American Dream
The idea of achieving “the American dream” is based on the individual demand for equality in the society and life sufficiency. It is inevitable that “the American dream” is the success in attaining wealth, popularity and love because those are the three indispensable and essential factors of human life and are correlated to each other. ... That the novel is the great work of fiction with defining American thematic qualities and that James Gatz/Jay Gatsby is the great American character…” (xi), those ideals of “the American dream” are expressed clearly throughout the novel. ... Finally, his dream of love is to be with Daisy Fay, his “ideal lover”, though he knew that she was already married to Tom Buchanan. As society attitudes standardize individual goals, which are “the American dream” in this case, it is possible to confirm that it is basically a reality for the characters in the novel, especially the dream of wealth. ... Scott Fitzgerald, the author of The Great Gatsby, has described the American society during that period in his writing Echoes of the Jazz Age: A whole race is going hedonistic, deciding on pleasure. The precocious intimacies of the younger generation would have come about with or without prohibition-they were implicit in the attempt to adapt English customs to American conditions… But the general decision to be amused that began with the cocktail parties of the 1921 had more complicated origins. ... Similar to the English, there were thousands of lavish parties celebrated all night long almost every day in the American society during the 1920s. ... Therefore, there is no wonder why every American wanted to become rich during that time since money was an important means to occupy that pleasure. ... His dream of becoming rich never stops screaming and haunting his soul, making his heart “in a constant, turbulent riot. ... The older he became, the more vivid his dream grew. After a prolonged time of living with his dream, Gatsby finally encountered a chance to realize it. ... Though Gatsby’s actions, compromising his own morality of being honest and his original identity, are likely his refusal of his own past, it would be careless if we hastily concluded that his dream was an illusion. ... However, this reality, his dream of wealth, costs him his friendship with others. ... During the 1920s, as I mentioned above, American society was a big mess of corruption. ... Understanding that illegal alcohol business was his only way to achieve “the American dream” of Wealth and also believe in “the American Dream of Success” (the belief that everyone has equal chances to be successful, regardless of what his/her origin is), Gatsby took full advantages of Meyer Wolfsheim’s suggestion and became a bootlegger. In Gatsby’s case, his dream of wealth, known as “the American dream,” is a reality. The loss of his integrity and his isolation, revealed clearly at the end of the novel, is what he had to pay for pursuing his dream. However, for Myrtle Wilson, Tom Buchanan’s mistress, her dream of being wealthy is an illusion. ... As a result of being blind to reality, Myrtle had to pay her own life for her dream.