America, land of the free and home of the brave, became a home for many immigrants and a beacon of hope for people around the world after 1776. Eventually, the idea of the American dream came about shortly after that. As America grew it became more of a symbol of hope for a fresh start and a brand new future. However, there was more beneath the surface of the elusive American dream that revealed an ominous side to it. Even though individuals spent their entire lives trying to obtain this dream, many died without actualizing success. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s quintessential American novel The Great Gatsby defines the decaying, unattainable American dream of going from rags to riches while illustrating what it means to be an American. Before examining
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For a start, Gatsby fabricates his past by saying he is, “son of some wealthy people in the Middle West … but educated at Oxford, because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years” (Fitzgerald 65). However, Nick Carraway later reveals the truth about Jay Gatsby, “The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself” (Fitzgerald 98). Next, Gatsby’s house symbolizes the American dream in the novel and acts as a facade of wealth that covers up his empty shallowness. In addition to the facade of wealth, his house also represents the result of determination, goals, love, and success from capitalism. However, it also shows the American dream underneath the surface where the goals lack a foundation in wisdom, the love untempered by experience, and the success from capitalism are bought at a questionably high price (Chandler). Next, Daisy told Gatsby that she loved him, but when Gatsby waited outside her house she never came. He then realized that she would never leave her husband Tom Buchanan. After Gatsby desperately waited for Daisy outside her house and she never came, he realized it was impossible and his dream, the American dream, died emotionally and then physically by the hands of George Wilson
For a start, Gatsby fabricates his past by saying he is, “son of some wealthy people in the Middle West … but educated at Oxford, because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years” (Fitzgerald 65). However, Nick Carraway later reveals the truth about Jay Gatsby, “The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself” (Fitzgerald 98). Next, Gatsby’s house symbolizes the American dream in the novel and acts as a facade of wealth that covers up his empty shallowness. In addition to the facade of wealth, his house also represents the result of determination, goals, love, and success from capitalism. However, it also shows the American dream underneath the surface where the goals lack a foundation in wisdom, the love untempered by experience, and the success from capitalism are bought at a questionably high price (Chandler). Next, Daisy told Gatsby that she loved him, but when Gatsby waited outside her house she never came. He then realized that she would never leave her husband Tom Buchanan. After Gatsby desperately waited for Daisy outside her house and she never came, he realized it was impossible and his dream, the American dream, died emotionally and then physically by the hands of George Wilson