Ambition Of The American Dream

American society has long been based on the ambition of the American Dream. Immigrants moving to the United States came were generally lower class citizens in their old aristocratic country. The dream-- that it is wholly possible to start a business or job, work hard, and climb up the socioeconomic ladder-- gives hope to new immigrants and those who have nothing that they have the opportunity become something more. Although the nineteen twenties was a time when the American Dream appeared obtainable, in his novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald suggests an utterly different view of the so called achievable goal. The novel illustrates that the American Dream is nothing more than an unattainable ideal, but it still blinds people into believing in …show more content…
Tom is an aristocrat who can do anything he would like, is rich, does not have work, and seems as if he is living the Dream, but his life is just another trick of the Dream. Unlike those legitimately attempting to achieve the American Dream, Tom is born into his money, and to emphasize the amount of wealth Tom is simply given, Fitzgerald reveals that, “His [Tom’s] family were enormously wealthy” and that “even in college his freedom with money was a matter for reproach”(6). The author 's inclusion of the detail that Tom’s wealth comes from his “family” coupled with the fact that “even in college--” a time when most students struggle with money and have to work but only earn a little money-- Tom’s spending habits were quite extravagant, illustrate that Tom’s plush lifestyle is not supported with money that he himself earns and works for. Since Tom is not a self made man, although his lifestyle may seem ideal, it cannot be said that he is living the American Dream, thus creating the elusive character of the Dream. Further emphasizing that Tom does not fulfill the requirements of the Dream is the name Gatsby introduces Tom with at his party, “the polo player”(105). If Tom’s life had been lived according to the ideals of the American Dream he may have been …show more content…
His Dream is to have Daisy all to himself and to be married to her without Tom in their life. In the final page of the book Fitzgerald Nick reflects on Gatsby’s life and recognizes that, “He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him…”(180). Gatsby’s final failure-- “[knowing] that it [his dream] was already behind him-- is Fitzgerald’s last representation of the American Dream as nothing more than an ideal. In the novel the American Dream is shown to be a model that is too unrealistic to be achieved, and is characterized by its elusive