The Non- Realistic American Dream in The Great Gatsby Essay

Gatsby’s stubbornness to rekindle his past love causes his to spiral out of control. He would constantly try to put his needs aside in order to fulfill hers. Gatsby is blind to the fact that Daisy does not have the same feelings towards him. Daisy was only going with Gatsby in order to get back at Tom for having multiple affairs. Gatsby is still not in the same social circle because Daisy is a part of West Egg, which is old money; inherited money, while Gatsby is a part of East Egg, which is new money. This naivety from Gatsby causes him to be blatantly unaware of everything that is happening around him. “Gatsby, just like the brand new monstrosity he inhabits, is ‘flashy’: he wears pink suits, gaudy shirts, and drives an extravagant Rolls Royce. Despite all of their obvious wealth, the nouveau riche are imposters—cheap materialistic imitations of the American Dream. They can never possess the Buchanans's old-wealth taste, epitomized by their "cheerful red and white Georgian Colonial mansion, overlooking the bay" (4). On Long Island, aristocratic grace and elegance cannot be purchased, only inherited. Try as they may, the inhabitants of West Egg will never be able to acquire true opulence. Daisy Buchanan's white roadster and "spotless" flowing gowns,

The novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is about the American Dream, an idealistic and illusionary goal to achieve wealth and status. The ruthless pursuit of wealth leads to the corruption of human nature and moral values. Fitzgerald uses characters in the novel to show the corruptions and the illusionary nature of the American Dream. The superficial achievement of the American Dreams give no fulfillment, no real joy and peace; but instead, creates lots of problems for the characters in the novel. What happens to Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway, and Daisy Buchanan represent the failure of the American Dream. Each character has a different dream. For Jay Gatsby, his dream is to attain happiness, represented by Daisy's love, through

The author Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby as a novel that talks about and covers American issues in the 1920s. He shows in the novel the carelessness and selfishness of everybody at the same time by portraying all of them in the location of west and east egg. Fitzgerald talks about a couple different topics throughout the novel. One of those is," the Attainment of a dream may be less satisfying than the pursuit of it" and the second one is"the American Dream is corrupted by the desire for wealth". He uses those themes to show how americans lived at a different time.

In Gatsby’s mission to attain wealth, power, and status he loses sight of his morals through his “dealings” with various shady people that are rumored to be lucrative and illegal. The extent of Gatsby’s criminal activities is confirmed by Tom Buchanan one hot summer night when Tom shares that Gatsby and “Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores…and sold grain alcohol over the counter,” (133) an illegal venture during prohibition. In addition to Gatsby’s business investments, his obsession with winning Daisy clouds his mind with thoughts of inspiring her to leave her husband and abandoned her child. Nick believes Gatsby would “want nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you,’” (109) and prove her marriage was a sham.

Society’s expectations of women now and in the past cause a huge controversy and conflict amongst women. The main three female characters of the novel The Great Gatsby have many conflicts with society and what is expected of them as a female in the 1920s. They are expected to be the server of man and to not be their own person, but this was a conflict with them. Although Myrtle, Daisy, and Jordan show case their conflict with society, they negotiate that conflict with their personality and their mannerisms.

George and Myrtle Wilson are two characters in The Great Gatsby representing the working class of society aiming for the American Dream. George Wilson owns a run-down auto shop in the Valley of Ashes and is doing his best to get business, while Myrtle Wilson chases after wealth and status through an affair with Tom. However, both characters face a tragic ending in their attempts to achieve the idealistic life: Daisy strikes and kills Myrtle with Gatsby’s car and George commits suicide after murdering Gatsby. George and Myrtle’s deadly fates help illustrate the novel’s pessimistic attitude toward the American Dream, symbolizing that it is impossible to achieve. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the Wilsons as a tragic way to demonstrate the unnatainable American Dream.

In the lower class society, The Great Gatsby displays unhappiness in a number of ways and at a variety of extents, this is displayed though the eyes of Myrtle Wilson. Unhappy in her marriage and her position on the social hierarchy. George Wilson, Myrtle’s husband, gave an impressionable first encounter; this lead Myrtle to believe he was true gentleman worthy of her love and affection. She comes to find he is nothing short of

In the novel, The Great Gatsby, the two central women presented are Daisy Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson. These two women, although different, have similar personalities. Throughout the novel, there are instances in which the reader feels bad for and dislikes both Daisy and Myrtle. These two women portray that wealth is better than everything else, and they both base their lives on it. Also the novel shows the hardships and difficulties they have in their marriages. They are never satisfied with what they have, and are always longing for more.

