Subject:
American literature
Roll no: 34
Topic: The
Great Gatsby is a novel of American dream.
Introduction:
What is the
meaning of American Dream?
The America
Dreamis a national ethos of the United States, the set of
ideals (democracy, rights, liberty, opportunity, and equality) in which freedom
includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social
mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work in a
society with few barriers. In the definition of the American Dream by James
Truslow Adams in 1931, "life should be better and richer and fuller
for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or
achievement" regardless of social class or circumstances of
birth.
The American
Dream is rooted in the Declaration of Independence, which proclaims that
"all men are created equal" with the right to "life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness."
The
American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of race, class, gender, or
nationality, can be successful in America if they just work hard enough. The American Dream thus presents a
pretty rosy view of American society that ignores problems like systemic racism
and misogyny, xenophobia, and income inequality. It also presumes a myth of
class equality, when the reality is America has a pretty well-developed class
hierarchy.
The 1920s in
particular was a pretty tumultuous time due to increased immigration (and the
accompanying xenophobia), changing women’s roles (spurred by the right to vote,
which was won in 1919), and extraordinary income inequality. The country was
also in the midst of an economic boom, which fueled the belief that anyone
could “strike it rich” on Wall Street. However, this rapid economic growth was
built on a bubble which popped in 1929. The Great Gatsby was
published in 1925, well before the crash, but through its wry descriptions of
the ultra-wealthy, it seems to somehow predict that the fantastic wealth on
display in 1920s New York was just as ephemeral as one of Gatsby’s parties.
The
American Dream in The Great Gatsby
Chapter
1 places us in a particular year – 1922 – and gives us some background
about WWI. This is relevant, since the 1920s is presented as a time of
hollow decadence among the wealthy, as evidenced especially by the parties in
Chapters 2 and 3. And as we mention above, the 1920s were a particularly tense
time in America.
We also meet
George and Myrtle Wilson in Chapter 2, both working class people who are
working to improve their lot in life, George through his work, and Myrtle
through her affair with Tom Buchanan.
We learn
about Gatsby’s goal in Chapter 4: to win Daisy back. Despite everything he
owns, including fantastic amounts of money and an over-the-top mansion, for
Gatsby, Daisy is the ultimate status symbol. So in Chapter 5, when Daisy
and Gatsby reunite and begin an affair, it seems like Gatsby could in fact
achieve his goal.
In Chapter
6, we learn about Gatsby’s less-than-wealthy past, which not only makes him
look like the star of a rags-to-riches story, it makes Gatsby himself seem like
someone in pursuit of the American Dream, and for him the personification of
that dream is Daisy.
However,
in Chapters 7 and 8 everything comes crashing down: Daisy
refuses to leave Tom, Myrtle is killed, and George breaks down and kills Gatsby
and then himself, leaving all of the “strivers” dead and the old money crowd
safe. Furthermore, we learn in those last chapters that Gatsby didn’t even
achieve all his wealth through hard work, like the American Dream would
stipulate – instead, he earned his money through crime. (He did work hard and
honestly under Dan Cody, but lost Dan Cody’s inheritance to his ex-wife.)
In short,
things do not turn out well for our dreamers in the novel! Thus, the novel ends with
Nick’s sad meditation on the lost promise of the American Dream.
American
Dream Quotes
But I didn't call to him for he gave a sudden
intimation that he was content to be alone--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 far away, that might have been the end
of a dock.
In our first
glimpse of Jay Gatsby, we see him reaching towards something far off, something
in sight but definitely out of reach. This famous image of the green light is
often understood as part of The Great Gatsby’s meditation
on The American Dream – the idea that people are always reaching towards
something greater than themselves that is just out of reach. The fact that
this yearning image is our introduction to Gatsby foreshadows his unhappy end
and also marks him as a dreamer, rather than people like Tom or Daisy who were
born with money and don’t need to strive for anything so far off.
Over the
great bridge, with the sunlight through the girders making a constant flicker
upon the moving cars, with the city rising up across the river in white heaps
and sugar lumps all built with a wish out of non-olfactory money. The city seen
from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its
first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.
