The significance and importance of reaching a goal or a dream is lost when it’s achieved. While wanting something we picture that object or the goal as something special, something we need desperately, something worth fighting for. The belief in that dream, desire is so passionate, that when the goal is achieved it loses value and uniqueness, since that the true worth of the goal consisted of the waiting. For such a long time Gatsby looked out into the darkness to see the green light, and it was special to him, because it represented Daisy and that goal of becoming part of her life again. (Referring to the green light which until Gatsby’s reunion with Daisy symbolized Daisy. But once Gatsby finally met Daisy, it was just an ordinary green light again.); “Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had vanished forever” (page 98). But once he finally saw her, and broke that period of time of being not part of her life, the light lost its significance and importance to him. “Compared to the great discovery that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one” (page 98). This quote describes how physically close Daisy’s house was to him and how special the green light was because it represented that long awaited meeting. But once Daisy and Gatsby meat, the green light was no longer special, it was a regular light on the dock. The waiting and the want are the true worth and significance behind our goals.
Hope and passion are the drive behind the achievement of our American dreams; for if the objective is truly something we desire we don’t stop until that goal is achieved. A passion to achieve something or be someone can be so strong that reaching the goal can seem so close and yet so distant. Gatsby had been waiting years to meet Daisy. He read the newspapers to track her life, and even bought his mansion so it could be directly across from Daisy’s house (across the bay). Instead of seeing her the moment her knew where she was, Jay planned everything wanting their meeting for the first time since years to be perfect. His house was so close to Daisy’s house and his dream was so close to him, yet it took years for the final meeting so it was also so far away. This passage implies Gatsby’s almost reachable goal of becoming a vital part of Daisy’s life again. “He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it” (page 189). The idea of not giving up on your dream and doing everything possible to achieve it, is presented in this novel through Gatsby’s fight for what he wanted and believed in. This passage describes Gatsby’s belief in the light, and his willingness and ability to wait longer, and try harder if he needs to, in order to one day reach his goal; “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms further…and one fine morning—“ (page 189).
A dream can morph into an extreme obsession and destruct every other aspect of one’s life leaving the person in chaos and confusion without an ultimate goal. When a person sets a goal, that goal becomes a direction point, on which their life focuses. In Gatsby’s life, Daisy was in a way a guiding map for him, and his life was based around trying to achieve her love again. His goal was destructive and the meaning of his life was based on her love in return. In this passage Nick talks about the negative effects of Gatsby’s dream. Gatsby recreated himself from James Gatz to James Gatsby for Daisy. He wanted to be worthy of her love, and sacrificed the real James in order to fit Daisy’s life. Nick says, “I have an idea Gatsby himself didn’t believe it would come and perhaps he no longer cared. If that was true he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with the same dream” (page 169). Since the reason of Gatsby’s life was depended on Daisy’s love, Gatsby’s life possessed no value to him without the achievement of her love. Dreams can become deadly. When we no longer control the dream, instead the dream controls us; we become a victim to our goal. In this passage, Nick talks about Gatsby and how he no longer cared bout his wealthy material world. Gatsby’s dream consumed him, and everything else didn’t matter. His world was hollow and ghostlike without Daisy in it. Nick says, “A new world, material without being real, where poor ghosts, breathing dreams like air, drifted fortuitously about...” (page 169). Dreams destroy when they define the meaning of our lives.
The “American dream” is the definition of what we want in this world; whether it’s success, love, contentment, or satisfaction. The American dream is a dangerous drug. It wakes up the passion, the strive, the emotions with in, and if powerful enough shapes our lives and futures; thus proving that ones life depends on the goal he or she sets out. Each person with an American dream is an addict; addicted to the fulfillment of an idea or creation. Gatsby’s life consisted of his dream which was his love for Daisy. His life was centered and based around her. His dream became an obsession and at the end of the novel he was lost without her love. That was the reason why he wanted to start a new chapter in his life at the end of the book. Almost his whole life, Gatsby’s dream controlled him and finally at the end of the novel when he realized this he was killed. James Gatz didn’t live his own life; he lived the life of Jay Gatsby, the man controlled by Daisy’s love.
