The American Dream In The Great Gatsby Essay

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The American Nightmare of Gatsby
Sometimes, love is blinding. “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is about the view of the American Dream which has been transformed from the ideal dream to a materialistic dream and the demise of those who fail in fulfilling false goals. Because of believing wealth and power can purchase happiness, a dreamy Jay Gatsby lacks the foresight to see the worthlessness of his efforts. By the tragic story of Gatsby and his failed attempt to achieve his dream, Gatsby’s American Dream to become wealthy comes true, but he ends up alone and empty.
Gatsby attempts to repeat the past by continuously wooing Daisy. Although his old love Daisy gets married with a rich guy named Tom Buchanan after going off to fight in …show more content…
Despite wealthy, Gatsby can’t buy his happiness. He learned that he has to pay “a high price for living too long with a single dream” (151). Even though Gatsby has worked his whole life to achieve the American Dream of having Daisy, he loses his entire dream because she chooses Tom over him. He is still unhappy because his life is empty and without purpose. As Nick thinks about Gatsby’s death, “boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (180). While Gatsby feels so close to his dream of Daisy, she is actually far away, trapped in his past. The biggest one among “deferred dreams” in the novel is Gatsby’s deferred dream for Daisy between his initial infatuation and his attempt to win her back obviously backfires for five years. Apparently, dreams deferred are dreams doomed to fail.
Through the tragic story of Gatsby and his failed attempt to achieve the dream, Fitzgerald displays the worthlessness of materialism and the unsuccessful attempt of Gatsby. “The Great Gatsby” portrays a world filled with rich societal happenings, love affairs, and corruption. This great novel provides all the readers with a wider vision of the American Dream and a new lesson for life, the lesson of being true to themselves and following their own personal
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