The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

746 Words3 Pages
The idea of American Dream is rooted from the Declaration of Independence. It contains a set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success. Everyone has a dream of his or her desired future, they dream of the one thing that makes them happy that they do not have now. In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Gatsby is dominated by an American dream that destroyed him. An important theme of The Great Gatsby is wealth and the process of attaining it. Gatsby lets the American Dream dominate his way of life and he fails. Jay Gatsby interpretation of the dream is that through wealth and power, one can acquire happiness. The novel shows the ideal life that is dreamt of and how many go to the extreme extent to achieve…show more content…
Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan are both extremely materialistic throughout the novel and put a lot of value into the possessions and wealth of a person. Gatsby was raised as a poor farm boy with no prospects to being rich in a short number of years. Even though Gatsby has money and possessions, he is still unable to find happiness. Throughout the novel, Gatsby’s main desire is to win Daisy back from Tom. Gatsby is obsessed on making Daisy fall in love with glamour of his money since he believes that she will take him back if he simply lives in excess as she does. Daisy symbolizes the ultimate high life; Jay devotes himself to the pursuit of wealth in order to win back the love his…show more content…
Tom and Daisy Buchanan are a very materialistic married couple that seems to have everything they could possible want and need. There lives are full of every materialistic object that one could imagine of, however they were unhappy and seek to change their way of living. Generally, when a couple gets married it is because they love one another, but Fitzgerald shows that upper class weddings are mainly for social purposes and leads people to marry each other for status purpose only. “Tom’s got some woman in New York” (15), Tom cheats on Daisy throughout the novel by having another affair with Myrtle. It is obvious that Tom and Daisy are not truly in love but their social standings make them perfect for one another. Nick is surprised when he sees Tom, a rich man, having an affair with a poor woman. Tom loves Myrtle because she appreciates his fortune, unlike Daisy, who takes it for granted. A lot of people believe that marriage is an important component of the American Dream. It is supposed to be for love and happiness, but Tom and Myrtle both misrepresent marriage by cheat on their
Open Document