Analyzing The American Dream In 'The Great Gatsby'

The Great Gatsby Final Essay

The American dream is defined as “ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative”. Langston Hughes once wrote, “Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly”. Hughes is explaining how you must hold onto your dream before they die and try to go after it. In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, you see that most character has a dream or goal of his or her own. Despite if the dream is small, big, or unrealistic, a dream is still a dream. Characters such as Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson, and Jay Gatsby had some crazy dreams that hurt them in the long run. Everyone has a different American Dream, but sadly Daisy, Myrtle, and Gatsby’s American Dream failed.

Her American Dream is love, wealth, happiness, and a good image. We find out that she got all that from Tom at first but finds out Tom has been cheating on her and she knew about it. “She might have the decency not to telephone him at dinner time. Don’t you think?” (page 15). We see that Daisy is unhappy despite everything she has. She doesn't love Tom like she made people believe. In the 1920’s, a lot of girls married for money and status. Daisy married Tom for his status. Everyone knows about Tom and his wealth. “.....for instance, he’d brought down a string of polo ponies from Lake Forest.”(page 6). She was not in love with Tom the way she loved Gatsby. She married Tom for the money and status instead of just waiting for Gatsby to return. She later reconnects with Gatsby and realizes that she could have had everything with him. “They’re such beautiful shirts, it makes me sad because I’ve never seen such – such beautiful shirts before.” (page 92). Her rushing into a marriage for wealth and status has caused her this