In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald suggests that the American Dream is the idea that hard work results in wealth and success, the people who pursue it are characters such as Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway, and this pursuit is ultimately in hopes of getting something. Fitzgerald’s novel is based in the 1920’s, a time when American Dreams were a big novelty. Though the American Dream is a topic that is touched on quite often, it is not always explained. F. Scott Fitzgerald describes and illustrates the American Dream through different characters of his novel as he takes his audience through a well-adapted narrative that is The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts the American dream which is the idea that someone can achieve wealth if they put forth the effort and work hard. He portrays this principle through a man named Jay Gatsby. Gatsby was a wealthy, respected man who had humble origins and worked hard to become a man of success with plenty of riches. Gatsby’s ultimate reason for working toward success comes from his love for his past lover, Daisy Buchanan. Having been brought up in a poor farming family, Gatsby knew he did not have the necessary means to support Daisy. In the novel, Nick Carraway explains: He might have despised himself, for he had certainly taken her under false pretenses. …show more content…
There was only deception and immorality hidden under hard truths that were being concealed by the people of whom he had trusted and known. Carraway, having been disgusted with whom he had called family and friends, left the East and sought out to find his American Dream back in The MidWest. “After Gatsby’s death the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes’ power of correction. So when the blue smoke of brittle leaves was in the air and the wind blew the wet laundry stiff on the line I decided to come back home.” (Fitzgerald