The Role Of The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

We all want the perfect life. A fast car, a mansion on the hills, a beautiful life partner and all the money in the world. All of these ideas integrate themselves into one glorious life plan: the american dream. While these things are all part of the american dream, the idea is subjective and ultimately a lie as no one can have a perfect life. F. Scott Fitzgerald does a phenomenal job of taking these fantasies and integrating them into a timeless novel. The Great Gatsby is a novel of unbelievable loss and disappointment as all of the characters are striving to achieve something fictitious; the American Dream.

A lifetime of success in all aspects of life is what Jay Gatsby tries unsuccessfully to

achieve during his time spent alive.

A married couple, the pair are both attempting to meet their expectations of the american dream; George through his gas station and garage business and Myrtle through her secret affair with Tom Buchanan. In chapter two, Nick comments that, “The third was a garage - Repairs. George B. Wilson. Cars bought and sold.”(27) While George is trying to work hard for his dream, Myrtle is slinking around trying to seek fulfillment with a man who isn’t hers. Jordan Baker, a friend of Daisy’s says in chapter one that, “Tom’s got some woman in New York.”(20) The person they are speaking about is Myrtle, and Tom takes Nick to go meet her the following day. While both Myrtle and George are trying to achieve the American Dream, they both end up falling short; George in his untimely suicide after murdering Gatsby and Myrtle being killed by a moving car. At the end of chapter eight, Nick claims that, “It was after we started with Gatsby that the gardener saw Wilson’s body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete.”(154) In chapter seven, Tom stumbles upon a horrific site near George’s auto shop, “Myrtle Wilson’s body, wrapped in a blanket / lay on a work-table by the

She stays with her unloyal, abusive husband under the illusion that her true love is dead; Gatsby. However, when she comes to find out he is alive, he immediately seeks refuge with him and prepares to leave her husband. Everything is going well for her until in Chapter 7 Gatsby admits the truth that she was the one driving the car that ended Myrtle’s life, “Daisy stepped on it. I tried to make her stop, but she couldn’t, so I pulled on the emergency break. Then she fell over into my lap and I drove on.” After she accidentally killed Myrtle, Gatsby pays for her mistake as he is killed shortly after. The death of her love also results in the death of her