“The reason they call it the American Dream is because you have to be asleep to believe it,” said the late, great comedian George Carlin. Many Americans are just starting to wake, dazed and confused, from a century long slumber, induced by the sedative of hope that allowed those already in positions of power to mask themselves behind a mountain of wealth before their victims realized what had just happened. The 1925 novel and its eponym are grounded in dream, brilliantly illustrating a lesson in futility. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald submits that the so-called ‘American Dream’ is an increasingly disintegrating facade, exposing the corruption laden and immoral class structure in early 20th century United States, one that still persists today; wealth and morality are inversely related, and in Gatsby’s pursuit to amass more wealth, he only ends up hurting himself and making it painfully clear that one’s place in society is decided long before they are born.
In Fitzgerald’s novel, the main character, Jay Gatsby, is deeply flawed; he, as a product of his circumstance—the eager and lustful Jazz Age America—desires what is commonly called the “American Dream,” yet, typically, is devoured by the very same system that he obliged his entire self to satisfying, all in his futile search for acceptance. As Roger Pearson in his Journal Article “Gatsby: False Prophet of the American Dream,” describes, “[The American dream] Briefly defined, is the belief that every man, whatever his origins, may pursue and attain his chosen goals, be they political, monetary, or social” (Pearson 1). If there were such a person who could conform to this ideal, it would be Jay Gatsby. As the narrator of the novel, Nick Carraway praises Gatsby, “If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life” (Fitzgerald 2). The reason that Gatsby did not achieve his goal lies in the fact that the system that created it simply does not allow it, much like a rabbit chasing the carrot; no matter how fast you run, hard you try, and no matter how thick your resolve, you will never be able to reach the carrot, it is a dream. Pearson puts this idea eloquently, “The American dream is not to be a reality, in that it no longer exists, except in the minds of men like Gatsby, whom it destroys in their espousal and relentless pursuit of it. The American dream is, in reality, a nightmare” (Pearson 6).
Behind the shiny, ostentatious exterior of the Jazz Age in American Culture lies a degraded and immoral frame. Over time the polish of the facade has withered, and rusted, like an abandoned car on the side of the road. However, the immoral center has stayed the same; this structure is at the heart of any elite, or anyone who truly believes in the “American Dream”, whether it be manifested in the form of greed, pride, lust, or any combination of the 7 deadly sins. In Gatsby, part of this immorality comes from the questionable source of his wealth, at first thought to come from his family, but later revealed to be derived from illegal means: bootlegging alcohol. In fact, the American Dream encourages this flaw, for with a modest job, one could never dream of affording the social mobility needed without slaving away for at least a few decades, but in the shadowy periphery of the law, there remains the only way someone could amass enough wealth to be respected by the elite. Another major fault in the characters of the Great Gatsby is their excessive consumerism and fetishization of material. Along with his gaudy mansion, his convoluted car, and his impish clothing, Gatsby views material as a personality. For example, Gatsby exposes his heaps of clothes to his guests in order to flaunt his wealth and grasp at their appreciation for his folly, “He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel, which lost their folds as they fell and covered the table in many-coloured disarray’ (Fitzgerald 92). In his quest, Gatsby has abandoned humility, instead substituting it with the hollowness of the depraved and corrupt.
A crucial part of the “American Dream” is social, particularly economic mobility, which is the ability for an individual, or individuals, to improve their economic standing, usually measured via their income. And compared to the majority of people who partake in the hunt for the American Dream, Gatsby actually succeeds in this aspect. The other part of the American Dream is the social aspect, which is even more difficult to obtain, if not impossible. Take for instance, Gatsby when he is in a tug-of-war style argument with Tom Buchanan over Daisy. Tom declares, “I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife” (Fitzgerald 130). Even when he has all of the material, and all of the wealth that should be necessary to win over Daisy, his chances evaporate; Gatsby never gets what he wants, instead, for all of his efforts, he gets shot and dies beside his swimming pool that he’d never swam in. The perpetrator of Gatsby’s murder, George Wilson, the husband of Myrtle Wilson (who had recently been run over—by who George thinks was Gatsby) can be seen as the antithesis of Gatsby. George is defined by his modesty, living in the Valley of Ashes, a perpetually grey slum, as a car mechanic. George’s life is majorly uneventful, instead of trying to woo a girl he dated for a month many years ago, he struggles to keep his pernicious, cheating, wife, when this is taken away from him, he takes matters into his own hands, first killing Gatsby, then himself. The American Dream drains the life of those who choose to pursue it, and even those who don’t. It doesn’t return on investment, instead it poisons your soul and takes all those good things that you once had, and turns them to ash. As Marius Bewley puts it in their journal article “Scott Fitzgerald’s Criticism of America,” “The American dream, stretched between a golden past and a golden future, is always betrayed by a desolate present” (Bewley 17). This metaphor is itself manifested in the physical landscape in the novel, with the rich and prosperous West Egg and East Egg, both enclosing the desolate Valley of Ashes, where dreams go to die.
The Great Gatsby is a lesson in futility. It is set in the age where spirits were high, and spirits were depraved. There is a barrier between those who are fortunate, and those who are impoverished. This barrier is not meant to be broken, and if it ever were to be, the voyager is bankrupt, either morally or spiritually; more often than not even when they don’t succeed, they end up in a similar state. The American Delusion profits off the deficiencies of the proletariat, it is never satisfied.
