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Why Is The American Dream Important In The Great Gatsby

Decent Essays

Love, fame, and success; these three things make up the American dream. What more could someone want? During the 1920s, specifically 1922, the author F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a novel called The Great Gatsby; it is about a man named Gatsby who spends five years working his way up the social ladder by partaking in illegal businesses just to get to a girl that ends up leaving him when she finds out that she would not benefit her social status. Another important character that plays a significant is Nick; Nick stands on the sidelines most of the story observing all of the corrupt parts of society from cheaters, to thieves, and even murderers and not doing much to stop the effect they have on other people around him. Throughout The Great Gatsby, …show more content…

Gatsby always struggles trying to find his place in society that is never good enough for Daisy, so when Tom Buchanan remarks, ”’I picked him so a bootlegger the first time I saw him and I wasn’t wrong,’” it is a difficult moment for Gatsby to realize that even though he does all he can to obtain money and status to please Daisy, it will never be enough (Fitzgerald 141). In his attempts to win Daisy’s love, Gatsby spends five years climbing up the social ladder, so that he can appear acceptable to her. One of the many ways he tries to discreetly lure her to his “new money” mansion is by throwing extravagant parties; as said by one of Gatsby’s closest friends, “As soon as I arrived I made an attempt to find my host but the two or three people of whom I asked his whereabouts denied any knowledge of his movements”(40). Although Gatsby throws these parties, he never interacts with his guests and instead spends his lonely nights up in his room where he can keep a watchful eye, scanning the crowds for any signs of Daisy; this goes to show that just because Gatsby has abundant amounts of money, he is never happy with it all and never regains Daisy’s love after she rejects

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