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American Dream In The Great Gatsby

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Throughout the novel, The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald, love, and the American dream go hand in hand. Love is described to be the intense feeling of affection for another person, and often causes people to go out their way to achieve high ranked goals, thus the American dream. The novel differentiates between the two communities, East and West Egg. East Egg is the place of those who are born into wealth or have inherited it from generations. However, those living in West Egg work hard and persevere in order to become successful and wealthy. The main character, Jay Gatsby, lives in West Egg, working for his success in achieving the American dream with a view of getting back with Daisy, his former love. Every weekend, Gatsby prepares several extravagant …show more content…

As a child, Gatsby grew up without much money or status. After losing Daisy to Tom, her wealthy and high ranked husband; he knew that he had to do something to win her over. After several years of working,Gatsby buys the mansion that he wanted to impress Daisy with. He became extremely wealthy living in West Egg and bought a fabulous house, “... —it was a factual imitation of some Hôtel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool and more than forty acres of lawn and garden. It was Gatsby’s mansion” (ebook 7). As evident, Gatsby’s mansion is the result of his experience losing Daisy. The appearance of the mansion determines the depths that Gatsby went to achieve the American dream as a means of winning over the love of his life. Gatsby does not attempt to lure Daisy in with the appearance of his house, but also by organizing parties every weekend, “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay…I think he half expected her to wander into one of his parties…”(85 ebook). Ultimately, he hopes that being across from Daisy would increase the chances of her noticing him, his wealth, his extravagant lifestyle and …show more content…

Fitzgerald emphasizes, “‘If it wasn’t for the mist we could see your home across the bay,’ said Gatsby. ‘You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock’”(Ebook 99). During the separation, the green light on her end of the dock was clear and visible. However after reconnecting, the green light is no longer seen due to the mist. One can infer that the green light Gatsby used to see indicated the distance between them. This symbolizes the distance that no longer exists between Daisy and Gatsby. Taken into account, Gatsby officially reaches the American dream as a way to get Daisy

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Despite Gatsby’s efforts of throwing big parties at his estate and living in an extravagant mansion, Daisy is not impressed and Gatsby’s fate leads him to a life without Daisy. Additionally, the parties Gatsby hosted “offended her — and inarguably, because it wasn’t a gesture but an emotion… appalled by its raw vigor that chafed under the old euphemisms and by the too obtrusive fate that herded its inhabitants along a short-cut from nothing to nothing” (Fitzgerald 83). Daisy is unimpressed due to her old money status of East Egg, which provides her with stability and security. While, the new money of West Egg is illustrated in a way that Daisy is

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Since Gatsby is obsessed over his relationship with Daisy, and connects it to his moral success, he wants to make sure that he accomplishes this. His American Dream, as mentioned in the thesis, is to win back Daisys love and this quote exemplifies the fact that he is disillusioned by his dreams which may lead him to failure. In an attempt to reconnect with Daisy, Gatsby purchases a mansion just across the bay from hers, in order to be as close to her as possible. When Jordan and Nick are talking about Gatsby, Jordan begins to mention to Nick how, although he doesnt want to believe it, Gatsby has an obsession with Daisy. As Jordan tells Nick, “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (Fitzgerald 78).

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Gatsby travels back to the first time he saw Daisy at her grand home and goes into vivid detail of her house, “There was a ripe mystery about it, a hint of bedrooms upstairs more beautiful and cool than the other bedrooms of gay and radiant activities taking place through its corridors and of romances that were not musty and laid away already in lavender but fresh and breathing and redolent of this year’s shining motor cars and of dancers whose flowers were scarcely withered”. Gatsby goes into the nitty-gritty details of Daisy’s home, calling it ‘beautiful’, ‘gay and radiant’ and ‘breathing’ in order to demonstrate how symbolic the home is to him. This is the first taste of the upper class that Gatsby has ever experienced and serves as the true epitome of wealth to Gatsby. He falls in love with the newness of her home and the activities of the rich. Because of Gatsby’s love for the home, when he sees Daisy become consumed by her own luxuries, he feels betrayed; “She vanished into her rich house, into her rich full life, leaving Gatsby-nothing”.

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“If it wasn’t for the mist we could see your home across the bay,” said Gatsby. “You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock.” (99-100) The green light symbolizes how Gatsby Thinks Daisy has been in love with him all these years as he has with her, he doesn’t feel any self-conscious admitting he watches her dock at night. Gatsbys American dream includes Her love and affection being won over.

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