The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, is full of characters and themes that embody the idea of The American Dream—a dream to which anyone can attain anything they desire if they work hard enough for it; The American Dream seems simple and effortless because many people achieve it every day. The reality, however, is different. The novel demonstrates this through the realistic portrayal of The American Dream’s protagonists, Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, who are both established as flawed characters.
These flaws become evident in their actions throughout The Great Gatsby, which often lead to undesirable or even tragic outcomes. The interactions between these two characters present an accurate picture of The American Dream failing. The Great Gatsby is a novel built upon the ideals of The American Dream, and its characters’ flaws question whether The American Dream ever truly existed in society’s view.
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel about love and desire set in the 1920s during The Roaring Twenties, is filled with characters and themes that embody The American Dream. The novel’s protagonists, Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan are both established as flawed characters, yet their actions throughout The Great Gatsby often lead to undesirable or even tragic outcomes. The interactions between the two men represent an accurate picture of The American Dream failing because these two flawed characters become evident in The Great Gatsby.
The novel is built upon The American Dream’s ideals, and its characters’ flaws question whether The American Dream ever truly existed in society’s view. The Great Gatsby ‘s exploration of The American Dream through the realistic portrayal of its flawed protagonists supports that The American Dream is nothing more than a false hope that allows people to deceive themselves into thinking they can achieve anything they want if they just work hard enough for it.
The protagonist and main focus of The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby, has been established as a wealthy young man from a poor Midwestern background who moves to New York City with his pursuit of one goal: to make Daisy Buchanan fall in love with him again. In order to attain The American Dream, Gatsby believes Daisy should marry him because he is rich and she merely lost wealth when The Great War took her husband. The reality of The American Dream’s false hope is revealed in the novel’s characterization of Gatsby through his actions throughout The Great Gatsby, which often lead to undesirable or tragic outcomes.
The flawed portrayal of The American Dream protagonist Jay Gatsby best represents the idea that The American Dream does not exist by demonstrating how he embodies it without realizing that his actions are leading to failure rather than success. Jay Gatsby’s goal is to make Daisy fall in love with him again by convincing her that money does not matter—that what they had was special because they cared for each other so deeply it did not matter what they had. The fact that he is rich and she merely lost wealth when The Great War took her husband does not affect their love in the slightest, according to Gatsby.
Instead of working hard to make a living for himself in order to gain Daisy’s attention, Gatsby resorts to an easy way out by buying The Valley of Ashe’s land from Daisy’s impoverished cousin, Mr. McKee. The American Dream only requires people to work hard enough for what they want regardless of circumstances or environment, not buy everything one desires because money can solve all problems. Gatsby embodies The American Dream through his pursuit of Daisy without realizing how flawed his actions are leading him towards failure instead of success.
The idea behind The American Dream is to work hard for what one desires, not buy everything with money because The American Dream does not require equality, which The Roaring Twenties exemplified. The reality of The American Dream is the pursuit of wealth and privilege instead of working hard or achieving anything noteworthy on one’s own merit. Tom Buchanan also serves as a representation of The American Dream through his heightened interest in appearances rather than people’s characters.
Although he seems to be an attractive character at first glance because he marries Daisy despite being married to another woman already, Tom demonstrates that The Great Gatsby’s version of The American Dream consists merely of making use of objects having no real value through flaunting them for other’s benefit rather than personal pleasure. The fact that he is wealthy and has a successful job as an executive only serves to illustrate The American Dream’s influence on realism in The Great Gatsby rather than his positive characteristics.
The American Dream of wealth is not realistic because it does not force people to be considerate or think about the consequences of their actions. The character Nick Carraway also illustrates The American Dream through his passivity with which he witnesses the terrible events occurring around him. The idea behind The American Dream is for anyone who works hard enough can achieve anything; however, The Great Gatsby’s characters work hard without attaining what they desire most. The reality of The American Dream best describes how one must actively participate in life instead of just observing its events.
The reality of The American Dream is revealed in The Great Gatsby via Nick Carraway’s inaction; the events occurring around him prove that The American Dream does not exist, such as with Daisy and Tom Buchanan who do not love one another but only think about appearances. The flawed portrayal of The American Dream protagonist Jay Gatsby best represents the idea that The American Dream does not exist by demonstrating how he embodies it without realizing that his actions are leading to failure rather than success.
The idealistic version of The American Dream differs greatly from the realistic version because it calls for a life where everyone has equal opportunities regardless of background, whereas The Roaring Twenties showed an America where money and privilege were more important than hard work. The American Dream does not apply to The Great Gatsby because Gatsby only attains it through buying The Valley of Ashe’s land from Daisy’s impoverished cousin, Mr. McKee.
The American Dream does not exist in The Great Gatsby because The American Dream is all about buying possessions and objects instead of working hard for what one desires. This representation of The American Dream as unattainable with characters who work hard without achieving their goals can be seen through the eyes of Nick Carraway. His passivity with which he witnesses the events occurring around him best illustrates how The Great Gatsby’s version of The American Dream does not exist.
The idealistic version of The American dream differs greatly from its realistic portrayal in The Great Gatsby because The Roaring Twenties did not value hard work and equality but instead privileged the rich and powerful at the expense of the poor. The American Dream does not exist in The Great Gatsby; rather, it is all about buying objects and possessions instead of working towards what one desires. The reality of The American Dream differs greatly from its idealistic version depicted in The Great Gatsby because The Great Gatsby’s characters only attain wealth through their connections to those with power.