The Deterioration Of The American Dream

The Great Gatsby, a novel by Scott Fitzgerald, is about the American Dream, and the downfall of those who try to reach its goals. The attempt to capture the American Dream is used in many novels. This dream is different for different people, in The Great Gatsby, for Jay, the dream is that through wealth and power anyone can acquire happiness. To get this happiness Jay must reach into the past and relive an old dream. In order to do this, he must have wealth and power. The dream also brought about the idea of being a self-reliant man, a hard worker, and making a successful living for yourself. The Great Gatsby is about what happened to the American Dream in the 1920s, a time period when a lot people with tons of wealth and the need to show it off had corrupted the dream. When the American Dream is combined with excessive wealth it becomes nothing more than selfishness. Jay Gatsby, the main character of the story, is one character that longs for the past. Surprisingly, he spends most of his adult life trying to recapture it and, finally, dies while trying. In the past, Gatsby in love with the attractive young Daisy. Knowing he could not marry her because of the difference in their social status, he leaves so that he can reach her standards and later hopefully rekindle what they once had. Once he becomes rich, he moves near Daisy, "Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay (83)," and throws extravagant parties, hoping she might show up at one of them. He, himself, does not attend his parties but watches them from a distance. When this dream doesn't fall into place like he planned, he asks around if anyone knows her. Soon, he meets Nick Carraway, a cousin of Daisy, who agrees to set up a meeting, "He wants to know…if you'll invite Daisy to your house some afternoon and then let him come over