The Great Gatsby American Dream Essay

Laylani Sanchez

Mrs. Miller

English 11, Pd. _4__

5 May 2023

The Impossible Dream: An Exploration Of Fitzgerald’s Representation Of American Dream Through The Characters In The Great Gatsby.

Imagination, Dedication, Curiosity, and Passion are all characteristics people carry when it comes to having dream of goals in life. These dreams and goals drive people to push past the limits of society’s standards, social class, and what others call the impossible to achieve what they desire. This hard work and dedication can be extremely beneficial and cause somebody to become a better person overall, however, such dreams can also allow the person to become obsessed with their dream and doing anything to achieve what they want. They become consumed

The idea is that anybody from any origin can achieve success, wealth and happiness if they work hard enough. A chance at achieving the Ameican Dream is what causes people from other countries to come to the United States. The American Dream symbolizes the freedom and hope the United State promises to it’s citizens. There have been many notable figures like Oprah Winfrey, Jay-Z, Chris Gardner, Jhon D. Rockefeller and many more. who have achieved the American Dream and were able to start from nothing and achieve wealth and success.. Fitzgerald’s most popular novel, The Great Gatsby covers the outlook of the American Dream through Ftzgerald’s eyes. After reading the novel it seems Fitzgerald felt cynical towards the American Dream. The characters Daisy, Myrtle, George, and Gatsby, in the novel each have dreams of their own and are willing to sacrifice the good in order to to achieve this dream. Ultimately, each of these characters fail and are left with nothing. The failure of these characters represent Fitzgerald’s pessimistic view of the American Dream and the society in which it originates from. It can be argued that Fitzgerald felt the twentieth century was an era of decayed morals and destruction, which is why he wrote The Great Gatsby the way he did. In their essay, “The American Dream Corruption in Fitzgerald’s The Great

The most obvious reason Fitzgerald wrote the novel in such a negative way is because it is based upon his own life circumstances and views. In addition, Fitzgerlad wrote the novel to crticize American as a whole. Fitzgerald portrays the twenties as an era of decayed social and moral values, showed in it’s overarching cynicism, greed and empty pursuit of pleasure (Daier and Ibrahim 344). Fitzgerald’s negative portrayal of the twenties is shown through characters; Daisy, Myrtle, and Gatsby. Each of these characters all failed at achieving what they thought would save them from feeling empty. Daisy, who led the life most people dreamed of, was incredibly empty and unhappy. She wasn’t happy in her marriage or with her child. She let greed control who she married and had a secret relationship with Gatsby knowing deep down she would never leave Tom (empty pursuit of pleasure). Myrtle and Gatsby were doomed from the start due to Fitzgerals’s ideology that people of the lower class would never be accepted or truly apart of the upperclass no matter how hard they tried or how wealthy they were. Myrtle let her overwhelming desire for money and a material life control her, thus leasing to her downfall and death. Similarly, Gatsby let the obession of being with Daisy consume him and as a result he lost sense of reality and him self. All their dreams had something to do with money and thus lost their morals. Their