“That locality is always vaguely disquieting, even in the broad glare of afternoon, and now I turned my head as though I had been warned of something behind. Over the ashheaps the giant eyes of Doctor T.J Eckleberg kept their vigil, but I perceived, after a moment, that someone’s eyes were regarding us with peculiar intensity from less than twenty feet away”(Fitzgerald 124). The eyes of Doctor T.J Eckleberg watches over all the characters while they live in what they consider the “American dream”. The Great Gatsby, a historical fiction novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, speaks to the readers about the illusion of the American dream. Gatsby’s life and death is a product of an illusion because of Gatsby’s determination for wealth in his youth, the unlawful money he receives, and Gatsby’s love for “old money”.

At first glance, they appear to have everything they could possibly wish for: a luxurious home, each other and more money than they need. However, beneath the façade of happiness lies dissatisfaction with life. Tom in particular is not content with his marriage as he has “got some woman in New York” that he is having an affair with. Tom and Daisy epitomise the couple who have everything that can be achieved by the American Dream, but they are such despicable people that they give the American Dream no value or merit at all. They are “careless people”, without morals, and show how you do not have to work hard to have everything the American Dream promises, as they do nothing at all meaningful with their time, to the extent that Daisy has to ask “What do people plan?”. Another character that clearly displays the corruption of the American Dream is Myrtle. She is a dreamer - like Gatsby she wants status and power, and she thinks that she will get this through her affair with Tom Buccanan. The meaning of the noun “myrtle” is very telling of Myrtle's character as it is a climbing plant, just as Myrtle wants to climb the social ladder. However, she is deluding herself as Tom Buchanan clearly shows no real affection for her and even behaves in a violent way towards her and he “broke her nose with his open hand”. The way in which Gatsby's and Myrtle's, the two dreamers in 'The Great Gatsby', lives end

Everyone has dreams of being successful in life. When the word American comes to mind one often thinks of the land of opportunity. This dream was apparent with the first settlers, and it is apparent in today’s society. In F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925), he illustrates the challenges and tragedies associated with the American dream. By examining Jay Gatsby, Tom Buchanan, and Myrtle Wilson through the narrator Nick Carraway, I understand the complex nature of the American dream. Jay Gatsby represents the cost complex of them all.

Daisy, like her husband, is a girl of material and class at heart, and Gatsby being her escape from a hierarchist world. Daisy has just grown up knowing wealth, so in her greedy pursuit of happiness and the “American Dream” Myrtle Wilson died, Gatsby's heart and life were compromised, without claiming responsibility on her part. Daisy was “by far the most popular of all the young girls in Louisville...” (116) Jordan says, describing early affections between Daisy and Gatsby. She goes on to say, “...all day long the telephone rang in her house and excited young officers from Camp Taylor demanded the privilege of monopolizing her that night.” (116) . Daisy was a fancied girl who has Gatsby tied around her finger, Jordan explains that he was looking at Daisy “...in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at some time...” (117). Daisy, abusing Gatsby’s love for her uses it to create security and protection, greedily and selfishly allowing him to take the fault. While Daisy’s beautiful, alluring traits turn her into an innocent, naive flower, she plays the ultimate villain.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel that has a large focus on the ideas of the American Dream and social class in the 1920s. In the novel, the people of West Egg and East Egg are people of the upper who have earned money either through inheritance or working hard and have had many opportunities to make their American Dream a reality. The people of the Valley of Ashes are people of lower class who have little to no money and have to work all their lives to make ends meet. Even though both social classes strive for the same thing, The American Dream, neither of them will ever truly achieve it. Fitzgerald uses a vast contrast in the settings of East Egg, West Egg, and

     F. Scott Fitzgerald is seen as one of the greatest American writers, admired by his contemparies and by modern audiences of today. Fitzgerald was very much in tune with the early twentieth century American culture. He is credited with capturing the ‘Jazz Age’, which he described as “a generation grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken”. Fitzgerald observed the culture around him with a critical eye. Despite being able to depict America like few others could, many see Fitzgerald’s writing as an indictment on its values.

Jay Gatsby’s sole purpose in life is to achieve the American Dream: to become a land owner, married to the love of his life, who live in comfort and abundance. However, he never gets everything he wants as his love for Daisy is not as fully reciprocated as he wishes it to be. His dream, and the one Nick pursues as well, are only dreams in the end. The culture of the time only gives empty fulfillment with no real substance. The people, like their dreams, are only illusions of what they want to be.