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The American Dream In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

772 Words4 Pages

We all hope to accomplish a perfect existence in the near future, a life that is ideal, filled with opportunities and everything falling into place; the American dream. No matter what it takes to achieve the perfect life, we are willing to sacrifice everything. Although we dream to someday have the perfect life, we don’t truly know the reality of it and what it might take to get there. F. Scott Fitzgeralds’ novel, The Great Gatsby, shows the actuality behind obtaining the American dream. Although Gatsby may be living the most luxurious and desirable life, his virtues are also his vices, keeping him from fulfilling the life of his dreams. Jay Gatsby has always been driven to succeed, the ambiguity has blinded him, making it impossible for him …show more content…

Gatsby, a newly wealthy young man hosts the most lavish parties where the flashiest guests attend and boast about their own money. Gatsby has grown partly ignorant and oblivious to life's true morality because of people he associates with and all that he has done. At his party, Gatsby always keeps to himself and only talks with those who can be of benefit to him. Gatsby rarely bothers to strike up a conversation since he is solely concerned with achieving his goals and getting Daisy back. He’s become so egocentric that he only considers matters that concern him. Gatsby wants everyone to know he has a “perfect” status, especially wanting to fool the ones he is “close” with, “I don’t want you to get a wrong idea of me from all these stories you hear.”(69). Wanting Nick to think well of him, he takes Nick to New York City to meet up with one of Gatsbys business partners and friend, Mr. Wolfsheim, who tells Nick, how honorable of a guy Gatsby is. Throughout the novel, we see how Gatsby has only cared about getting what he wants, whether it hurts someone else or not, whatever it takes to make his dreams come true. This becomes clear around the time of the disagreement between Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby, “It doesn’t matter any more. Just tell him the truth– that you never loved him–and it’s all wiped out forever.”(139), Gatsby knew how

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Gatsby knew that the only way to get Daisy back was to become rich, but in doing this, he lost his values and his morals in hopes of gaining what he thought would make him happier. Gatsby even knows that what he is doing is wrong because when he told Nick that Meyer Wolfsheim is a “gambler, he hesitated” (Fitzgerald 73) Gatsby knows that his ways are wrong which is why he conceals them from the public eye, but internally, Gatsby is going against the morals he has set for himself. To Gatsby, “money and authority is the most important to [him]. [He] oppress[es] the public or

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