The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

The American dream is an ideal that has been present since the onset of American Literature. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's, The Great Gatsby, the American Dream is a critical theme throughout the novel. Fitzgerald, in an obvious way, makes a mockery of the American dream. From the novel, one can conclude that Fitzgerald believes in the idea that the American dream is a hoax, and one must be born into money in order to reap the benefits. Fitzgerald makes use of Gatsby’s dream of being with Daisy and his hunger for wealth and Daisy’s dream of having both financial security and love to portray the death of the American Dream.
Over the course of the novel, Gatsby’s dream is to be with Daisy and acquire wealth, but it is shown how Gatsby is so close

Daisy’s main priority is to have money or financial stability, and love comes second for her. She knew Gatsby years prior to when she knew Tom, but she refused to marry Gatsby because he was not rich. She came from money, and she felt that, in order to remain happy and successful, she needed to marry someone with money. As stated by Tanfer Emin Tunc, she "do[es] not embody the American Dream with the passion and intensity of self-made individuals” (70), meaning Daisy is not a self-made individual. She has obtained her wealth by being born into money and through her marriage to Tom, not even a sliver of work on her own. Daisy is also very indifferent about problems that do not affect her. Nick describes what Daisy does to other people as “smashed up things and creatures” (Fitzgerald 179), commenting on how people like Daisy and Tom do not care for other individuals, and that they only care for themselves. Not to mention, Daisy is a negligent person when it comes to consequences. As Nick also says, once Daisy or Tom created issues they “retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness” (Fitzgerald 179), which is describing how Daisy protects herself with her money, or how she thinks money can solve any problem that involves her. Overall, Daisy represents how the American Dream has come to simply becoming rich and gaining wealth without lifting a finger, whereas it used to be