Great Gatsby True

There are many stories of how America became great. Those stories all have a similar theme, the relentless pursuit of the American dream, resembling the founding father’s dream of freedom, liberty, and justice. However, the story of those whose dreams are not accomplished is hardly ever told. Scott Fitzgerald does just that in The Great Gatsby with a depiction of the cold truth: not all American dreams come true. Jay Gatsby is one of the people who does not achieve his dreams due to the standards of a society which had distorted the American Dream. The first standard which affects Gatsby is the society’s thinking that “old money” is very important and wealth is only good if it has been inherited for generations. Gatsby’s wealth is said to come from two things: inherited, or from Mr.___. Both of these assumptions were wrong, Gatsby earned his wealth through illegal processes. These illegal processes were selling illegal goods, such as guns and alcohol. This segregated him from the majority of wealthy people. Most people at this time had what was considered “old money” in which they were born into their wealth. Gatsby and several others had “new money” where they had to earn their wealth. Nick Caraway recollected “not as fortunate as you”(). This displays the appearance created a gap in the society between the two groups of wealth. The old money consisted mostly of the higher class citizens in the society, such as Tom, Daisy, and Nick. Gatsby was attempting to appear to have old money, by suggesting that he had inherited his wealth in one way or another. Jay Gatsby announced, “Got it from this old fellow”. This helps depict Gatsby’s attempt at fitting in with Daisy’s standards. In time, Gatsby’s secret was exposed. Tom Bacanan searched through Gatsby’s past and found out how he made his money. Tom Bacanan exclaimed “dirty business”. This alone shook Gatsby’s standing in the society, and categorized him with the “new money” The new money was comprised of Gatsby and Meyer Wolfshiem. Both of these men earned their money in an illegal way. Meyer Wolfshiem won through taking advantage of the laws in place. Gatsby explains to Nick, “how Wolfsheim got his money”. The only characters to achieve their wealth from a poor background was those who did it through illegal process. Tom roars, “Gatsby money”. Wealth, depicted through this story, can only be achieved two ways in this society; by being born into it, or through illegal processes. Gatsby, as suggested through the process in which he received his wealth, was at one point poor. Poor people have their own place in this society. The poor includes; Myetle Wilson, Mr.Gatz, George Wilson, and Gatsby. This category of people is almost used as a tool by the wealthy. Nick concludes, “Tom and daisy”. The story continuously picks on the poor. Gatsby ended up dead, Mertle ended up dead, and George went insane and committed murder. In this society, it appears the wealthy control the lives of the non-wealthy. This, however, is not necessarily true, the society is controlled by the class of which one stands, which, unfortunately for Gatsby, is not necessarily based off wealth. A class is a separation between people in social and economic status. With this, you can be rich, but not top class. Tom explains “not one of us”. Gatsby attempts to cover this up by throwing …show more content…
He lived richly by selling illegal goods. Finally, he dreamed big, but never achieved his dream. Gatsby went against all the standards of what his society stood for. Throwing such parties can only be achieved by the high class, yet he was not part of it. He was rich by doing something immoral. He didn’t achieve his American dream. The reality of society, Gatsby shares these flaws with many. Lots of people had “new money” and were not accepted into the upper class. Many people opened bars, which were called Speakeasies. Lastly many fell short of achieving their dreams. Gatsby’s society has two sides: the first showing the appearance of what everyone expects, the second showing the true nature of what is required to achieve a certain goal. “”.