Mrs. Strong
English III
February 26, 2018 The Decay of the American Dream
The American dream is a touchy subject, a subject that people would say is controversial. People think of the American dream in different ways whether their dream is the freedom of religion, or if they think the freedom class, there is always others that will think different. Those others would say that it is about the freedom of choosing where they want to work, what they want to do, or what they want to be in life. For the characters in The Great Gatsby the American dreams meaning is thought about in only one way; they think that it is about gaining wealth and power through the possession of money in their attempt to find happiness. The …show more content…
Every character in The Great Gatsby has a motive and each of them want to achieve this motive so much that they will do anything to get there. “You take Nick and Jordan. We’ll follow you in the coupe. She walked close to Gatsby, touching his coat with her hand.” (Fitzgerald 121). Daisy Buchanan’s motive is attention, that’s all she wants and doesn’t care if it’s from her husband, from Gatsby, or from a homeless man of the street she just wants attention. She shows that she never stops to think what the consequences will lead to because she is too busy trying to achieve her motive by any means necessary. “But all the rest of that’s a god damned lie. Daisy loved me when she married me, and she loves me now.” (Fitzgerald 131). Fitzgerald succeeds in capturing the fact that no one thinks of the consequences their actions may lead to until after they cross the point of no return. Finally, the characters blood thirty run of motivation only leads to disastrous consequences (i.e. Jay Gatsby's death). Jay Gatsby is the first to conclude with this one but only after it becomes too late for him to fix any of his mistakes. “It was after we started with Gatsby towards the house that the gardener saw Wilson’s body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete.” (Fitzgerald 162). In the Final statement, the characters’ motivations are either only met with great difficulty, or end in disastrous consequences because they are blinded by their