Achieving the American dream was the main goal in the 1920’s, and still is today. The American dream is the ideal life of freedom consisting of opportunity. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it shows how this idea had been distorted. The concept of having opportunity had been changed into the concept of obtaining wealth. By focusing too much on materialistic values, Myrtle and Gatsby had a corrupt understanding of the American dream therefore, never achieving it and making it hopeless. Gatsby’s has always aspired to be wealthy and wanted to be like the people from old money. He had become wealthy by being involved in criminal business thus causing him to come from new money. Gatsby would always try and flaunt his wealth to others.
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He doesn 't realize that he will never be like the people from old money and he will never be with Daisy. People from old money never interact with people from new money nor do they want to be associated with them. Mr. And Mrs. Sloane come from new money and are friends with Tom Buchanan. When they were over Gatsby 's house they had invited him to lunch rhetorically. Gatsby misunderstands their gesture and embarrassingly responds to them saying, "I 'll have to follow you in my car. Excuse me just a minute"(109). Gatsby is under the impression that he will one day fit in with the people from old money and become one of them. He so desperately wants to be like them because he believes their wealth and lifestyle resembles the idea of the American dream. Furthermore he also believes Daisy will leave Tom. He boldly tells Tom, "Your wife doesn 't love you. She never loved you. She loves me"(137). He continues and says, "She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved anyone except me"(137). Gatsby was confident that Daisy was going to leave Tom for him. So confident that he says to Tom, "You 're not going to take care of her anymore. Daisy 's leaving you"(140). Daisy would never leave Tom because she values her reputation more than her love for Gatsby. Tom and Daisy both come from old money and have similar backgrounds and that 's …show more content…
She doesn 't realize Tom will never leave Daisy. To him, Myrtle is just someone to preoccupy his time when he is dissatisfied with Daisy. But nonetheless he will never leave her. He admits this saying, " Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I will always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time"(138). He will always stay with Daisy because like Daisy, he values his reputation more than anything. He would never actually leave Daisy for Myrtle because she is poor and that would look bad for him, leaving Daisy for a poor woman. So unfortunately for Myrtle she will never become wealthy through Tom and Tom was her only chance to attain wealth. For that reason her American dream is deemed hopeless.
The American dream is hopeless because everyone 's idea of what the American dream is is different and doesn 't have anything to do with what the American dream actually is. Myrtle and Gatsby represent the ideas of how many people believed the American dream to be. What they thought it was was never it to begin with so it could have never been achieved. Because the different interpretations of the American dream it can never be achieved and it is
He doesn 't realize that he will never be like the people from old money and he will never be with Daisy. People from old money never interact with people from new money nor do they want to be associated with them. Mr. And Mrs. Sloane come from new money and are friends with Tom Buchanan. When they were over Gatsby 's house they had invited him to lunch rhetorically. Gatsby misunderstands their gesture and embarrassingly responds to them saying, "I 'll have to follow you in my car. Excuse me just a minute"(109). Gatsby is under the impression that he will one day fit in with the people from old money and become one of them. He so desperately wants to be like them because he believes their wealth and lifestyle resembles the idea of the American dream. Furthermore he also believes Daisy will leave Tom. He boldly tells Tom, "Your wife doesn 't love you. She never loved you. She loves me"(137). He continues and says, "She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved anyone except me"(137). Gatsby was confident that Daisy was going to leave Tom for him. So confident that he says to Tom, "You 're not going to take care of her anymore. Daisy 's leaving you"(140). Daisy would never leave Tom because she values her reputation more than her love for Gatsby. Tom and Daisy both come from old money and have similar backgrounds and that 's …show more content…
She doesn 't realize Tom will never leave Daisy. To him, Myrtle is just someone to preoccupy his time when he is dissatisfied with Daisy. But nonetheless he will never leave her. He admits this saying, " Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I will always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time"(138). He will always stay with Daisy because like Daisy, he values his reputation more than anything. He would never actually leave Daisy for Myrtle because she is poor and that would look bad for him, leaving Daisy for a poor woman. So unfortunately for Myrtle she will never become wealthy through Tom and Tom was her only chance to attain wealth. For that reason her American dream is deemed hopeless.
The American dream is hopeless because everyone 's idea of what the American dream is is different and doesn 't have anything to do with what the American dream actually is. Myrtle and Gatsby represent the ideas of how many people believed the American dream to be. What they thought it was was never it to begin with so it could have never been achieved. Because the different interpretations of the American dream it can never be achieved and it is