The American Dream Unattainable Essay

The American Dream: the hopes and dreams to be successful through hard work and determination, yet not always as straightforward as it may seem. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it displays the truth about the American Dream and the pursuit of the unattainable. Nick Carraway, the narrator, moves to New York into a newly rich neighborhood named West Egg, where he attempts to gain wealth by selling bonds. He lives next door to a millionaire, Jay Gatsby, a mysterious man who is in love with Nick’s cousin Daisy, despite the fact she is married to Tom. Daisy and Tom live across the bay in an “old money” West Egg mansion. Nick is drawn into the wealthy lifestyle while being dragged through others journeys to gain their American Dream.

Gatsby, although gaining large amounts of success and financial achievements, was missing the one thing he needed to complete his version of the American Dream, Daisy’s love. The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock shows his pursuit for her love and how his dream seems so realistic, yet just out of reach. Nick realizes after his late dinner with the Buchanan’s that Gatsby was standing on his dock looking over the bay as “he stretched out his arm towards the dark waters in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling” (Fitzgerald, 20). Gatsby's only desire left is to be with Daisy, and the burning green light that he reaches for at the end of her dock is a constant reminder of how it will always be unachievable. Furthermore, Gatsby went to extreme lengths trying to win over Daisy’s love, she influenced every decision he made and fueled his desires to be successful. Not only did Gatsby buy his mansion just to be close to Daisy but his whole persona is to win her over. He is known for hosting the most magnificent parties due to his wealth, yet Jordan explains that “he half expected her to wander into one of his parties, some night” (79). Gatsby’s only purpose of throwing these massive parties along with most of the decisions he makes

Initially, Nick came with a clear goal in mind, but seeing how one of the wealthiest in the city, Gatsby, gained his money Nick’s dream became obscured. Once Tom exposed Gatsby’s lies by saying “He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter” (133). From learning the truth about Gatsby's wealth, Nick’s dream became more unrealistic due to his faith in someone who he thought to be a honest, hardworking man, who gained substantial wealth did not do so legally, which tarnished his faith. Not only Gatsby, but Meyer Wolfsheim showed that the American Dream is unattainable through hard work. Nick recognizes this through Wolfshiem fixing the World Series, “The idea staggered me. I remembered, of course, that the World's Series had been fixed in 1919, but if I had thought of it at all I would have thought of it as a thing that merely happened, the end of some inevitable chain. It never occurred to me that one man could start to play with the faith of fifty million people” (73). Nick begins to understand that the American Dream is nothing more than a dream. As he associated more with high society it is shown that nothing is fair, proving the American Dream is an illusion created by the wealthy. Finally, Nick