The Great Gatsby tells the reader about the destruction of the American Dream during the 1920s, a time period where this dream became corrupted by the pursuit of wealth. In this story, the pursuit of the new American Dream and the pursuit of a romantic dream are two aspects that caused Jay Gatsby's character to switch from reality to illusion.
Throughout the story, Gatsby avoids telling the truth about his struggle filled childhood. He does this to erase the image of his struggles from the outer world and also from his own mind. It also builds his reputation as a man of wealth, instead of being viewed as a man of poverty. Gatsby never accepted his parents as his actual parents because of the shame that came along with it. His parents were extremely lazy and unsuccessful individual, who spent their days working on the farm. The desire for Gatsby to put out a false image to the public shows his pursuit of accomplishing wealth over true personality, which leads to his destruction later on in