Impossibility Of The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

704 Words3 Pages
The American Dream is just that; a dream It began with the desire for prosperity and happiness. Or maybe it began with the desire for material wealth in which Americans’ vision of prosperity further evolved from there. The American Dream is based on the pursuit of happiness and it implies that anyone, of any social class, can achieve material and personal success through hard work. F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby portrays another side of the American Dream; one filled with corruption, hunger for wealth, and impossibility. Author F. Scott Fitzgerald tells us right off the bat that achieving dreams doesn’t necessarily lead to happiness and that some dreams may come with a price,“foul dust”, “It is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men”(6-7). Fitzgerald demonstrates through symbols and motifs the impossibility of the American Dream.…show more content…
F. Scott Fitzgerald establishes after Myrtle’s death that the desire for the American Dream itself can ruin you, “A moment later she rushed out into the dusk, waving her hands and shouting; before he could move from his door the business was over”(144). Myrtle views Tom as her ticket to the American Dream and this desire ultimately kills her when she runs into the street believing that Tom is the one driving the car. Fitzgerald also reveals that The American Dream is accompanied with a sort of hollowness. While Gatsby had hundreds of people attend his parties, only a handful came to his funeral, “I began to look involuntarily out the windows for other cars. So did Gatsby’s father. But it wasn’t any use. Nobody came”(182). Gatsby’s life was filled with artificial ‘friends’ that used him to prove their social status by appearing at his
Open Document