Why Is Daisy's Dream Real In The Great Gatsby

Mackenzie Scanlon
Honors American Studies
Ms. Gibbs
1/11/2023
Essay Title
“Oh, you want too much!”(Fitzgerald 139). Although this comes from an argument between Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, readers have most likely thought this about Gatsby’s dream while reading the novel. Throughout the novel, Gatsby’s overly fictitious dream is constantly growing and becoming more and more independent from reality. Fitzgerald uses Gatsby’s dream to condemn the way Americans fantasize and can't make these fantasies match up with reality.

Fitzgerald uses Gatsby's dream to show how quickly someone's perception of reality can change because of one person. While Daisy was at Gatsby’s house for the first time, Gatsby

After five years of not being with each other, there must have been some moments “when Daisy tumbled short of” Gatsby’s dream simply due to “the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything”(101). Gatsby’s perception of Daisy was “beyond her, beyond everything” showing that Gatsby may have overestimated Daisy. Using repetition of the word “beyond” emphasizes that Gatsby’s idea of what Daisy would be after five years was just that, his idea of her. Because the dream goes beyond Daisy, it shows that Gatsby’s dream is becoming increasingly fictitious and Daisy’s role in his dream is more important. Gatsby expects Daisy to tell Tom she never loved him and after obliterating “three years with that sentence” they could decide what to do next. “One of them was that, after she was free” they could be “married from her house” as though it was “five years ago”(116). By using a metaphor and comparing Daisy leaving Tom to being “free” it emphasizes the part of Gatsby’s dream that is being with Daisy. It shows what it meant to Gatsby for Daisy to leave Tom, proving that Daisy’s relationship with Gatsby was so important that she was expected to leave her husband. While Gatsby reminisces about what his and Daisy’s relationship was five years ago and what it could be, her being with him and not Tom becomes increasingly

While Nick, Jordan, Tom, Gatsby, and Daisy were at Tom’s apartment in the city, Gatsby and Daisy attempt to break the news to Tom that Daisy was leaving him to marry Gatsby. Gatsby wants Daisy to admit that she never loved Tom, but she pitifully admits that “Even alone I can’t say I never loved Tom,” that “wouldn't be true”(140). Fitzgerald uses auditory imagery to depict Daisy’s tone and feelings toward her not being able to match up with Gatsby’s dream. By using the word “pitiful” to describe the tone she uses it shows that she is upset that she can’t say she never loved Tom, not because she regrets loving him, but because Gatsby expects her to admit she never loved Tom. However, she can’t do this because it “wouldn’t be true,” after she admits this Gatsby goes into a spiral because his dream isn’t playing out the way he planned for it too. Proving that when one part of the American dream doesn’t go as planned the dream can go into shambles. Another example is when Tom exposes Gatsby for being a bootlegger and for being involved in shady business. Gatsby tries to defend himself to Daisy, but she wasn’t listening. So Gatsby “gave that up and only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away, trying to touch what was no longer tangible”(142). Fitzgerald uses personification to describe