his dealings with Meyer Wolfshiem. His fortune symbolizes the rise of organized crime
and bootlegging.
Gatsby rose from an impoverish childhood in rural North Dakota to become wealthy. As
a youth, Gatsby despised poverty and longed for wealth and sophistication. However
Gatsby always wanted to be a rich man, it’s just he became more motivated in acquiring
his fortune for his love Daisy. Therefore his dream cannot be souly based on Daisy, as
Daisy was only his motivation.
Gatsby is introduced into the novel later, and is spoken and gossiped about earlier on in
the novel, this makes him seem more of a mystery. As Gatsby is presented, he is reveal to
be an innocent, hopeful young man who stakes everything on his dreams, not realizing
that his dreams are unworthy of him. Gatsby invest Daisy with idealistic perfection that
she cannot possibly attain in reality and pursues her with a passionate zeal that blinds him
to her limitations. His dream of her disintegrates, revealing the corruption that wealth
causes and the unworthiness of the goal, this is representative of the American dream
crumbling in the 1920s, as America’s powerful optimism, vitality and individualism
become subordinated to the amoral pursuit of wealth.
It can be seen that Gatsby goes to great lengths to get Daisy. Gatsby becomes a part of
bootlegging with the American underground. Once he is wealthy, he buys a home that
can be seen across the water from Daisy’s home. This home, is one that resembles the
home Daisy grew up in. He throws elaborate parties most weekends, in hope that Daisy
will eventually attend them. Nick who becomes friends with Gatsby knows of Gatsby
dream, and knows Daisy. Nick later arranges for the reintroduction of Gatsby and Daisy.
Gatsby then realizes that his dream, is not quite what it seems, and Daisy is not the girl he
idolized for so much of his life. He idealized perfection that she neither deserves nor
possess. As Gatsby longed to recreate a vanished past (his time in Louisville with Daisy)
but is incapable of doing so. When his dream crumbles, all that is left for Gatsby is do is
die. Gatsby dies, as his car hits Myrtle Wilson, with Daisy as the driver. Myrtle’s
husband George finds out that it is Gatsby car, and kills Gatsby.
Gatsby helps reveal the corruption of the American Dream. This can be seen through his
decadent parties with wild jazz music, his empty pursuit of pleasure, those who attend his
parties who evidently are greedily trying to scramble for wealth, his illegal movements
and making of “easy money”, the changing of his name to show his new identity, self
indulgence for self pleasure only and not realizing that his dreams are not achievable nor
deserving.
The other characters in the novel also pursued the American Dream, Myrtle Wilson,
dreamed of moving up the social ladder, into America’s upper class, she did this threw
her affair with Tom Buchanan (Daisy’s husband). She knew that Tom could provide for
her materialistically and boast her socially as well. Tom had his affair with Myrtle
because he can, and he likes to feel above people, as Myrtle looks up to him. Nick moves
to West Egg to work and to become successful. This shows that the other characters in
the novel also pursue the American Dream, this is to be happy and successful, none of
them actually achieve their dreams, and all are very determined in achieving their
dreams.
It shows that Gatsby went to great lengths to achieve the American dream, and probably
to lengths more than the other characters, and his pursuit was different to the other
characters, but this is only as his personalized dream of the American dream differed as
well. Gatsby is also seen as an honest man, and the other characters within the novel are
not looked so highly upon as Gatsby is. As Gatsby has an extraordinary ability to
transform his hopes and dream into reality, his appears as he desires to appear to the
world. This talent for self-invention is what gives Gatsby his quality of “greatness”, as
the title “The Great Gatsby” is reminiscent of billings for such vaudeville magicians as
“The Great Houdini”, which suggest that the persona of Gatsby is a masterful illusion.
It can be seen that Gatsby did not turn out alright in the end, and he can’t be seen
differently in his pursuit of the American Dream, all the characters went to great lengths
to strive for the American dream of success and happiness, and none of the characters are
truly happy nor do they achieve their dreams. Gatsby, whom the novel is focused around,
has his tremendous lengths he went to achieve the American Dream revealed throughout
the novel. Though I do not believe his pursuit is any different from those other characters
within the novel.
