The American Dream all the characters are chasing is ruined by reality of life. Gatsby dream involves him falling in love with Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby feared that Daisy did not wait for him because he was not rich. That’s why Gatsby did crime to get rich. Daisy is married to Tom Buchanan.
Myrtle Wilson and George Wilson try to find their American identity through wealth and status. Both of them do not like where they are living or how they are living so they do as much as possible to change their situations. Myrtle Wilson captures the quintessence of the American identity in the 1920’s by cheating on her husband with the wealthy, Tom Buchanan, thinking that she will gain riches. Myrtle then tries to act the part of a wealthy woman by dressing in nicer clothes because in the 1920’s, the clothing one wears, is synonymous to one success according to Jacqueline Herald. When Tom Buchanan first takes Nick Carraway to meet Myrtle she contains “no facet or gleam of beauty”(Fitzgerald 25), but as soon as she is about the city with Tom she buys a moving-picture magazine, ice cream, and a small flask of perfume.
When Fitzgerald envisions, “however glorious might be his future… he was at present a penniless young man without a past…” (149). Gatsby’s future may be fancy and “glorious,” but at the current point in the novel, Fitzgerald’s description of Gatsby as “penniless” implies that he is currently poor and depressed. The illusion that wealth brings happiness consumes him, causing Gatsby’s desire for wealth to overshadow all other aspects of his life, including his family. Later on in the novel, during the flashback to when Gatsby and Daisy first meet, Fitzgerald describes Daisy’s house which “had always seemed to him more mysterious and gay than other houses, so his idea of the city itself… pervaded with a melancholy beauty” (152). Fitzgerald compares Gatsby’s desire for a warm home to the depressing
Gossip & rumors are the main theme of this chapter. XXII. Rumors about Gatsby and about daisy and tom’s marriage XXIII. Myrtle is angry that she married the wrong man. She regrets it.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic tale of American decadence tells of a man's demise from chasing an unattainable dream and his losing himself in the process. Jay Gatsby is a hero because he is a model of the American Dream—from rags to riches, he rapidly achieves wealth and grandeur. He has ideals and a dream he is adamant in achieving. This dream turns to an obsession, one doomed for failure, for The Great Gatsby's titular character chases an impalpable dream—a lost love, whom, over the years, he elevates to an unreachably high pedestal. Gatsby's pursuit of Daisy was a desperate one.
However, as the novel advances, her true character begins to unveil. Daisy Buchanan is seen as the true villain in The Great Gatsby for her materialism, selfishness, and extreme greed. One of the many questions the reader has about Daisy is why she tolerates her husband, Tom Buchanan’s, infidelities. And although according to Glenn Settle in “Fitzgerald's Daisy: The Siren Voice,” both “Daisy and Tom are careless people” (118), Daisy is shockingly more ruthless. In “Her Story and Daisy Buchanan,” writer Leland Person states, “Daisy expresses the same desire to escape the temporal world” (251).
A result their dreams were no longer pure. The greed for more money became the only thing in mind and the American dream was lost. The valley of ashes was filled with people who probably once had dreams of a life of success and happiness, but now live in the land of ashes and losing their vivacity as a result. For example, George Wilson. For others, the valley is like a prison, and a reminder that they will never be able to escape the ashes.
Questing for these two goals –money and love- would seem to be the paragon for the good life, but as Owl-Eyes aptly muttered, “if one brick was to be removed the whole library was likely to collapse” (46). Taking the library as a microcosm for the house, this observation can be extended to the American Dream: if a single thing is to go wrong, the rest will surely follow. Once the nature of Gatsby’s business is revealed by Tom, Gatsby’s American Dream slowly decomposes, ending with his death. This one brick is able to turn the luxurious dwelling into a “huge incoherent failure of a house” (180). Using this metaphor, Fitzgerald is able to portray what the American Dream meant to
As the novel proceeds, it is quickly revealed that the reality they live differs from their appearance to their fellow high society members. Firstly, Gatsby’s wealth is not genuine because he does illegal activities to distinguish himself from the poor. Secondly, Daisy is not an ideal wealthy housewife because she is deceiving and unfaithful. Lastly, Tom wants to have the perfect image of a happy family but his lust prevents him from actually having one. Humankind want to be something they are not so which causes reality to be an
“Gatsby recognizes a kindred spirit and his lie serves both to test the extent of Nick’s potential complicity with his plan to marry Daisy, and to demonstrate the reality that social transition comes at a price, even in what is supposedly the ‘land of the free’” (Claire Stocks). Gatsby thinks he can do whatever he wants. He has loads of money, and tries to use his money to throw outstanding parties to catch Daisy’s attention. Gatsby can’t relive the past, no matter how much he desires