Examples Of Hope In The Great Gatsby

The American Dream is the philosophy of hope, and the belief states that anyone in America has the opportunity to reach riches and success. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a highly notable novel focusing on one man’s process of achieving the American Dream. The Great Gatsby is a novel about love, fortune, desire, and failure. Out of all of these themes, failure is the most prevalent throughout the novel. While writing The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald incorporates his personal opinion on the American Dream while building the character of Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald believes the American Dream is unreasonable for anyone with or without riches. Gatsby works exceedingly harder than the average man to keep the illusion of the American Dream alive

One aspect that fills Gatsby with hope is the green light at the end of the dock (Rimer). Fitzgerald gives Gatsby a light that puts a glimmer of hope into his life : “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....” (Fitzgerald 180). Gatsby believes that one day he will be able to touch the green light, which will lead him to fulfill the American Dream. Gatsby is rising in society and fulfilling his American Dream by moving to the West Egg: “[He] moves to West Egg, a community of the nouveau riche, instead of the more elegant East Egg” (Roberts 3). Gatsby uses his money to try to live an extravagant life, but the West Egg is all an illusion. The West Egg is where all of the flashy wannabes live; however, the classy, elegant people live in East Egg (Roberts 3). Gatsby’s parties also give him confidence in achieving the American Dream. Gatsby believes that if he throws frequent, lavish parties people will accept him into society and later boost his social status (Tunc 74). The American Dream lives only in Gatsby’s mind and is fueled by money and social

Instead of chasing after Daisy, Gatsby should worry about himself and his desire to have everything (Tunc 76). Gatsby also influences Daisy to become unfaithful in her marriage. Daisy leads Gatsby to believe that she loves him, but in the end Daisy does not love Gatsby like she loves her husband. When Gatsby finds this out, he self-destructs due to the fact that he cannot marry Daisy. (Tunc 77)

Another one of Gatsby’s flaws that shows how he falls short of the American Dream is the means by which he becomes wealthy. Despite what Gatsby tells everyone, he is an immensely crooked man. Instead of working vigorously for money, Gatsby participates in many illegal activities. He gains his wealth by dealing out illegal alcohol, bribing police officers, and other forms of organized crime (Stocks 1). Fitzgerald writes a conversation between Gatsby and Tom Buchanan as Tom reveals Gatsby’s secrets to the group:

“I found out what your 'drug-stores' were." He turned to us and spoke rapidly. "He and this Wolfshiem bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That's one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn't far wrong