The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald shows the depths that wealth and passion goes to in lives that follow the American Dream. Nick Carraway, our narrator of the book, speaks to the main character, Jay Gatsby, as if he lives everyone's dream with all of the wealth he has. However this “dream” that America symbolizes, becomes unobtainable U.S citizens. Though some find the American Dream attainable with hope, wealth and love puts a halt to the American Dream. The Great Gatsby shows the hope that the characters have for their American Dream. Some dream of money, some dream of love, and some for power and security. However, all these dreams bring up false hope and make their American Dream seem obtainable when not. Jay Gatsby and his …show more content…
Nick Carraway and his strong friendship with Gatsby demonstrates this. Nick views Gatsby as a power figure in his life and finds him memorizing. When Nick meets Gatsby for the very first time he previously knew only of his wealth, flashy house and raging parties. All of this makes Nick curious about Gatsby and when he first makes physical contact with him it seems as if his whole world pauses. Gatsby’s smile strikes Nick off his feet when first meeting Gatsby. A “rare [smile] with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced – or seemed to face – the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.” (Fitzgerald 48). Nick’s American Dream seems to become just like Gatsby and to live his life. With living next door to Gatsby, all of his wealth beaming in Nick's face constantly. People viewed Gatsby’s house, money, parties, and life as perfect but Daisy “vanished into her rich house, into her rich, full life, leaving Gatsby – nothing. He felt married to her, that was all.” (Fitzgerald 149). Even with unlimited money, flashy houses, big parties. Your American Dream will not come