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The American Dream Is Just a Dream in F. Scott Fitzgerald´s The Great Gatsby

Decent Essays

“All the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that [others have] had” (Fitzgerald 5). In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald explores the idea of the American Dream – the ideal life – the dream of every American to be rich, prosperous, famous, loved, all those amazing imaginations that one could have. In this novel though, Fitzgerald portrays this dream as reachable and possible for anyone, but he also shows that this dream is not as great as everyone thinks it is. Fitzgerald depicts this dream as a death wish that could ruin any person that tries to reach it. This is shown by the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, and the truth behind Gatsby’s wealth and claim to fame, and also by Gatsby’s love for Daisy and him eventually drowning in his love for her. Behind Gatsby’s mansion there is a barely visible green light that always shines. This green light is at the end of Daisy’s dock across the Sound. Almost every night, “[Gatsby] stretche[s] out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way...trembling… [there is] nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock” (25-26). Here Fitzgerald paints a picture of Gatsby shaking in his back yard trying to reach something that is obviously too far to grasp, Gatsby is yearning for the chance to be able to hold this light in his hand. This light is not just any green light; this is the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, Gatsby’s long lost love that he

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