Despite exploring numerous themes in The Great Gatsby, Scott Fitzgerald predominantly presents the theme of the American dream throughout his work. Fitzgerald showcases the notion that if people use their natural gifts and ready to work hard, everybody can be successful. Having risen from poverty to a higher profile person, having vast social groups showing up in his plentiful functions, servants as well as the big house, Gatsby seems to be an embodiment of the American dream. After returning from the war penniless, Gatsby makes noteworthy achievements within a short timeframe. While Fitzgerald presents insightful content with respect to the American dream, he increasingly uses fantasizes to present how riches cannot but happiness and status in society.
Whilst wealth as well as all its trappings are achievable according to Fitzgerald’s suggestions, positions and status are not attainable. Evidently, Gatsby is not able to find happiness regardless of all possessions and money he has. Gatsby made his riches through unlawful alcohol distribution that is entirely bootlegging. Visitors who pay a visit to his place do so for the company, drinks, food, and parties, they sincerely dislike him. Despite the happiness of people visiting Gatsby’s functions and taking his alcoholic drinks, they hardly accept and recognize him. They take every chance to gossip about Gatsby, seemingly despising him. An only limited number of people who acknowledge and express gratitude for the services they receive when they visit Gatsby, surprisingly, some of them even leave without even meeting him. Gatsby’s dream is merely a façade and everybody is not able to muddle through Gatsby’s reality of lower-class upbringing including Daisy.
Whilst everybody has their own plans that they endeavor to achieve, striving to accomplish it does not necessarily guarantee its attainability. The Great Gatsby focuses on total corruption while focusing on the American dream failure. Despite the fact that people struggle to be successful in life, Gatsby acquires his wealth through criminal activities and bootlegging, his fortunes are not achieved through hard work and honesty. Gatsby’s wealth is entirely constituted by dirty money and not simply ‘new’ money because it is generated via crime and dishonest actions. Just like Jay Gatsby himself, his affluent way of life is just more of a façade. Fitzgerald’s story is jam-packed with cheating and lies and Gatsby is not the only corrupt person in the narrative, as some characters such as Nick recurrently exult themselves to be truthful yet they are not because he participates in deceit involving the death of Myrtle and still conceals it. He helps Daisy and Gatsby in their untruthful activities.
Despite the fact that the novel happens in an environment full of moral decadence, Fitzgerald appears to attempts to conceal this immorality. The wealth accumulated by most people in the society in which the story happens is morally decadent regardless of whether it is earned or inherited from parents. Although Fitzgerald acknowledges striving and working hard as the prime source of success and rich, the characters he presents to demonstrate the willingness to undertake or rather engage in anything order to be successful. Apparently, with rising inequality and social gap between the poor and the rich in The Great Gatsby, the attainability of the American dreams appears unattainable even though the author argues that with hard work and natural gifts everybody can be successful.
Fitzgerald describes Daisy as a young woman who beautiful and represents ideals desired by Gatsby in the achievement of the dream. However, Daisy does not meet the ideals required by Gatsby, she is sarcastic, opinionated, irresolute, and extremely beautiful. Rather than falling for the vast wealth of Gatsby, Daisy is not promptly captivated by his American dream besides she finds his functions disgusting. Even though the two have not met for the last five years, Gatsby to commence their relationship with Daisy as a result he fails to reconnect with her. He faces challenges of being stuck in deceitful realism thinking that everything will be alright. While in various incidents Fitzgerald presents wealth as a source of happiness, indeed it is not, as Gatsby continues struggling to gain acceptance as well as approval of society members as well as earning equal measures of status.
Fitzgerald uses the tarnished hunt of the American dream by Gatsby to represent indomitable realism and steadfast belief for “the orgastic future” that illustrates the character.
