The American Dream: A Path to Greatness Or Demise? (The Great Gatsby)

The American dream is a lie! During the Roaring 20’s corruption and illegalities took over the American dream making it a failure.  Many people became bootleggers, with the abolishment of alcohol, and mostly focused on the idea of materialism and consuming.  In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald it explains how corrupt and tainted the American dream was at the time, and is known as one of the greatest novels for its realistic depiction of the 1920’s.  The characters lives were destroyed by corruption, death, and lies while searching for their dreams. Though there are many themes throughout The Great Gatsby, destruction of the American dream is the most important theme from The Great Gatsby because the pursuit of the American dream affected all of the characters. Corruption surrounding the dream tainted and distracted the characters from reality.

During the book, there were many symbols.  These symbols help provide a deeper understanding and are very important to the failure of the American dream. Near the end of the book, Nick saw the green light at the end of the dock that Gatsby used to admire.  Nick began to realize Gatsby’s full motives and the thing that started it all.  Nick stated, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us” (180).  This green light was Gatsby’s unattainable future.  For example Gatsby did whatever he could to attain this goal of getting Daisy back into his life.  Gatsby even began performing illegalities just to impress and meet Daisy’s materialistic standards.  This green light was very important to help describe Gatsby’s failed American dream.  The green light was the ignition to all the problems associated with Gatsby, tainting and distracting him from reality, killing him in the end.  Another very important symbol that helped provide a different understanding about the Valley of Ashes and the way the characters were living their lives was Dr. T.J. Eckleburg.  At the beginning of chapter two, during the first mention of the Doctor, one learns that he was at a vantage point over the Valley of Ashes looking down with his big blue eyes and yellow spectacles.  Nick described the Doctor by saying “But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days, under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground” (24).  The frowning eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg looked upon the Valley of Ashes to explain how the American Dream is one big lie.  The eyes saw all and watched the American Dream turn from hopes for money, love, or fame into ashes.  These eyes were a very important symbol, and some view them as the eyes of god watching all the corruption of the people and of the American dream.  The frequent mention of the Doctor shows that the eyes are always there, always watching their corrupt ways.  Both of these symbols are essential to help the reader understand why the destruction of the American dream is such an important theme and how the American dream distracted and tainted the character’s lives.

Another example of why the destruction of the American dream is an extremely important theme is because of all the corruption associated with it.  Corruption played a big role during this time period.  So many people did whatever they could to make money and many people found ways to buy and sell alcohol even with the ban.  At the end of the book after Gatsby’s death, Nick was at Gatsby’s place when the phone began to ring and when he picked up, a suspicious man on the other end said “They picked him up when he handed the bonds over the counter. They got a circular from New York giving ’em the numbers just five minutes before. What d’you know about that, hey? You never can tell in these hick towns”(166).  After the comment, Nick said Gatsby was dead and the man hung up.  This was the first official finding of Gatsby’s illegalities.  This was a very important to the failure of the American dream because Gatsby became a bootlegger just to meet Daisy’s materialistic needs.  Gatsby’s dream for Daisy tainted his mind and caused him to revolve his action around getting Daisy back.  These corrupt ways got Gatsby nowhere and all it did was kill him in the end.  Another corrupt idea about the American dream during this time was how anyone could make a fortune.  Nick and Gatsby were having a conversation outside while Tom was inside, and Gatsby tells Nick that he can’t say anything inside Tom’s house because it may give away his relationship with Daisy. While they were talking, Nick couldn’t find the words to describe Daisy’s voice but Gatsby could.  “She’s got an indiscreet voice,” I remarked. It’s full of ——” I hesitated. “‘Her voice is full of money,’” [Gatsby] said suddenly” (120).  Daisy’s idea of achieving the American dream was corrupt and failed.  She believed that she could just be a gold digger and live the high life, and even Gatsby, her lover, could see this in her.  Daisy was so distracted by all the corrupt money she could have that it distracted her from the things she really loved.  She chased money which later ended up killing three people, Gatsby and Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, and caused all of her relationships to become deteriorated.

Lastly, the destruction of the American dream is the most important theme because of all the tainted relationships it caused.  The American dream destroyed the relationships of every character in the book.  All of the corruption and lies that were spread throughout the book caused people to distrust one another and ultimately lead to lost friendship.  At the end of the book Nick was talking to Meyer Wolfshiem about Gatsby’s death and he invited Wolfsheim to the funeral and said “Now he’s dead,” I said after a moment. “You were his closest friend, so I know you’ll want to come to his funeral this afternoon” (171).  No one came to Gatsby’s funeral.  The corruption of his American dream caused him to lose all relationships and even Gatsby’s closest friends would not come to the funeral.  With all the corruption and illegalities that Gatsby went through to get Daisy back ended up ruining Gatsby and his friends lives.  The American dream was deceiving and a failure, Gatsby thought he was so close to achieving it but in reality, it was taking him down a treacherous path to death.  Another person whose relationships were destroyed by the American dream was Nick.  After all of the problems with Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom, Nick wanted to stay away and take a small break from his friends.  After Gatsby’s death Nick went to talk to Jordan, the women he loved, and as he was leaving she stated “Nevertheless you did throw me over,” said Jordan suddenly. “You threw me over on the telephone. I don’t give a damn about you now, but it was a new experience for me, and I felt a little dizzy for awhile” (177).  Nick became a part of these problems because he was helping Gatsby for some money.  With all the corruption and lies even Jordan couldn’t handle Nick anymore and their once loving relationship deteriorated in an instant.  It was impossible after all that had happened, with all the lies, that anyone could still hold a strong, stable relationship.  The American dream was a failure due to all of the corruption of wealth and tainted, unhealthy relationships it caused.  Some things that look so appetizing can be deceiving and catastrophic in the end.  The path of the American dream was not a path to greatness, but a path that lead Tom, Gatsby, Daisy, Jordan, and Nick to their demise.