Why Is The American Dream Important In The Great Gatsby

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, there are many characters in this novel whose entire ambition consists of elevating their class and status, but they are never able to fully realize their dreams. Interestingly, a dictionary definition for dream is “an unrealistic or self-deluding fantasy”, and this text further cements that notion. There is an abundance of characters whose main concerns revolve around the American Dream and class mobility as a whole, but the three who these concerns are most detrimental to are George Wilson, Myrtle Wilson, and James Gatsby. All three of these characters wish to improve their own class status, but they have different methods of doing it. Although their methods are each different, their results are

While at the hotel, Gatsby reveals his secret relationship with Daisy to Tom, and attempts to convince Daisy to ask for a divorce with Tom. While Tom and Gatsby argue, Gatsby completely loses his temper at one moment and unleashes a whole different Gatsby that frightens everyone, especially Daisy. After that moment, Gatsby apologizes for his behavior but Daisy leaves the room crying, Gatsby runs to catch up to Daisy as everyone in the room stays silent.

In an article Brian Sutton wrote that Daisy and Gatsby’s rendezvous “marks Gatsby’s brief moment of triumph.”(Sutton)He reintroduced the two lovers and helped the two hide their love. While on an excursion, Gatsby pressures Daisy into telling Tom, Daisy’s husband, about their affair. Daisy, with Gatsby’s help, forces herself to say she never loved Tom. It is at this point, Sutton points out, Gatsby realizes Daisy is not completely committed to him because when she is talking to Tom “the trembling signifies Daisy’s discomfort as she realizes that she lacks the emotional clarity and fortitude to leave her husband in favor of Gatsby.”(Sutton) On the way home, Daisy hits Myrtle Wilson, Tom’s mistress, while driving Gatsby’s car. Gatsby takes the blame for Daisy, and she lets him. After the accident Daisy and Tom leave, not telling anyone where they are going. Before they leave, Tom

            Tom knew Myrtle better than any of the main characters.  He had met her on a train headed for New York.  When the train reached the city, she went with him in a taxi, and their affair began.  Tom never made much of an effort to keep their relationship secret.  In fact, he almost paraded her around in the presence of his acquaintances.

Daisy feels no remorse for the accident. In fact, she never thinks about the death. Instead, she runs away from the incident by moving away with Tom and never contacting Gatsby again

Tom’s relationship with Myrtle has no intimacy; it is solely to avoid attachment to Daisy. Nick describes Myrtle as a “smoldering woman with an immediately perceptible vitality.”(30).Tom brings Myrtle to fancy restaurants around his male friends so he can boost his selfdom which proves his distance from emotion to Myrtle and Daisy rather than love and devotion to the women. Tom’s interest in other woman has become so habitual that Daisy has come to be accustomed with it. At one of Gatsby’s parties, Tom tells Daisy he wants to eat dinner with a group of strangers rather than her and Daisy responds by offering a “little gold pencil” in case he wants to take adresses down of other women.

The American dream is a farce. Hopeful American children and quixotic foreigners believe that freedom will lead to prosperity, and that prosperity will bring happiness. This anticipation of joy will never come to fruition, and all these unfortunate people will feel that they were cheated out of happiness by some unlucky roll of dice, but really they have been chasing cars, because the American dream is not something one can truly capture, but only smoke trapped in the palm of a hand. In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby’s lavish parties, characterized by music, dancing, and illegal alcohol, are a representation of the corruption of society’s values, and are filled with guests only concerned with material things as they step further and further

Tom is furious about Daisy having an affair, but the double standard being he is doing the same to her for some time now with Myrtle. When Nick, Tom, Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan are on their way to town Myrtle sees Jordan in the car with Tom when they had stopped for gas and automatically assumes that is his wife. She immediately becomes jealous of Jordan. I see no point in any of them being jealous or angry with one another because Myrtle has a great husband, but does not want to be with him because he is poor. Tom is just cheating on Daisy for who knows what reason.

A realistic social lessons taught in the novel is directly correlated with this statement. The rich only cared about two things: themselves and money. A prime example of this would include the people that attend Gatsby’s extravagant parties. Not a single person who attended Gatsby’s actually cared about the host, all they desired was his wealth and parties. This becomes evident when Gatsby would have hundreds of guests at his gatherings, but only five people, not including servants, attended his funeral.

The American dream is the idea that an individual can become successful through hard work, determination, and initiative. While it does take individual initiative to accomplish the American dream, American dreams also take a collective group to accomplish and protect it. Groups have worked together to protect the American dream in many circumstances. For example, in Reagan’s speech, he talks about how people were willing to risk their lives to sign the declaration of independence. One of these men said “If my hands were freezing in death, I would sign that parchment with my last ounce of strength.

In the period of the 1920’s, there was a certain status of wealth that was difficult to achieve. There were two societal classes consisting of those with wealth from prior generations, and those who worked to earn it themselves. Tom, Daisy, and Nick, who represented the old money society did not have to work hard, unlike Gatsby which he represented the new money and they had to work to earn money. People like Gatsby, who gained their wealth on their own often fought for the approval from the upper class who inherited their wealth. Rather than having new money and old money, people who tried achieving the American Dream and ended up in failure usually they end up like George and Myrtle Wilson In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the notion that social norms in the upper class depict the idea that being apart of it was impossible unless they were born in it was expressed through Daisy’s rejection of Gatsby because of the corrupt way in which he gained his wealth, making his American Dream unattainable.

The Great Gatsby is a novel that illustrates the society in the 1920's and the associated beliefs, values and dreams of the American population at that time. These beliefs, values and dreams can be summed up be what is termed the "American Dream", a dream of money, wealth, prosperity and the happiness that supposedly came with the booming economy and get-rich-quick schemes that formed the essential underworld of American upper-class society. This underworld infiltrated the upper echelons and created such a moral decay within general society that paved the way for the ruining of dreams and dashing of hopes as they were placed confidently in the chance for opportunities that could be seized by one and all. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates the

In the novel Nick describes the rest of the afternoon, “Only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away, trying to touch what was no longer tangible (The Great Gatsby, pg. 134),” As Hard as Gatsby tries he is unable to get back the confidence and coolness he had with daisy and within himself. Mentally Gatsby still thinks that he has a chance with Daisy but in reality Daisy does not want to be with him anymore and he does not realize this (Brain Way). Daisy does love Gatsby, but she does not want to be with with him and no matter how obvious she makes her decision (after the car crash) Gatsby still tries and pursue's her. Gatsby does not want to live in reality without Daisy, and in reality he can not have

Money is not the only thing that determines how successful someone may be in their lifetime. During the roaring twenties becoming rich was a new fascination. Being wealthy showed that the “American Dream” was attained. The American Dream is the ideal that every United States citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. Money and power is used to acquire respect, and without it many social connections would be affected.

The American dream of rising in wealth and social class has been popularized for decades and it has become a part of America’s culture. But we must question the likelihood of achieving this appealing dream. By attaining wealth and prosperity, one can move up the social ladder. However social class is based on a number of different factors: race, demography, family background, level of education, environment, culture, politics, economics, and more. Considering these factors, many are restricted in drastic movements in social class because their background limits them by discouraging and demolishing their motivation for a better life.