Elusive Dreams In The Great Gatsby

838 Words4 Pages
The elusive Dreams of men A great dream can permeate one’s ever thought; it can latch on like a parasite never letting go. If left unanswered, the dreamer shall soon become an empty shell, void of emotion. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, we see three types of people. People who have achieved their dreams, people who have yet to reach their dreams, and people who are crushed under the weight of their dreams, becoming a casket full of despair. Tom and Daisy Buchanan are two characters who have reached their dreams; a great house, a beautiful child, and plenty of money. However, they are both unhappy and they both end up having affairs. Their lovers, Myrtle Wilson and Jay Gatsby, are still trying to reach their dreams. By…show more content…
Gatsby, a man who had achieved so many of his dreams; a great house, lots of money, and even knew the rich and famous, still needed one thing to be happy and that thing was the love of his life, Daisy. Daisy, the prize that Gatsby wanted for five long years, is awarded to him when Daisy tells Gatsby she loves him. Gatsby's happiness was ephemeral and lacking because soon Daisy would retract her love and give it to Tom, taking away Gatsby's ultimate dream. When Nick, one of Gatsby’s few true friends, visits him after Daisy went back to Tom, he notices something very strange about Gatsby’s house. When he arrives "there was an inexplicable amount of dust everywhere" (Fitzgerald p147). When Fitzgeralds states there was an “ inexplicable amount of dust” he is giving the dust a supernatural tendency to show how the dust has no real reason to be there but to strengthen the metaphor. Nick found this to be odd because Gatsby was seen as a god among men, with prestige that was reflected in his impeccably clean, luxurious home. Fitzgerald is cleverly contrasting “Gatsby the dreamer” with “Gatsby the heartbroken”, using his dusty home as an artifice for a fall from
Open Document