The American Dream, coined by James Truslow Adams, comes from the ideal that all Americans should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. After World War I, America became consumed by material excess and a desire for money, and by the 1920’s, people no longer had to work diligently for their money, because of the rise of the stock market and the bootlegging industry. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925), set in early 1920’s Long Island, the mysterious millionaire, Jay Gatsby, dreams of acquiring his true love, Daisy Buchanan. An American Dreamer, Gatsby dreams of material wealth and transfers that dream to Daisy, who is as corrupt and empty as the original dream.
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For instance, as Gatsby and Daisy spend time with each other, she seems only interested in the materials that Gatsby has acquired: “With enchanting murmurs Daisy admired this aspect or that of the feudal silhouette against the sky, admired the gardens, the sparkling odor of jonquils and the frothy odor of hawthorn and plum blossoms and the pale gold odor of kiss-me-at-the-gate” (90). Also, Daisy’s materialism which has transferred over to Gatsby reveals itself again while Gatsby is giving Nick and Daisy a tour of his house: [Gatsby] hadn’t once ceased looking at Daisy, and [Nick thinks] he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes. Sometimes, too, he stared around at his possessions in a dazed way, as though in her actual and astounding presence none of it was any longer real (91).
Having started his affair with Daisy, Gatsby begins to “feel far away from her” (109), but he tries to “repeat the past” (110), in order to have his dream of her. Later, as Gatsby tries to defend himself when Tom, Daisy’s husband, exposes him of his true identity, Daisy seems to distance herself from
For instance, as Gatsby and Daisy spend time with each other, she seems only interested in the materials that Gatsby has acquired: “With enchanting murmurs Daisy admired this aspect or that of the feudal silhouette against the sky, admired the gardens, the sparkling odor of jonquils and the frothy odor of hawthorn and plum blossoms and the pale gold odor of kiss-me-at-the-gate” (90). Also, Daisy’s materialism which has transferred over to Gatsby reveals itself again while Gatsby is giving Nick and Daisy a tour of his house: [Gatsby] hadn’t once ceased looking at Daisy, and [Nick thinks] he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes. Sometimes, too, he stared around at his possessions in a dazed way, as though in her actual and astounding presence none of it was any longer real (91).
Having started his affair with Daisy, Gatsby begins to “feel far away from her” (109), but he tries to “repeat the past” (110), in order to have his dream of her. Later, as Gatsby tries to defend himself when Tom, Daisy’s husband, exposes him of his true identity, Daisy seems to distance herself from