Gatsby's American Dream
Anyone and everyone can become successful with enough hard work. That was the "American Dream" as it was understood in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. With the beginning of the twentieth century, a time of great corruption was ushered in. The modern values that came along with the materialistic "roaring twenties" era transformed the ideals of the American Dream into a corrupt race for power without regard for morals. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, this degradation of the American Dream is exemplified through the character Jay Gatsby. His desire to become rich and powerful fast causes him to overlook the honest way to fulfill his dreams and enter into a world of decadence and corruption. In the end, his lack of regard for morals is his downfall. Jay Gatsby's sad story shows that without honest hard work, the American Dream is destined to fail. In the post World War I era of the 1920s, people began to revel in the newly mass produced commodities like radios and motor vehicles. Automobiles became the symbol of status, something everyone needed to have. This kind of attitude led people to think that their social prestige no longer came from how hard
While neither Tom nor Gatsby are moralistic individuals, Tom is in a way more corrupt. With these new attitudes came the death of the true American Dream. Tom on the other hand already has Daisy but does not appreciate her in the least. Daisy's husband Tom Buchanan was also guilty of amoral behavior. Lost in their dishonest pursuit of being together, Daisy and Gatsby kill Tom's mistress Myrtle. Through his dealings with Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, Myrtle etc, he realized that the American Dream is something that is highly corrupt and mostly unattainable, motivating him to move back home. To be close to Daisy, he bought a lavish mansion just across from Daisy and Tom's home in West Egg. As a child he lived in a poverty stricken area of North Dakota. While Gatsby has good intentions in his behavior, Tom seems almost heartless. Nick left his familiar home in the Midwest to make a life for himself, to achieve his own vision of the American Dream. His dream had spiraled into a mess of dishonesty. Gatsby does everything for his one goal, to have Daisy. He did this by getting involved in organized crime. This is where Gatsby began to build his "American Dream". The American Dream started out as more than just a materialistic desire, it had foundations in spirituality in relation to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness".
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