We love to believe that we live in the land of opportunity. We believe anyone can become content, and successful through hard work. In truth, the majority of us will never be satisfied in life; we wont achieve the American dream. In his novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts the reality of American satisfaction, and of the false hope that is the American dream.
In the novel, Jay Gatsby was an underdog who came from rags to riches. Gatsby gave the impression of someone who made it in the United States. Although, later in the novel we learn that Gatsby acquired his wealth from ill-gotten gains: "He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter” (85). Fitzgerald attempted to make Gatsby seem like a dreamer who was making it in life, but underneath all of his lies Gatsby
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Conquering Daisy would be Gatsby’s final dream. In beginning of the novel a green light is represented as Gatsby’s hope to marry Daisy, “But I didn't call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone—he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward—and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock” (11). Gatsby chasing after Daisy is Fitzgerald’s pessimistic view on the American dream. In the end, Gatsby dies because of a chain of events that started with him chasing after Daisy which represents the end of striving, and having hope in the American dream. In today’s society the American dream is still a pipe dream to the majority of Americans. The hope for a good life is limited to a select group of people because the American dream still excludes women, certain ethnicities, and people who were born into an unfortunate economic