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The Importance Of The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

1251 Words6 Pages
The American philosophy is people can build their own lives and achieve happiness. America is known as the epitome of a person’s opportunity to recreate one’s self and deny their past. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald explores how the American dream is a gage of America’s failings. People dream is too grand for what America can offer them. Gatsby devotes his whole being into reinventing himself to satisfy his dream of being with Daisy. Gatsby believes the only way to be with Daisy is by impressing Daisy with demonstrations of his great wealth. While Gatsby feels a frantic need to shed his past, Gatsby’s dream to be with Daisy is a consequence of his past. Fitzgerald utilizes Nick’s perception of Gatsby to demonstrate how the dream has been degraded by material pursuits. America has given us the American dream but has not given us the capability to go beyond our past. Nick tells us that Gatsby, as a young poor soldier, originally meets Daisy in Louisville and he instantly is captivated by her wealth; worry-free attitude, and social status. During their dating, Gatsby recognizes meeting Daisy has changed him forever. “Then he kissed her. At his lips’ touch, she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete” (Fitzgerald 117). Fitzgerald means that a change in Gatsby’s life has occurred where Daisy will forever be a part of his life. Gatsby is called away from Daisy, by his military obligations. He discovers that Daisy has married Tom
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