The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the 1920s, illustrates the failure of striving for the American Dream. What he failed to understand was that Daisy and he lived in two different worlds, which, due to social circumstances, were never allowed to intermingle. Daisy was a rich southern belle who became involved with Gatsby when they were young. Later, she rejected him because he was too poor to marry her and, in his place, married Tom Buchanan, a rich, abusive man who ended up cheating on her. From the start, they took him for a fraud, and that is all he ended up being because he never understood the true meaning of the American Dream. He mistook the meaning of success for being wealthy, and as a result, he died having lived like one of the East Eggers whom he despised. Like the idle rich of East Egg, he accomplished nothing. His evolution as a man amounted to nothing more than a faded dream because he never accomplished what he had set out to do, which was to win back the heart of his one true love, Daisy. The prize for his success is similar to one who has made a deal with the devil in the sense that the reward is not worth the sacrifices made to attain it.
Gatsby is a man whose delusions of achieving the American Dream are corrupted by the basis on which he strives for it. The American Dream consists of becoming rich through hard work and determination through legal means. Gatsby’s poor background didn’t afford him the opportunity to take the straight and narrow path through life, so instead, he chose to make his money by working for the mob. After leaving the Army, he met a rich drunk named Cody, who employed him as a worker on his boat.
He ended up befriending Cody in hopes of inheriting his fortune. He never inherited his fortune, but instead, from this experience, he learned that drinking could ruin a man’s dream of success. From this point in his history, he became clouded in an air of mystery, leaving the reader to only speculate how he became involved with the mob. According to his neighbors, people were in and out of his house at all hours of the day. Sometimes, some notorious mobsters were spotted gathered around his place in what were thought to be mob meetings. He was a notorious figure linked to scandals such as the 1913 World Series and the numerous drug stores/bootlegging shops, which afforded him the mansion of West Egg.
The main character of this story, Jay Gatsby, whose rags-to-riches history brought much scrutiny, revealed the truth behind his rise to success. His sudden move to West Egg, where no one knew him, caused much suspicion among his well-to-do neighbors. The contradiction in the lies that he told only heightened East Eggers’ suspicions. Additionally, such obscure details about his tenure at Oxford were left to the imagination, and his overuse of the phrase “old sport” made him look ridiculous. Rumors about Gatsby’s notorious past hovered over his parties like a dark cloud, hindering his social progress and making it difficult for him to make friends with his neighbors.
One of Gatsby’s many contradictions was that he claimed to have read all the books in his study, yet, according to the idle drunk, they were still uncut. His overuse of the phrase “old sport” was used by Tom at the end of the book in his confrontation with Gatsby to show his falseness. He tried to hide his poor past to be accepted by East Egg society, but it didn’t work, and his stint at illegal work cost him his credibility to ever prove his legitimacy as a businessman. The noble intentions of his heart were not buffered by his actions. Gatsby truly understands the meaning of the American Dream, because he only wants happiness. Gatsby’s noble goal at recapturing his true love is much more worthy than that of each of the other characters. Each of the main characters in this story can be categorized into two categories: the careless rich of East Egg and the hardworking dreamers of West Egg.
Gatsby’s route to attain happiness was purposeful, while the wealthy are not. Gatsby used money to attain happiness, while the rich used money to become more unsatisfied. Nick paints a distinct picture of these two types of people in his narration throughout the story, which he himself has a hard time grasping since he sees himself slowly falling into the Careless East Egg Group, whom he disliked. The characters are described in such great detail in relation to Gatsby that it suggests Gatsby’s superiority among all others in their futile attempt at the American Dream. The people of the East Egg live carelessly, as was shown when Daisy, after coming home from the city, indiscriminately ran over Myrtle without a second thought, as though she only saw Myrtle as a second-class roadblock and not connected to being the critical piece that was running her marriage.
This showed her overwhelming confidence that no matter how hard Myrtle tried to woo Tom, she would never become his wife, for she knew that Myrtle was not rich and lacked the social grace which she had been brought up in. Tom, as well, treats his mistress just as badly, as was shown when on their trip with Myrtle, he slapped her for merely making fun of his wife. This shows a deep contradiction of the values of the rich. Although they do such bad things, they are still able to separate the good from the bad and seem to have no problem living that lie. This lie that the rich live by is that they are never happy with how they live. They always try to find excitement in their life, by either doing a dangerous activity or by buying something extravagant which they have no need for.
The excitement that Tom got by cheating on his wife with Myrtle caused him to treasure Daisy much more. It’s this contradiction, which Gatsby and Nick despise, as was shown in the confrontation between Gatsby and Tom at the hotel. Gatsby, the humble man whose poor background taught him to realize the importance of the small things in life, sought something more valuable than just mere thrills, but rather he sought true love in the form of one Daisy Buchanan. He equated happiness with love, and that is why he became rich.
This pursuit is much more noble than that undertaken by either Tom or Daisy Buchanan, for they used their money to do bad things and to hurt other people, while the only person Gatsby ended up hurting was himself. His death bears a grave remembrance of what true sacrifice really means. Gatsby showed he didn’t need his money, and for his cause, it was directly for Daisy only when the drunk idler of the library showed Nick that all of Gatsby’s books are still uncut. Gatsby told Nick that he had read all those books, but it was clearly a lie after the revelation.
Gatsby knew this and didn’t care, for it was his love for Daisy that blinded him to the embarrassment of his contradictions. He braved embarrassment in order to win back Daisy, and it is because of this that his intentions are shown to be clear. The pursuit of Daisy’s love shows Gatsby’s determination toward a certain ideal. Working hard towards a goal usually produces favorable results. In the case of Gatsby, where social class plays a major role in him being rejected by Daisy, his ignorance of social class distinction is best displayed. The same mentality he used to become rich was the same one he used to try to win her back. Gatsby, the main character in this story, is by all respects a very ambitious, hardworking dreamer whose spirit becomes crushed when his dreams meet reality. During the story, Nick realizes that Gatsby is too driven by his overwhelming obsession to recapture Daisy. Progressively, Nick begins to side with Gatsby in his quest for Daisy’s heart.
Gatsby’s whole efforts in this book are focused on trying to bring him and Daisy back to the point in time before he joined the army, except this time he has enough money for her. Gatsby says it himself on page 111, “Can’t repeat the past? Why, of course you can!” The notion that one can attain something once lost can only be described as childish. During the transition from childhood to adulthood, there are life-changing moments such as puberty and love loss. These are made to mature us physically, mentally, emotionally, and to make us capable of dealing with the outside world.
Gatsby has shown he is a child when it comes to love, and that is why his relationship with Daisy was bound to fail. From the onset of the story, they are in two different places in their life, mentally and emotionally. She had already come to terms with the fact that she will never be able to rekindle the same love which once burned hot for Gatsby and now aims to strengthen her relationship with Tom. These childish characteristics, which Gatsby exhibits, add to his likability and vulnerability. The ideal that love can withstand any type of pressure to live on is a pipedream, which Gatsby paid dearly for. The Green Light at the end of Daisy’s dock symbolizes the unreachable American Dream because the requirements of attaining it are to sell out one’s self-respect and morals.
From the start, they took him for a fraud, and that’s all that he ended up being because he never understood the true meaning of the American Dream. He mistook the meaning of success for being wealthy, and as a result, he died having lived like one of the East Eggers, whom he despised. Like the idle rich of East Egg, he too accomplished nothing. His evolution as a man amounted to nothing more than a faded dream because he never did accomplish what he had set out to do, which was to win back the heart of his one true love, Daisy. The prize for his success is similar to one who has made a deal with the devil in the sense that the reward is not worth the sacrifices made.
