The American Dream promises that people can improve their lives through hard work, determination, and opportunity. This implies that children should not be denied their future based on their family's background. This promise is doubtful in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The novel was set in the rich world of New York and Long Island in the 1920s, as Gatsby aims for wealth, social acceptance and the hand of Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby is successful in his life because he has a big house, expensive clothes, and lots of people attend his parties. But behind these indications of success lie feelings of loneliness and insecurity (Khan et al. 137). Readers gain through Nick Carraway's perspective that wealth does not ensure love, belonging, and protection from harm. Gatsby's death is consequently more than the tragedy of one man's hopes. It shows how a society can be made up of people who are ambitious for themselves but preserve privilege for the privileged. Fitzgerald presents the death of the American Dream through class barriers, Gatsby's false hopes, and the moral failure of the wealthy.
First, the novel shows that money cannot remove the class barriers that divide American society. Gatsby grows up as James Gatz, the son of poor farmers, and creates a new identity because he refuses to accept the limits of his background. His transformation appears to give credibility to the notion that an individual can succeed. The contrast between East Egg and West Egg, however, makes it clear that there are varying degrees of social value to the money. East Egg represents inherited money, while West Egg includes people whose fortunes are newer. The physical closeness of the two communities makes their social separation especially striking, since Gatsby can see privilege without truly sharing it. Gatsby can buy an impressive house, but he cannot buy the family history that gives Tom Buchanan his social power. During their confrontation, Tom describes accepting Gatsby as allowing a situation that “is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife” (Fitzgerald, ch. 7). His insult attacks Gatsby's origins as well as his relationship with Daisy. Gatsby, however, to Tom is untouchable irrespective of what he possesses. Tom's personal dishonesty and affairs do not undermine his reputation and authority because of inherited wealth. Gatsby's illicit dealings in business provide Tom with another weapon, but his contempt also reveals that Tom thinks that people outside his world should stay outside his world. The American Dream is eroded by this inequality, because as the audience observes, achievement does not equal acceptance. Gatsby arrives at the world he once aspired to, though the members of this world reject him. But Fitzgerald demonstrates that opportunity is restricted where birth is more important than effort or personal change.
Second, Gatsby's dream fails because he connects happiness with an ideal version of Daisy that reality cannot support. His love for her includes a desire for the beauty and, more importantly, the social position she represents. He believes that becoming wealthy will allow him to recover their earlier relationship and remove the years they spent apart. His mansion and parties are therefore part of a larger attempt to make an imagined future possible. However, Gatsby does not simply want Daisy to choose him now. He wants her to deny that she ever loved Tom, as though her marriage and experiences can disappear. Nick recognizes the distance between Gatsby's expectations and the real woman: “There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams” (Fitzgerald, ch. 5). This observation demonstrates that Gatsby has put more significance into Daisy than into any person. For one, she is an example that he has come out of poverty and is living the life he deserves. This is reflected in the green light across the water. It provides a physical manifestation of his desire, but also implies the distance between him and the fuller satisfaction. Gatsby's hope is moving because it demonstrates that he truly cares, but it is destructive when he will not accept change. Daisy's faults, allegiances and apprehensions are his own and his dream does not leave much room to understand. He believes that the goal of material wealth is to be rewarded with love, and so he feels as though he has attained control of his life by gaining wealth. Fitzgerald suggests that a dream built on such expectations cannot survive contact with reality, even when the dreamer remains sincere.
Finally, the death of the American Dream appears in the selfishness of people who enjoy wealth without accepting responsibility. Tom and Daisy cause suffering, but others face the worst consequences. Tom's affair with Myrtle Wilson demonstrates his desire to have another person for his pleasures and his desire to retain his own marriage and class. Myrtle dies as a result of Daisy's driving, but Gatsby is ready to take the blame because he still hopes to save her. Later, Tom tells George Wilson who owned the car, and Wilson finds his way to Gatsby. Wilson, in the end, ends up killing Gatsby and himself, though the Buchanans manage to escape the immediate tragedy. After Gatsby's death, Nick comes to find out that she and Tom had left early that afternoon and carried the baggage with them (Fitzgerald, ch. 9). Their withdrawal illustrates their ability to get away with others suffering damage around them. No matter how much the man who gave his life to win her seeks assistance, it is not provided in the end. The funeral of Gatsby brings to light the hollowness of his success in public life as well. The crowds who enjoyed his food, music, and hospitality largely disappear when attending would require loyalty rather than pleasure. His money brought attention but did not create a dependable community. Meanwhile, the lives of George and Myrtle illustrate that the lives of the poor are still at the mercy of the rich. These results turn on their head the moral promise of the American Dream. There is very little that is rewarded for kindness or loyalty, and selfishness gets plenty. Gatsby is, of course, a flawed figure, and his demise gives the reader an idea of a society that is more protected than good.
In conclusion, The Great Gatsby presents the American Dream as a promise damaged by unequal opportunity and moral carelessness. Gatsby acquires wealth, but he is not able to transcend social value of inherited status. He also hopes to regain the past and make a perfect relationship with Daisy, but he cannot accept her limitations. All these failures are combined in his death: the outside man is killed, the existing order is safe. However, Fitzgerald's criticism is not dismissive of Gatsby's capacity to hope. Nick's curiosity about him certainly makes him deserving of pity. The tragedy is when that hope is cast upon a society that puts value in possessions rather than the value of a human being. Thus, Fitzgerald questions if success is worthy of praise when it is achieved by exclusion and leaves those who are successful without love, accountability, or true belonging.
