Great Gatsby Essay

The Limits on the American Dream In life, we all have our dreams for the future. Some wish to live lavish lifestyles, filled with fancy dinner parties and expensive cars, while others prefer to simply be happy. Our culture has named a wish to improve upon on oneself to a massive degree the “American Dream”. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the “American Dream” as a great motivating force behind the stories main antagonist, James Gatz or better known by his pseudonym, Jay Gatsby. However, the motivation that such an ideal provides can over reach its limits, and have detrimental affects on those who follow this ideology. In the case of Jay Gatsby, his wish to change all that he was in order to fit into society, as well as win the hand of the woman of his dreams. Gatsby’s intense desire for this life left him facedown in his pool, with a bullet lodged in his chest. Fitzgerald wants readers to see that while the American Dream led Jay Gatsby to a massive amount of success and wealth, this dream also caused his death. His obsession with the American Dream placed a veil upon his sight, and he was unable to see reality for what it was. The American Dream is certainly a goal that motivates us, but it has its limitations. It distorts our perception of reality, causes people to completely re-write their history, simply to gain social status, and finally, it forces people to hold onto their past, no matter how hard they try to shake it loose. James Gatz was a teenage boy from North Dakota. He was raised by a poor German American farming family, and had an obsession like none other with improving himself. He was known to right schedules in the back of his favorite novels, where he would plan out steps that would help him achieve the greatness he so desired. At the age of 17, James realized that where he was living was holding him back, and he decided to run away. On his journeys, Gatz encountered Dan Cody. Cody, an extremely wealthy man, taught James how to be upper class, and invited James to join his yacht club. Shortly afterwards, Gatz adopted the name of Jay Gatsby, and the story of the Great Gatsby began. He became extremely rich, and held expensive dinner parties. In essence, Jay Gatsby became everything he had ever wanted to be. What is so fascinating about James Gatz is that he completely rewrote his history, simply to achieve his ultimate goal; the American Dream. As is clearly shown in Gatsby, the American Dream has a massive amount of influence on what people do with their lives. In James’s case, he hid everything that he had used to be, and shockingly enough, he managed to keep it hidden until his final breath. People do this today. Candidates running for political offices frequently cover up their pasts. Given the purposes for doing so are different from that of Gatsby, the core belief still remains the same. These people all wish to change their past, in order to achieve a greater future.

When Gatsby joined the military, he met Daisy. From that moment onwards, she was his American Dream. He would become anything, simply to spend his life with her. However, he was drafted off the war, and as far as Daisy knew, he was gone forever. Gatsby and Daisy would not encounter one another for a very long time, and during this period of time, the two went through entirely different changes. Gatsby constantly fantasized about his “perfect” life with her, and how much he loved her. On the other hand, Daisy moved on with her life, and married Tom Buchanan. And finally when Gatsby saw Daisy again, he was almost disappointed with what he found. He imagined such a perfect version of her that he wasn't ready for the weight of reality. One might ask why this is so bad. It is bad because it removed Gatsby’s mind from the real world. He anchored in a place that had a “perfect” Daisy, and unfortunately that was not the Daisy that Gatsby fell in love with. The

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