FREE ESSAY ON AMERICAN DREAM ( GREAT GATSBY ESSAY)

AMERICAN DREAM ( GREAT GATSBY ESSAY)

The American Dream
The American Dream was the philosophy that brought people to America and to start a new
life in a strange, foreign land. Due to this dream, it was believed that America was the
land of opportunity, wealth, and prosperity. The dream consists of three components: all
men are equal, man can trust and should help his fellow man, and the good, virtuous and
hard working are rewarded. F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby is a condemnation
of American Society and focuses on its downfall. This holds true for three of the main
characters in the novel, Jay Gatsby, Tom Buchanan, and Daisy Buchanan.
To reach his ideal dream of spending his life with Daisy, Jay Gatsby attains his millions
in a corrupt way which help him to replace emotions, and tries to cover it up with lies
throughout the novel. In order to become rich, Gatsby engaged in illegal occupations such
as bootlegging and being involved in the Mafia. "He and this Wolfsheim bought and sold
grain alcohol over the counter." (Fitzgerald 134). This is the opposite idea of the
American Dream, which states that only the good, virtuous and hard working are rewarded.
Gatsby also lies his way through life to conceal his wrongdoing. Gatsby claims that he
belongs to a rich family whom provides his way to Oxford and from whom he inherits his
riches. "'I am the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West-all dead now.'"
(Fitzgerald 65). Only later on in the novel, does Nick uncover the truth that "his
parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people..." (Fitzgerald 99). Gatsby also
relies on money to bring him the comfort of family. Gatsby's musicians sing, "The rich
get richer and the poor get-children." (Fitzgerald 96). He attempts to reclaim the loss
of family that he experiences through his wealth. Nick describes a story about how
Gatsby, "agreed to pay five years' taxes on all the neighboring cottages if the owners
would have their roofs thatched with straw. Perhaps their refusal took the heart out of
his plan to Found a Family..." (Fitzgerald 89). Gatsby takes advantage of wealth to solve
his problems.
Members of the upper class such as Tom Buchanan, sacrifice morals and righteousness in
order to gain wealth. Tom Buchanan is a man from a wealthy family, yet to Nick; he seems
to have lost virtue and kindness. "Now he was a sturdy-haired man of thirty with a rather
hard mouth and supercilious manner." (Fitzgerald 7). Tom's money causes him to become
arrogant and inconsiderate of others lacking any morals. Instead of helping the fellow
man, Tom destroys their families and lives. He takes away Myrtle from her loving husband,
Wilson, and puts an end to their marriage. "He (Wilson) had discovered that Myrtle had
some sort of life apart from him in another world, and the shock had made him physically
sick." (Fitzgerald 124). Once money becomes intense, true, binding relationships between
loved ones no longer exist. Marriages are not real, but are rather quite superficial when
"'neither of them can stand the person they're married to.'" (Fitzgerald 33). This holds
true for Tom, who does not care about his own family, forgetting the fact that he has a
wife and a child to take care of. He leaves his guests and wife at dinner to speak with
his mistress. "'The rumor is,' whispered Jordan, 'that that's Tom's girl on the
telephone.'" (Fitzgerald 116). Tom's riches distance him from his morals, family and
following the American Dream.
For Daisy Buchanan, Nick's cousin, money takes priority over everything, even when
battling for true love. Daisy constantly attempts to keep herself busy through social
activities and interaction, which deal with money. "'What'll we do with ourselves this
afternoon?'...'and the day after that, and the next thirty years?'" (Fitzgerald 118).
Gatsby, himself, mentioned that, "'Her voice is full of money,'" (Fitzgerald 120).
Daisy's relationship with Gatsby seems impossible to her because, "he was at present a
penniless young man without a past...he had no comfortable family standing behind him."
(Fitzgerald 149). Daisy's relationship was impracticable to Daisy due to Gatsby's low
social standing. She only comes back to Gatsby after Gatsby attains his millions and is
part of the high social class. Daisy's actions towards Gatsby show the downfall of the
American Dream due to the fact that Daisy does not realize that all men are equal.
Because of this, Daisy fails to live a life with a man that loves her deeply. 
All men are equal, man should trust and should help his fellow man, and the good,
virtuous, and hard working are rewarded are the three parts that constitute The American
Dream. Jay Gatsby, Tom Buchanan, and Daisy Buchanan, three main characters in The Great
Gatsby, fail to pursue this dream and follow its entirety. Rather than complying with
this dream, these three characters do the opposite, destroying the purpose for The Dream.
They portray the ultimate failure of the American Dream in that individuals believe that
wealth is everything.