Chimera

“A phrase began to beat in my ears with a sort of heady excitement: ‘There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy, and the tired’” (Fitzgerald 81). One of Nick’s, the narrator of Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby’s several significant quotes describes how society mostly worked back in the Roaring Twenties. There are people who have achieved their dream, and the ones who are trying to get to their dream. Nick also states that there are people who work the hardest, and there are the ones who just work to provide for themself. The “American Dream” is a term we hear commonly thrown around and is a very prevalent theme in The Great Gatsby. 

The definition basically means that through hard-work and dedication, anyone in the United States can achieve success and live a happy life; however, the meaning behind it can be expanded much further beyond its face value. Based on each character’s aimes and hopes, the novel shows that the American Dream is highly connected to love, expressed through Gatsby, achievement, status, and money, expressed through Daisy. Furthermore, in connection to earlier great American novels such as The Crucible, it illustrates a significant change in society’s general definition of the American Dream. 

“The American dream. Those three short, simple words encompass the hopes and aspirations of all the peoples on earth. The words are not only short and simple. They are also fragile”.

Ross Perot

Expressed through the protagonist of Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, the American Dream is an ambiguous ideal that Jay Gastby has achieved in some way, while there are still values he  wants to achieve. His dream connects wealth with love. Gastby does not achieve this, and while hopelessly trying he ends in a tragic destruction. Gatsby is so obsessed with this dream that he is oblivious to the consequences of his actions and how far he goes to achieve this. At the end of the novel, Nick points this out: “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. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in the vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night” (Fitzgerald 180). Gatsby lives an extravagant and large lifestyle full of glamor and wealth. Those things are nearly a mask to the true issues and goals that are sought out. Daisy’s love is what Gatsby needed to achieve his dream. Gatsby ends in a tragic, ironic and unpredictable way. Even though Gatsby was kind and generous and threw parties for everyone to enjoy, nobody would show up to his funeral. “After that I felt a certain shame for Gatsby-one gentleman to whom I telephoned implied that he got what he deserved”(Fitzgerald 169). That shows how loyal money is. In the end, Gatsby did not achieve the American Dream. He died with nothing but his money that was unfaithful and deceiving to him. 

Different from Gatsby, Daisy’s dream is mainly a high status and money but also safety. She fell in love with Gatsby, but because he was not rich at that time, she chose to marry Tom, a man with old money. With that, she achieved her Avision of the American Dream, so she lives her best life. She claims that she loves both Gatsby and Tom, when really she loves the money. She seems very innocent when really she plays with men’s hearts in order to live the life of luxury. Her immorality and selfishness are very present throughout the novel and are face by Nick in the end: “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and people and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made…” (Fitzgerald 179). Nick’s description of Tom and Daisy shows exactly how hollow the upper class is in the novel. After Daisy runs over and kills Myrtle, Daisy and Tom flee away back to  their luxurious lifestyle, leaving Gatsby to take the blame for Daisy’s actions, resulting in Gatsby losing his life. Daisy achieved her immoral American Dream of being wealthy and having a high status.                        

The American Dream changed drastically from being religious freedom, exemplified by the Puritans, to dying away, as shown in The Crucible, to filling the need for wealth and attention, which was illustrated by The Great Gatsby, and finally now it’s about freedom, in individual ways. In The Crucible, there wasn’t very much of an American Dream mentioned. During that time period, there was a lot of fear of the devil recruiting human followers, known as witches, to do his bidding. There was so much hysteria that no one even thought of an actual dream for themself, except for to expose the “witches” in the town of Salem. The Puritans dreamed for religious freedom as they didn’t have it back in England. In The Great Gatsby, we can see that wealth plays an important role at that time. Everyone’s dream is to have money. The American Dream has become materialistic, where people seek to do minimal work, and possess many things. The Roaring Twenties brought a drastic change. In the roaring twenties most people were measured by their wealth, it was seen as a way to power and freedom. Wealth basically represented everything one could be, who they are, what lifestyle they lived, and what social class they were in. At that time wealth was what defined one, it was one’s identity in life. Gatsby’s parties are almost unbelievably luxurious: guests marvel over his Rolls-Royce, his swimming pool, his beach, crates of fresh oranges and lemons, buffet tents in the gardens overflowing with a feast, and a live orchestra playing under the stars. The American Dream was defined by being wealthy and having a high status.

To summarize, The Great Gatsby represents the American Dream in the roaring twenties very well. It was highly connected to money and a class system in addition to love, at least for some individuals.The American dream changes depending on one’s background experiences and beliefs which is represented by characters like Gatsby and Daisy; however, almost everyone in the 1920’s had the pleasurable dream of becoming something of themselves, and making money as a result. To achieve that, Daisy and Tom had to leave their sense of morality and true love behind. Gatsby, despite his wealth, could not achieve his desire for love, leading him to a tragic end. Additionally, comparing The Great Gatsby with earlier American novels, we can see that the American dream is not what it used to be, very few have the same determination that those of previous generations had, and because of this the desperate need for power and fame take over what it truly means to be successful.