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The American Dream In The Great Gatsby Analysis

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The American Dream has always been extremely sought after, which is a topic F. Scott Fitzgerald covers in his novel, The Great Gatsby. The characters wish they had the Dream; wealth, security, fame, and love. The most significant characters who desire the American Dream, Jay Gatsby, Myrtle Wilson, and George Wilson, all die at the end. Despite background and amount of affluence, all characters live harrowing and unsuccessful lives. Fitzgerald uses symbol and character to build his theme of money does not guarantee people 's perceptions or dreams. Dreams are not guaranteed to come true. Myrtle Wilson, MYRTLE WILSON THE WHORE OF A WIFE, dies before achieving any of her dreams. She had an affair with Tom Wilson as an attempt to bring herself closer to the wealthy upper class, but she was never happy with what she had. In this novel, dust is a symbol representing the poor and desolate. When Myrtle dies, her blood is united “with the dust” (137, ch. 7), signifying how dissatisfying her life was. By describing her blood as being combined with the dust, she herself is also metaphorically combined with the despair which the dust represents. She is physically coated in the laborious, middle class life she lives. Alongside this is the fact that Daisy leaves and crushes Gatsby’s hope. He did everything in his power to make her stay, but even the riches he wished to impress her with weren 't enough. She let Gatsby believe that she might leave Tom for him. Gatsby waits for
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