Gatsby American Dream Failure

The Great Gatsby: The Unachievable Chase of the American Dream The heart of the American identity is the timeless ideals of the American dream that has generations captive for the hopes of prosperity. This chase of a dream is exhibited in The Great Gatsby, as it tells the tragic story of Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire, and his pursuit of Daisy Buchanan, a wealthy young woman he loved in his youth. Jay sees the dream as a way out, and it slowly becomes corrupted into a symbol of getting rich. Despite Jay's work and effort, Fitzgerald portrays Jay as never seeming content with the situation, as his hopes are just out of reach. In the Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald unveils the disillusion of the American dream by depicting the character's

However, the novel's characters' dreams are often misguided and based on materialistic desires. Gatsby's American Dream centers on winning back his lost love, Daisy Buchanan. He believes that by becoming wealthy and successful, he can prove to Daisy that he is worthy of her love and affection. Gatsby's obsession with Daisy drives him to throw lavish parties and surround himself with the trappings of wealth, but ultimately, his dream is unattainable as he “[wants] too much” (Fitzgerald 141). Similarly, Tom and Daisy Buchanan represent the failure of the American Dream. They were born into wealth and privilege, but their lives are empty and hollow. They have everything money can buy but are deeply unhappy and unfulfilled. Tom is a serial adulterer, and Daisy is emotionally detached from the world around her. Their wealth and status have not brought them happiness or fulfillment, and they represent the hollowness of the American Dream and that it is“not worth fighting.. for” (Cain 8). The characters' dreams are often misguided and based on materialistic desires, and their pursuit of wealth and status ultimately leads to their