. In the great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald develops Gatsby as a failed American dream to show the impossibility of the American dream in the 1920’s.

The American dream is often described as the desire for social mobility and the opportunity for wealth and success for all. According to Laura Goldblatt, author of Can’t Repeat the Past: Great Gatsby and the American Dream, “The term ‘American Dream’ provides a shorthand for aspirations that include the desire for social mobility, the ideals of freedom, and a non-hierarchical society,” (1) Of course, while there is an overall definition of the American dream, its interpretation varies from person to person. For some, it is the white picket fence and upper-middle class ideology. For others, it’s the dream of being able to support their families with their hardwork and dedication. However, for Jay Gatsby, it is only to gain wealth and success that will lead him to earn the love of Daisy Buchanan. To him, Daisy was his American dream and he would do anything, buy anything and give anything to have her, as shown throughout F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Gatsby’s interpretation of the American dream is best encapsulated through his relentless pursuit to obtain Daisy’s love and attention. Although he used a showy appearance of wealth and prosperity to fulfill his desire for Daisy’s attention, the readers realize that money could not buy her affection in the long term, that Gatsby only committed to a life of extravagance for the sole purpose of wooing Daisy Buchanan, and he died sad and alone with his version of the American Dream never being fully realized.

The story of The Great Gatsby is a novel that consists of a historical American context during the Harlem Renaissance. This was an excellent novel published in the 1920’s and was considered one of the best novels of its time. The author F. Scott Fitzgerald was an incredibly talented poetic author. Fitzgerald was able to emphasize and create the mood of the generation in a political time. The novel The Great Gatsby is a remarkable novel but also a very sad one. The novel took place during an age or era known as the “Roaring Twenties” which was a time of American wealth. Politics and corruption at the time is possibly what made Gatsby to be the business man he was.

The American Dream is described as a get rich fast scheme.This fits Daisy perfectly because she knew Gatsby long before she knew Tom. Daisy came from money unlike Gatsby and she felt that she couldn’t marry a poor person because she wouldn’t remain happy and successful so she decided to marry Tom who was very rich. “Her face sad and lovely with bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth.” This quote describes her perfectly and represents both the American Dream and the American Nightmare because her unhappiness shows, but the description shows her beauty. Daisy also can’t let go of her idea of the American Dream. “The danger is, like Gatsby, she carries the well forgotten dreams from age to age.” This shows Daisy needs to carry on with her happy perfect life because she has money. She can’t take full responsibility when she kills Myrtle so she leaves Gatsby for her husband. Daisy also doesn’t go to Gatsby's funeral because it would of been dream she shared with Gatsby, but with no evidence Daisy can keep living her life with money for her happiness and

The idea of American Dream as presented by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the Great Gatsby novel involves rising from poverty or rags to richness and wealthy. The American Dream exemplifies that elements such as race, gender, and ethnicity are valueless as they do not influence the ability of an individual to rise to power and richness. This American Dream makes the assumption that concepts such as xenophobia are non-existent in America a concept that is not true and shows vagueness of the American Dream. In his novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the Great Gatsby to demonstrate the overall idea of living the American dream. Gatsby leaves his small village of farmers and manages to work his way up the ladder although some of the money he uses to climb the ladder is associated with crime “He was a son of God and he must be about His Father's Business, the service of a vast, vulgar and meretricious beauty” (Fitzgerald 6.7). This phrase shows that Gatsby wasn’t meant for a life similar to that of his father but rather destined for greatness. However, his dream his short-lived and he doesn’t make it to the top as Daisy who is a symbol of his wealthy rejects her and a series of events transpire that result in his death before he could live his American Dream alongside everyone else who was working up the ladder to live the American Dream.

The American dream is a tacit promise given to all citizens in this country, which states that regardless of social class, any individual can aspire to new heights based upon the ideology of meritocracy. The American dream is a “recurring theme in American literature”(Pearson) and in American society. However, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s critically acclaimed novel, presents the American dream as an illusion which can never be achieved, and according to recent events in America, Fitzgerald is evidently correct. The personification of Daisy as the American Dream, the issue of meritocracy, Myrtle’s death, the image of the green light, as well as the manner in which Gatsby is denied entry into the

The Great Gatsby is a novel based off of the American dream, which is something that everyone strives for. The author of the book F. Scott Fitzgerald has his own American dream to become a well known writer, and to have the girl of his dreams, and throughout the novel this dream reflected in The Great Gatsby within in the characters Gatsby and Daisy. Fitzgerald had developed the character Gatsby by incorporating some of his own dreams. For example Gatsby has a forbidden love for Daisy, but he cannot have her because she does not want to leave her husband, Gatsby also wants to do everything he can for Daisy but since she will not leave her husband Gatsby is doing all of this for no reason, and in the

What is the American Dream? Is it wealth and power? Or is it liberty and freedom? The American Dream is different for every individual. In Gatsby’s case, his dream revolves around the pursuit of Daisy. The Declaration of Independence states, “All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and pursuit of Happiness.” This statement compresses the wide array of American Dreams into one statement. The pursuit of happiness is different for every human being. Gatsby’s dream was to rise out of a low economic level and into high wealth, winning Daisy over along the way. “The dream of finding fortune, fame, and true love is something that almost all Americans strive for” (Galley). Gatsby was too ambitious in the pursuit of his dream. During his struggle for Daisy, he failed to recognize that his vision was not attainable. The American Dream causes corruption in the world.

