The Amercan Dream

The Amercan Dream


The American Dream is defined as an American ideal of a happy and successful life to

which all may aspire, and that everyone in the United States has the chance to achieve

success and prosperity. Gatsby's dream was to be with Daisy and to do this he knew he

had to impress her materialistically. Daisy is a material-girl, who was with Jay Gatsby

before the war, however during the war she married to a wealthy man whose wealth is

"old money". Old money is the term, that is used to describe the inherited wealth of

established upper-class families. Gatsby makes his money through the underworld and

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...

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