A dead man
passed us in a hearse heaped with blooms, followed by two carriages with drawn
blinds and by more cheerful carriages for friends. The friends looked out at us
with the tragic eyes and short upper lips of south-eastern Europe, and I was
glad that the sight of Gatsby's splendid car was included in their somber
holiday. As we crossed Blackwell's Island a limousine passed us, driven by a white
chauffeur, in which sat three modish Negroes, two bucks and a girl. I laughed
aloud as the yolks of their eyeballs rolled toward us in haughty rivalry.
"Anything
can happen now that we've slid over this bridge," I thought;
"anything at all. . . ."
Even
Gatsby could happen, without any particular wonder.
Early in the
novel, we get this mostly optimistic illustration of the American Dream – we
see people of different races and nationalities racing towards NYC, a city of
unfathomable possibility. This moment has all the classic elements of the
American Dream – economic possibility, racial and religious diversity, a
carefree attitude. At this moment, it does feel like “anything can happen,”
even a happy ending.
However, this
rosy view eventually gets undermined by the tragic events later in the novel.
And even at this point, Nick’s condescension towards the people in the other
cars reinforces America’s racial hierarchy that disrupts the idea of the
American Dream. There is even a little competition at play, a “haughty
rivalry” at play between Gatsby’s car and the one bearing the “modish Negroes.”
Nick “laughs aloud” at this moment, suggesting he thinks it’s amusing that the
passengers in this other car see them as equals, or even rivals to be bested.
In other words, he seems to firmly believe in the racial hierarchy Tom defends
in Chapter 1, even if it doesn’t admit it honestly.
His
heart beat faster and faster as Daisy's white face came up to his own. He knew
that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her
perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he
waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning fork that had been struck
upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips' touch she blossomed for him like
a flower and the incarnation was complete.
This
moment explicitly ties Daisy to all of Gatsby’s larger dreams for a
better life – to his American Dream. This sets the stage for the
novel’s tragic ending, since Daisy cannot hold up under the weight of the dream
Gatsby projects onto her. Instead, she stays with Tom Buchanan, despite her
feelings for Gatsby. Thus when Gatsby fails to win over Daisy, he also fails to
achieve his version of the American Dream. This is why so many people read the
novel as a somber or pessimistic take on the American Dream, rather than an
optimistic one.
...as the moon rose higher the
inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old
island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors' eyes--a fresh, green breast
of the new world. Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby's
house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human
dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the
presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he
neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with
something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.
And as I sat there brooding on the
old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the
green light at the end of Daisy's dock. He had come a long way to this blue
lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp
it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast
obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on
under the night.”
The closing
pages of the novel reflect at length on the American Dream, in an attitude that
seems simultaneously mournful, appreciative, and pessimistic. It also ties back
to our first glimpse of Gatsby, reaching out over the water towards the
Buchanan’s green light. Nick notes that Gatsby’s dream was “already behind him”
then, in other words, it was impossible to attain. But still, he finds
something to admire in how Gatsby still hoped for a better life, and constantly
reached out toward that brighter future.
Analyzing
Characters Through the American Dream
An analysis
of the characters in terms of the American Dream usually leads to a pretty
cynical take on the American Dream.
Most
character analysis centered on the American Dream will necessarily focus on
Gatsby, George, or Myrtle (the true strivers in the novel), though as we’ll
discuss below, the Buchanans can also provide some interesting layers of
discussion. For character analysis that incorporates the American Dream,
carefully consider your chosen character’s motivations and desires, and how the
novel does (or doesn’t!) provide glimpses of the dream’s fulfillment for them.
Gatsby himself is obviously the best
candidate for writing about the American Dream – he comes from humble roots
(he’s the son of poor farmers from North Dakota) and rises to be notoriously
wealthy, only for everything to slip away from him in the end. Many people also
incorporate Daisy into their analyses as the physical representation of
Gatsby’s dream.
However,
definitely consider the fact that in the traditional American Dream,
people achieve their goals through honest hard work, but in Gatsby’s case, he
very quickly acquires a large amount of money through crime. Gatsby does
attempt the hard work approach, through his years of service to Dan Cody, but
that doesn’t work out since Cody’s ex-wife ends up with the entire inheritance.
