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The Illusion of the American Dream in “The Great Gatsby”
Gatsby’s Unfulfilled Love and Daisy’s Compromised Marriage
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby has many themes, such as it being a tragic love story, a mystery, as well as a social narration of American life or, as some would say, the American Dream. The story is told based on four wealthy characters who are observed and judged by Nick Carraway, who is the narrator of this story. This story takes place in New York, going back and forth between the East and the West Egg back in the 1920s. Nick Carraway is a young man from Midwest who received an education from Yale and moved to New York to learn about the bond business. At the beginning of the book, Nick’s father tells him, “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had” (Fitzgerald,1 Chapter 1).
Gatsby opens up to Nick about his past when he met Daisy, and when he fell in love with her. In chapter eight, he pretends to be able to take care of her because he loves her, but he knows he can’t. At that time, Daisy also loved Gatsby, but things didn’t work out to plan. When he went to war, Daisy wanted him to come home, but he couldn’t or wouldn’t.
This left Daisy being forced to marry someone else who was wealthy, and that could take care of her, which resulted in her marrying Tom Buchanan. “She never loved you, do you hear?… She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart, she never loved anyone except me!” (Fitzgerald; 130, Chapter 7). The reason Gatsby opens up to Nick is because Gatsby does not want Nick to think he is a bad guy for leaving Daisy when he went to war.
The Unveiling of Carelessness and the Retreat from Deception
Nick refers to Tom and Daisy Buchanan as careless people in chapter nine. He says this because he witnessed and observed many things over the summer, such as them ruining other people’s lives and hiding behind their wealth while other people go and clean up their mess. Nick has seen Tom Buchanan control George Wilson as well as having an affair with his wife without George even knowing. “When almost immediately the telephone rang inside…The butler came back and murmured something close to Tom’s ear, whereupon Tom frowned, pushed back his chair, and without a word went inside” (Fitzgerald; 13,14 Chapter 1). Nick also saw how Daisy carried on an affair with Gatsby and played games with his heart but ended up going back to Tom once she found out Gatsby was a bootlegger.
After Gatsby died and Daisy stayed with Tom, I don’t think there was really much left for Nick in the East since he had no use for misleading impressions anymore. “After Gatsby’s death, the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes’ power of correction. So when the blue smoke of brittle leaves was in the air, and the wind blew the wet laundry stiff on the line, I decided to come home” (Fitzgerald; 176, Chapter 9). Nick returns to the MidWest to get away from memories and drama that happened while he was in the East, things he couldn’t unsee and that disgusted him. After the death of Gatsby and Myrtle, Nick realizes that the East Coast, as well as the American Dream, was misleading, fake, and only really based on greed. He believes the Midwest to be innocent when compared to the East.
American Dream’s Pursuit and Disillusionment
We mostly think of the American dream or, to some, the American Society, to be someone who comes from nothing and reaches fame and wealth. Gatsby represents the American Dream because he came from nothing into privilege, wealth, and power, even though his money and power came from illegal activities. In The Great Gatsby, you also see another way to view that dream. Many of the characters in the book are popular and wealthy, but unfortunately, they’re not happy with their life or themselves.
If you pay attention, even Gatsby himself isn’t truly happy or satisfied with where he is in the society he lives in now. The death of characters symbolizes the destruction of the American Dream. Each character chases this dream till the end of their life yet fails in its success because they value materialistic things instead of pure ideas. A lesson that is learned in this novel is that sometimes when we get what we wished for, we find out in the end that it isn’t truly what we wanted it to be.
References:
- Fitzgerald, F. Scott. “The Great Gatsby.” Scribner, 1925.
- Fitzgerald, F. Scott. “The Great Gatsby.” Chapter 1, Page 1.
- Fitzgerald, F. Scott. “The Great Gatsby.” Chapter 7, Page 130.
- Fitzgerald, F. Scott. “The Great Gatsby.” Chapter 1, Pages 13-14.
- Fitzgerald, F. Scott. “The Great Gatsby.” Chapter 9, Page 176.
- Bloom, Harold, editor. “F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.” Chelsea House Publishers, 1986.
- Cowley, Malcolm, editor. “F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Collection of Critical Essays.” Prentice-Hall, 1963.
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