The Fragility of the American Dream

America is built upon the hope of achieving the American Dream, a reality in where hard work and determination can guarantee success and prohibit failure, a place that provides equal opportunities for people to strive towards their goals and aspirations, and a haven that doesn’t discriminate against the less fortunate, providing them ample opportunity to climb to the top of the socioeconomic ladder. As society progresses, many are questioning whether the American dream is merely just that, a dream, as various works of literature are interrogating both the legitimacy and impartiality of this American ideal.

 

Author Scott Fitzgerald uses his most recognizable work, The Great Gatsby, to expose the darkness of the 1920s society, displaying how the low-class civilians are forever trapped underneath the wealthy. Jay Gatsby is depicted as a successful self-made man, living his childhood days in poor, to then becoming a millionaire. He achieved the success that everyone in America at that time was seeking for. Although the many believed Gatsby achieved the American dream, in reality he had the overwhelming paranoia of being “somebody” that inevitably led to his demise. Gatsby felt inclined to flaunt his wealth, organizing large and lavish parties, displaying his “circus wagon” car, but the wealth and power was not sufficient enough to maintain his self-esteem. This was due to his lack of being part of the “old rich”, and he viewed Daisy as a means to be part of that society, “‘Her voice is full of money,’ That was it. I'd never understood before. It was full of money – that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it… high in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl” (120). Gatsby’s American Dream was not that of wealth, it was to win Daisy. But as long as Daisy was a member of that “old rich” society, money alone couldn’t win her. Gatsby failed to realize and understand that no matter how much Daisy loved him, she would never leave the life that she had or the society she belonged to. The belief that having more materialistic wealth would get him Daisy failed, and Gatsby soon realized that his money cannot make him happy. Gatsby chased his dream until the end of his life and failed in his success because he overvalued materialism and money. The Great Gatsby captures the death of the American dream, exposing its fallacy and promise of equal opportunity, showing that the American dream is reserved to only those born into it.