So instead he turns to crime, and only then does he manage to achieve his
desired wealth.
So while
Gatsby’s story arc resembles a traditional rags-to-riches tale, the fact that
he gained his money immorally complicates the idea that he is a perfect avatar
for the American Dream. Furthermore, his success obviously doesn’t last –
he still pines for Daisy and loses everything in his attempt to get her back.
In other words, Gatsby’s huge dreams, all precariously wedded to Daisy “He
knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to
her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God are
as flimsy and flight as Daisy herself.
George
and Myrtle Wilson
This couple
also represents people aiming at the dream – George owns his own shop
and is doing his best to get business, though is increasingly worn down by the
harsh demands of his life, while Myrtle chases after wealth and
status through an affair with Tom.
Both are
disempowered due to the lack of money at their own disposal – Myrtle certainly has access
to some of the “finer things” through Tom but has to deal with his abuse, while
George is unable to leave his current life and move West since he doesn’t have
the funds available. He even has to make himself servile to Tom in an attempt
to get Tom to sell his car, a fact that could even cause him to overlook the
evidence of his wife’s affair. So neither character is on the upward trajectory
that the American Dream promises, at least during the novel.
In the
end, everything goes horribly wrong for both George and Myrtle, suggesting that
in this world, it’s dangerous to strive for more than you’re given.
George and
Myrtle’s deadly fates, along with Gatsby, help illustrate the novel’s
pessimistic attitude toward the American Dream. After all, how unfair is it
that the couple working to improve their position in society (George and
Myrtle) both end up dead, while Tom, who dragged Myrtle into an increasingly
dangerous situation, and Daisy, who killed her, don’t face any consequences?
And on top of that they are fabulously wealthy? The American Dream certainly is
not alive and well for the poor Wilsons.
Tom and Daisy
as Antagonists to the American Dream
We’ve talked
quite a bit already about Gatsby, George, and Myrtle – the three characters who
come from humble roots and try to climb the ranks in 1920s New York. But what
about the other major characters, especially the ones born with money? What is
their relationship to the American Dream?
Specifically, Tom and Daisy have
old money, and thus they don’t need the American Dream, since they were born
with America already at their feet.
Perhaps
because of this, they seem to directly antagonize the dream – Daisy by
refusing Gatsby, and Tom by helping to drag the Wilsons into tragedy.
This is
especially interesting because unlike Gatsby, Myrtle, and George, who actively
hope and dream of a better life, Daisy and Tom are described as bored and
“careless,” and end up instigating a large amount of tragedy through their own
recklessness.
In other
words, income inequality and the vastly different starts in life the characters
have strongly affects their outcomes. The way they choose to live their lives,
their morality (or lack thereof), and how much they dream doesn’t seem to
matter. This, of course, is tragic and antithetical to the idea of the American
Dream, which claims that class should be irrelevant and anyone can rise to the
top.
Daisy as
a Personification of the American Dream
As we
discuss in our post on money and materialism in The Great Gatsby,
Daisy’s voice is explicitly tied to money by Gatsby:
"Her
voice is full of money," he said suddenly.
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. . . .
If Daisy’s
voice promises money, and the American Dream is explicitly linked to wealth,
it’s not hard to argue that Daisy herself – along with the green light at
the end of her dock – stands in for the American Dream. In fact, as Nick
goes on to describe Daisy as “High in a white palace the king’s daughter, the
golden girl,” he also seems to literally describe Daisy as a prize, much like
the princess at the end of a fairy tale (or even Princess Peach at the end of a
Mario game!).
But Daisy,
of course, is only human – flawed, flighty, and ultimately unable to embody the
huge fantasy Gatsby projects onto her. So this, in turn, means that the
American Dream itself is just a fantasy, a concept too flimsy to actually hold
weight, especially in the fast-paced, dog-eat-dog world of 1920s America.
Furthermore,
you should definitely consider the tension between the fact that Daisy
represents Gatsby’s ultimate goal, but at the same time , her actual life is the opposite of the American Dream: she is born
with money and privilege, likely dies with it all intact, and there are no
consequences to how she chooses to live her life in between.
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