The American Dream In Francis Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

Francis Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, a novel documenting the experiences Nick Carraway has in New York, is ultimately used to voice Fitzgerald’s perception of the American dream. Fitzgerald validates this thought by using all of the poverty stricken characters in this novel to represent an attempt at a rags-to-riches story. This is most notably seen in Gatsby’s ascent to wealth through organized crime to satisfy his American dream which is to be reunited with Daisy. Gatsby’s attempt to fulfill his dream was accompanied by a variety of corruption and jealousy by Tom as he ultimately redirected George Wilson to conclude that Gatsby was accountable for both the affair and death involving Myrtle. Although Gatsby in the end fails to achieve his

Certainly, the novel has evidence to support this claim. For example, after Nick disapprovingly walks away from Gatsby who is standing on his front porch he states, “The lawn and drive had been crowded with the faces of those who guessed at his corruption-and he had stood on those, steps, concealing his incorruptible dream, as he waved them good-by” (Fitzgerald 154). Similarly, critics suggest that Gatsby’s relative and short encounter with his American validate that he attained his American Dream. In fact, Gatsby’s undeterring hope and positive outlook further signify that he had reached the pinnacle of his desires at this moment in the novel. However, this example does not prove that Gatsby embodied his dream but rather displays the downfall of his scandalous methods that ultimately resulted in the corruption that led to his death. Conclusively, Gatsby's possessions and character traits were forgotten and his hope and dream were vanquished by his mortality. Fitzgerald, through his novel voiced his underlying message regarding the American Dream by using Myrtle and more notably Gatsby as allegories to personify that the American Dream is hopelessly