The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

577 Words2 Pages

The truth shall always reveal itself. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous novel, The Great Gatsby, the character Jay Gatsby is a man of splendor and grace—a constant source of entertainment for those who reside in Long Island. In reality, this is a facade Gatsby created to hide his true desires and insecurities from those he wanted to impress. Therefore, no matter how much speculation his neighbors produced, nobody could claim to know him as significantly as Nick Carraway, a sympathetic outsider and the book’s protagonist. However, Gatsby deceives everyone to reach what he believes is the American Dream.

To triumphantly lie to everyone else, Gatsby first deludes himself into envisioning success and refused to think otherwise. Even as a young child, he understood that his parents were inconsequential people and thus his “imagination had never accepted them as his parents at all” (Fitzgerald, 6). While others may deem him cruel, destroying any connections with his past allows Gatsby to set higher standards for himself without being stigmatized by his society. Evidently, earning society’s disapproval makes one’s endeavours more arduous that only affluent people avoid since they can afford to fail—unlike Jay Gatsby. Furthermore, to live in …show more content…

One day, Jay Gatsby invites Daisy Buchanan to walk through his house and not once ceased looking at her, “[revaluing] everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes” (Fitzgerald, 5). Many of us have unattainable desires, so we root for Gatsby when he gains another chance to win Daisy’s love. He cannot do so without lying, of course: Daisy has experienced no hardships, thus his lack of wealth will be a massive issue if exposed. Gatsby’s dedication and sacrifices for Daisy Buchanan is a flaw that makes him appear sympathetic and no longer manipulative. Similarly, this ordeal teaches us that victory does not come

Open Document