The Great Gatsby American Dream

The novel The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitz Gerald embodies many themes. A major in the story is the pursuit of can be labelled the American Dream. The American Dream is defined as someone starting low on the economic or social level, and working hard towards prosperity and or wealth and fame. By having money, a car, a big house, nice clothes and a happy family symbolizes the American dream. The Great Gatsby shows what happened to the American Dream in the 1920’s, which is a time period when the dreams became corrupted for many reasons. Through the empty lives of three characters from this novel—Myrtle, Daisy, and Jay Gatsby—Fitzgerald shows that chasing hollow dreams leads only to misery. All Myrtle wants is a perfect and luxurious life. The

Unfortunately, she can never be genuinely happy. Why? Daisy finds out that the man she married was the wrong one. Tom, her husband, is keeping secrets from her. At dinner time, Tom got a call from some woman and Jordan, Daisy’s good friend, claims that the woman is who Tom is sleeping with. Jordan says, “She might have the decency not to telephone him a dinner time. Don’t you think?" (Fitzgerald 20). Throughout the novel, it is clear to see that their relationship is not a happy one. Tom seems to be abusive towards Daisy and evidently does not care much for her. But despite that, Daisy thinks, or likes to think, she has everything. Her “everything” includes the wealth, love, and the happiness, which all ties into the American Dream. She thought she has all she wants but is slowly realizing she has nothing. Not to mention she has a child, who does not seem important to her at all. When her child was born Daisy said, “I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool, that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful fool" (Fitzgerald 22). Daisy is basically explaining that there are limited possibilities for women. The baby has to be beautiful in order to be successful and have happiness. Back in the 1920’s, women only married solely for the money, not necessarily for the love. Daisy thought she married Tom out of love, but realized it was all about the wealth. Gatsby is someone Daisy truly loved.