Unmasking the American Dream in The Great Gatsby

In the novel Fitzgerald portrays the American dream to be that money can buy happiness. The definition of the American Dream is the prosperity or life that is the realization of this ideal ( Merriam-Wesbster Dictionary). Fitzgerald lived a lavish lifestyle that frequently left his wife and him in debt. He then turned to writing profitable short stories to pay bills (Lusted). In the book The Great Gatsby the way Fitzgerald sets up the setting between East Egg and West Egg have “two different opposing roles: one is pure and idealistic and the other is corrupt and materialistic”(Themes and Construction: The Great Gatsby). In The Great Gatsby people try so hard to reach and achieve The American Dream, but once they have achieved the dream it is

gone in a snap of their fingers and they are left unhappy and unsatisfied. This is because of greed, the need for material things, and barriers in the characters’ lives.
Daisy tries to be at the top but yet her greed and need for material things leads her to barriers in her life. Gatsby shows no need for money but yet his house is filled with material things that leave him empty because he sees more than what is truly there. Tom is so greedy that his money is all he cares about, and he falls into his money like nothing; he doesn’t care who he hurts or knocks down out his way as long as he gets what he wants. The main characters lie of the American dream serve to illustrate that money doesn’t buy happiness.
Daisy lives in a world where without a powerful man with money you cannot live happily; this is the lie of her American dream, which leaves her unhappy.

In the novel her need for money and the way she pretended to not know what is going on around her, shows exactly why her life was unhappy. Just like in the novel when she is talking to Nick, she tells him “‘I said im glad it is a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool’” (p.21). This quote is significant because daisy is complaisant. Daisy is telling the readers that she knows about Tom’s affair but she pretends she doesn’t know. So she wants her daughter to be just as gullible, because if you’re a married to a man with money like tom it’s good to be a fool. Daisy thinks this makes her “sophisticated” (22). Too pretend to be okay with her husband cheating on her just shows how shallow her thinking is. Just like in the book when Gatsby tells tom that daisy “only married you because I was poor…” (137). which is true her family and she thought she needed someone educated and rich. Once daisy got her money she wanted more she wanted to be with Gatsby but she was do deceitful and shallow that this dream could never become possible due to her

unhappiness.
In spite of achieving what many women of her decade would call achieving the American dream daisy was still unsatisfied with marrying into wealth. Daisy is in love with money, ease, and material luxury. “Daisy lacks the inner resources to enjoy what her wealth can give her” (Thomas). She is capable of affection, but not of sustained loyalty or care. In spite of the wealth, Daisy is a bored and careless woman. She is incapable of entertaining herself and wonders what she will do with her life. Although she is the mother of a young daughter, she is incapable of any depth of maternal feelings. She is indifferent even to her own infant daughter, never discussing her and treating her as an afterthought when she is introduced in Chapter 7. In Fitzgerald’s conception of America in the 1920s, Daisy represents the amoral values of the aristocratic East Egg set. Daisy is very narcissistic character throughout the book, her money, her husband, and her daughter never could satisfy her; her obsession with her own wealth left her unhappy.
Gatsby fantasy of the American dream centers on daisy, who abuses Gatsby’s love which weakens Gatsby. In the novel Gatsby has no need or true want for money but yet he has this extravagant house. All of it is for Daisy; he never wanted all the lavishness. Gatsby is simple just like “his bedroom was the simplest of all” (97). Your bedroom is supposed to represent who you are as a person, and Gatsby’s just shows how simple he is in his mind but, his house just represents a vacuum. His house is filled with emptiness it is so large but yet he is the only one living there. Once Gatsby starts his affair with daisy, he becomes way too attached. He believes he can repeat what he had with Daisy five years ago. Just like when he is talking to Nick and he says “Can’t repeat the past…Why of course you can!”(116). Gatsby is too susceptible to Daisy to Daisy’s carefree personality which ends up weakening him. Just like in the novel when Nick says “He couldn’t possibly leave Daisy until he knew what she was going to do. He was clutching at some last hope and I couldn’t bear to shake him free” (155). Gatsby clings to his last hope of his American dream; to be with Daisy forever. His hope to see Daisy’s love breaks him to the point to where he dies; this is caused by his no need for money and all the barriers in his life.
Although Gatsby achieved what many would consider to be the American dream, he felt a sense of emptiness because daisy could not reciprocate the love he had for her. As his relentless quest for Daisy demonstrates, Gatsby has an extraordinary ability to transform his hopes and dreams into reality. Gatsby reveals himself to be an innocent, hopeful young man who stakes everything on his dreams, not realizing that his dreams are unworthy of him. Gatsby invests Daisy with an idealistic perfection that she cannot possibly attain in reality and pursues her with a passionate zeal that blinds him to her limitations. His dream of her disintegrates, revealing the corruption that wealth causes and the unworthiness of his goal to be with her in the end. “Gatsby does not see Daisy's vicious emptiness, and Daisy, deluded, thinks she will reward her gold-hatted lover until he tries to force from her an affirmation she is too weak to make” (Thomas). What Thomas is trying to say is that Daisy will never be able affirm her love for her due to her weakness towards wealth and high society. Gatsby has a feeble mind when it comes to the thought of Daisy and how perfect she is; however this weakens him and makes him vulnerable to her deceit.
Tom doesn’t have an American dream, what people would call his American dream centers on his money; tom has always had money therefore he doesn’t respect the true value of his money and doesn’t care about anyone but himself. In the Novel tom represent what people try to become, but with all of his wealth he is very frivolous character. Throughout the novel he knocks down and destroys people in is path. Nick describes him as “careless…Tom…smashed up things and then retreats back into… money …vast carelessness…” (188). Tom is immature, just like when Nick is thinking to himself he is says “as though I was talking to a child” (188). He is referring to Tom.
Even though tom was born into wealth, his wealth proves to be a barrier for his very happiness. He is a cruel, hard man and the living personification of the shallowness and carelessness of the very rich. He’s selfish and does what he needs to get what he wants. Tom doesn’t care for anyone but himself; “Tom Buchanan uses his inherited fortune for low motives that reflect his negligible concern for other people” (William). Most of all, he seeks control of his life and control of others. Tom appearance tells you everything you need to know about his snobbish character. Supposedly all the rich people “are all rich and beautiful -- and unhappy” (Thomas). This just proves that your wealth and your appearances do not help whats in your heart. That is why Tom in the end will never by happy there too big of a hole in his heart.
All three characters in The Great Gatsby even though they achieved what many would consider the American dream were unhappy.

Daisy’s unhappiness will not get better it might get worse. For Daisy to know that she deceived Gatsby, and ended up getting him killed; she will never be able live her life, she might fall into her riches but that will be all she will do. Tom has no hope; he has no shame to his game. He feels as if he always does the right thing, and he will always be happy until he is able to notice his selfishness. And for Gatsby well, he is dead let’s just hope he will be able to forgive everyone for his materialistic things and the barriers in his life caused by his fantasy of his romance of

Daisy.