The Great Gatsby Disillusionment Analysis

637 Words3 Pages

The Disillusionment of the American Dream is evident in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The main characters that exhibit this through their lives are; Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson and Mr. Jay Gatsby. All of these characters hold on to their dream, but all of these characters are somehow let down. The first character, Daisy Buchanan, has the dream of love. She grew up in a very wealthy home. Her father was a military officer. One day Daisy meet a young man by the name of Jay Gatsby, and they fell in love. Gatsby was then sent to Germany to fight in the war. All the while, Daisy waited on him. She received a letter from Jay telling her that he had no money to get back to her. She loved Gatsby, but she also loved money. She then meet a man named Tom. Tom was from a wealthy family. She then married him because her love of money was more important to her than her dream of …show more content…

Jay Gatsby is the greatest example of the Disillusionment of the American Dream. At a young age Gatsby falls in love with Daisy. When he finally returns home from the war he realizes she is already married. From then on out everything he does is to get his dream back. He starts by buying a house across the bay from her home. When he buys the home the man who had been living there before him had just died. This is foreshadowing of his dream not being able to work out. Gatsby throws extravagant parties every night. The only reason he does all this is because he is hoping daisy will come one night. In the end of the novel Gatsby wants Daisy to tell Tom that she never loved him. Daisy can't do that though. She tells him “I did love him once—but I loved you too.” (p. 134) This is a partial death of his dream. After the car wreck Gatsby went back to his mansion without Daisy. He was swimming in his pool waiting on Daisy to call but she never did. While he was swimming Wilson, the husband of Myrtle, shot Gatsby. This was the end of his dream. He lost his life and he would never have his