Great Gatsby and the American Dream
...unrestrained desire for money and pleasure surpassed the goals of noble intent. This trend of hiding behind money was well exemplified when Nick said, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made." It further portrays the corrupted ideals at the time, how if you had money you had no problems and it could fix all your woes. Nick explains in chapter 9 that the American dream was origonally based on discovery, individualism, and the pursuit of happiness. In the 1920’s however easy money and relaxed social values have corrupted this dream. The main plot line of the novel follows this point, as Gatsby's dream of loving Daisy is ruined by the difference in their respective social standings. So Gatsby turns to crime to make enough wealth to impress her, and her rampant materialism that characterizes her lifestyle. Nick paints a good picture of Daisy as a result of her money "... and Gatsby was overwhelmingly aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves, of the freshness of many clothes and of Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor." Nick compares the bulk of America rising from the ocean to the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. Just as Americans have given America meaning with their own lives and their own dreams, Gatsby instills Daisy with a kind of idealized perfection that she neither deserves nor actually possesses. Gatsby’s dream is ruined by the unworthiness of its object, just as the American dream. Like the 1920’s Americans in general, fruitlessly seeking a bygone era in which their dreams had value, Gatsby longs to re-create the time h...