The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a book about following the American Dream in 1922. The story takes readers through a time of great prosperity in New York and the two sides of Long Island, East and West Egg. Nick Carraway has moved from the Midwest and is in New York to learn the bond business and is introduced to many different characters throughout the book including: Daisy and Tom Buchanan, George and Myrtle Wilson, Jordan Baker and Mr. Jay Gatsby himself. After a complicated set of events, Gatsby, George and Myrtle are dead. George is the one who pulled the trigger on Gatsby, but is not fully responsible for Gatsby’s death. There are many people involved that cause the chain of events to happen that ultimately lead

The notion of the ‘American Dream’ is one of the repeated aspects portrayed in this book, since Gatsby’s entire life is dedicated to achieving this. The ‘American Dream’ comprises of grand opulence, social equality, wealth; more specifically, a big house with a big garden, the newest model cars, the most fashionable attire, and a traditional four-peopled ‘happy’ family. To Fitzgerald, the ‘American Dream’ itself is a positive, admirable pursuit. We can see this when Fitzgerald uses personification, “flowers”, to background positive connotations behind the idea of the ‘American Dream’. In regard to Gatsby, he achieves the wealth aspect of this ‘dream’, “he had come a long way to this blue lawn”; however, he was yet to be satisfied because he did not have Daisy. Ever since the very beginning of the story, Gatsby always associated Daisy with magnificent affluence, the white house, and the grand quality of being rich. Gatsby wanted everything ever since he was first introduced to the higher status. But Gatsby felt incomplete and unfulfilled even after getting everything he dreamt of, so he sourced this emptiness as not having Daisy, where in reality, “he neither understood or desired” the motives he thought he once had.

The novel The Great Gatsby is told from the point of view of a man name Nick Carraway. Nick Carraway is a young man from Minnesota who went to Yale then to New York to study business bonds. As Nick grew up, he followed a lesson that his father gave him, which was to never judge others. Because of that lesson, Nick grew up to be someone who is tolerant, open-minded, quiet, and a good listener, which made others want to talk to him more. Nick lives on the West Egg district of Long Island next to a mysterious rich man who is later revealed to be Gatsby. Gatsby is a romantic who dreams about the past of him and Daisy. He always looks at things optimistically and always looks for a solution. Gatsby would throw these extravagant parties that

The Great Gatsby a, novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, follows a cast of characters abiding in the town of East and West Egg on affluent Long Island in the summer of 1922. Each of the characters, while part of the same story line, have different priorities and agendas, each character working towards achieving what they think would benefit them the most. As The Great Gatsby’s plot thickens the characters constantly show their discontent of the American Dream that they are living, always expressing their greed for more, three particular offenders of this deadly sin are Tom, Daisy and Gatsby himself. The characters motives stem from a mixture of boredom, a need and longing for the american dream, and simple selfish human

The ‘American Dream’; a thirst for wealth and success. Many want it, but few end up succeeding in achieving full success. Jay Gatsby, from The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a fictitious version of someone who achieved success, and demonstrated his goals even from an early age. “Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves like this or something.” (Fitzgerald, 116) Says Mr. Gatz, who was Jay Gatsby’s father. This quote demonstrates how Gatsby had always planned to become successful, even when he was at a young age. Another one of Gatsby’s ambitions is Daisy. Even though Daisy is married to Tom, he sets his hopes high as she is the love of his life. “He hadn't once ceased looking at Daisy, and I think he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes. Sometimes, too, he stared around at his possessions in a dazed way, as though in her actual and astounding presence none of it was any longer real. Once he nearly toppled down a flight of stairs.” (Fitzgerald, 91) This quote demonstrates how infatuated Gatsby is with Daisy. He set his hopes so high that he wanted to be with somebody who is ‘Old Money’, which is perceived as a higher class; and, the person that

The American Dream coincides with wealth and status rather than happiness or family. In the novel, Gatsby is an example of “New Money.” Although he makes a lot of money in a brief period of time, he is still unaccepted by the upper class, which helps to prove that The American Dream is unachievable for him even though he has wealth and is successful (Fitzgerald 65). In contrast, Daisy is an example of “Old Money” since her safety and privileges are guaranteed by her wealth. This is shown as she marries Tom, regardless of her affection towards Gatsby, and ultimately chooses to stay with him at the end of the novel (75). This proves that upper class women in the 1920’s did not have much freedom to make their own choices as divorce was a controversial topic at the time. Similarly, Gatsby’s description of Daisy as being born wealthy demonstrates how he believes her voice is “full of money” (120). Such a metaphor enhances the