The Great Gatsby ties into the settlers coming to America from Europe. In the book, it shows the tide turning east, as hordes flock to New York to seek stock market fortunes. In chapter nine, Nick Carraway (narrator) states “That’s my Middle West...the street lamps and sleigh bells in the frosty dark...I see now that this has been a story …show more content…
The first time Fitzgerald mentions Gatsby’s vision of the American Dream is in chapter one when Carraway states, “...he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward-and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and faraway, that might have been at the end of the dock” (20-21). Although Fitzgerald did not show us Gatsby’s version of the American Dream directly, by the way, he was staring at the water very deeply, we can tell he had an amazing vision for his …show more content…
In chapter seven, Gatsby states, “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” (120).
Daisy is the root of Gatsby’s American Dream. He has the wealth and wants the “perfect” woman to share it with. In his mind, Daisy is his “perfect” woman. Gatsby and Daisy reunite through the help of Nick and starts an affair. However, Fitzgerald does not allow their love story to end like most novels where they live happily ever after. Theirs is a tragic ending and Daisy does not live up to Gatsby’s dream. Gatsby wants Daisy to tell her husband, Tom, she never loved him but Tom knows she will not leave him and his “old money” for Gatsby’s “new money”.
The American Dream played a huge role in The Great Gatsby. The American Dream for the pursuit of happiness indicates that hard work can lead someone from rags to riches. Fitzgerald decided to focus on the character Jay Gatsby and his American Dream which appears to be replaced by greed, materialism, and pleasure. Gatsby had one main goal, to rekindle his relationship with his one true love Daisy Buchanan. By Fitzgerald adding this love triangle to the mix of the American Dream, it made the story extremely