The Realization

The American Dream can be defined as the ideal by which equality of opportunity is available to any American, allowing the highest aspirations and goals to be achieved. Many people across the world leave their home and their families to fulfill their dreams of being successful. The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts both ends of the spectrum of the American Dream: a comfortable and typical upbringing in the Midwest to being a self made successful socialite in New York City. There isn’t a single definition of the American Dream, it depends on the person. Someone could have everything they could ever want or need in life and others are more than happy leading a more simple life. Throughout the novel, we see Gatsby get everything he’s ever wanted but still crave something more, on the other hand, we see the more realistic Nick who observes Gatsby’s situation and decides that he doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life unhappy with what he already has.

Gatsby spent his whole life looking for something more. He came from a humble upbringing and by chance started working for a wealthy man. His rise to fame included several crimes. Despite everything he has obtained in his life, a ridiculous mansion and lumps of money, he still yearns for something more. The first time we see Gatsby, Nick sees him on a dock in the dead of night reaching out towards a green light, “But I didn’t call to him for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone–he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward–and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock” (Fitzgerald 17). Our first look at Gatsby is of him reaching out for more, which we end up finding out is Daisy, his first love who also happens to be the one that got away. Gatsby was born a dreamer, he didn’t grow up being around money or having a lot of wealth like Tom and Daisy, were but throughout his life he has been always working for something more, something better.

Gatsby spends a significant portion of his adult life chasing his version of the American Dream which is his relationship with Daisy. Before Gatsby obtained his self-made fortune, he was a soldier in World War 1. He had met Daisy in Louisville, Kentucky where he fell in love with her wealth and her beauty. Before he ended up leaving for war, Daisy had promised to wait for him until he returned home. Gatsby was scared to tell her about his upbringing since he thought that that would turn her away, so he worked hard to become attractive and desirable for Daisy. He spent many years trying to become equal to Daisy so they could be together but Daisy ended up marrying Tom Buchanan who was a man worthy of her wealth and beauty according to society. “His heart beat faster and faster as Daisy’s white face came up to his own. He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning fork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips’ touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete” (Fitzgerald 143). Daisy becomes Gatsby’s version of the American Dream. If he has her he becomes the person he’s always wanted to be. On the flip side, she will never live up to his expectations. No woman ever could. Gatsby and Daisy don’t end up together, thus, his American Dream was never realized.

Throughout the book, we see Nick come to the realization that Gatsby’s version of the American Dream might not be worth it. At the beginning of the story, we almost get a sense that Nick is envious of Gatsby and everything that he seems to have but Nick ends up coming to the realization that Gatsby wants something he can never truly have. He eventually becomes the only person in Gatsby’s inner circle who truly understands him, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald 189). Nick sees that the recurring green light ultimately ends up in the valley of ashes. He sees Gatsby’s chase as a tragedy because he knows that there’s no way that Gatsby and Daisy will ever end up together since life got in the way. It seems that it is better to dwell in the comfort of simplicity than shoot for the stars and not reach the desired destination.