FREE ESSAY ON THE GREAT GATSBY AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE AMERICAN DREAM

THE GREAT GATSBY AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE AMERICAN DREAM

The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is about the corruption of the American
Dream, and the downfall of those who attempt to attain its illusionary goals. As the
novel shows, the 20th century is a moral wasteland and a corruption of the original
idealistic American Dream of the past.
Fitzgerald's moral wasteland is shown physically in the valley of ashes scene of the
novel. This 'dismal' and 'desolate' wasteland exists side-by-side with the white and
unreal dream of Daisy and her world. Even the colors of this landscape have correlations
to Daisy: the yellow of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg's spectacles and the brick of the houses on
the street is a color of decay, but also of riches like sunlight and gold. Also, the
ashes in the valley form figures (to Nick) which disintegrate at the slightest puff of
wind. Gatsby is incapable of recognizing the ashes of what Daisy represents and takes her
emptiness for substance. Although Nick sees the moral desolation of the Buchanans' world,
Gatsby cannot and tries to find in this world a dream worth holding on to. As shown in
Gatsby's parties, nothing is tethered to reality; there is laughter without amusement,
'enthusiasm' between strangers, friends without friendship, and life without meaning.
Gatsby's dream is that through wealth and power, one can acquire happiness (Daisy).
Throughout the novel we see that Gatsby cannot see that the past is over and done with
and he therefor can have no chance with Daisy. He is sure that he can capture his dream
with wealth and influence. Nick attempts to show Gatsby the folly of his dream and tell
him that he cannot relive the past, but Gatsby confidently replies, Yes you can, old
sport. There are many connections between Gatsby's dream with the American Dream. A big
part of both is the pursuit of material things and both have a touch (or more than a
touch) of unreality about them.
The American dream used to be self-betterment, wealth, and success through hard work and
perseverance or luck, pluck, and virtue, as Alger would put it. However, in the modern
era, all that changed. The American Dream shrunk from self-betterment, wealth, and
success through hard work and perseverance to 'success' through wealth by any means
possible, just as Gatsby's dream, his Platonic conception of himself, shrunk into Daisy.
The corruption of the American dream can be illustrated by how Gatsby came by his
fortune. Through his dealings with organized crime, he didn't adhere to the original
American Dream guidelines. His very dishonesty that allowed him to get the wealth and
connections to be near Daisy is also the very thing that would make it impossible for him
to live in Daisy's world or she in his. In effect, pursuing his dream without thought to
honesty or morality, Gatsby guaranteed that his dream would not come true. This is true
also of the American Dream. Those who try to attain the American Dream without thought to
honesty or morality are doomed to have their dreams remain unattainable or, if they
achieve wealth, to have the dream become meaningless due to their very immorality (like
Jordan's cheating takes the meaning out of her 'wins'). Also, in the novel all the
immoral and dishonest people (Tom, Daisy, Jordan) have all the money. This concept of the
corruption and destruction of the American Dream is also physically illustrated by how
the 'fresh, green promise' of the world was displaced by the 'gloomy', 'gray' Valley of
Ashes.
The Great Gatsby illustrates how the pursuit for happiness through materialism cannot be
successful without accompanying morality. Cut off from their mid-West traditions and
ethics, the characters in the novel live in a sort of sick parody of the American Dream.
They cannot be truly happy because they lack the inner reserves for such an emotion. This
parallels modern society's rootlessness and accompanying corruption of the American
Dream. Without something to believe in, to hold on to, we can not attain anything of
genuine worth.