Examples Of American Dream In The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a great American novel, which criticizes wealth in the American dream. Nick Carraway is the narrator who observes characters such as Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom primarily. Jay Gatsby wants the perfect American dream. He has worked most of his life to get the fame and wealth that will impress Daisy Buchanan. Daisy is his love. In Gatsby’s mind, she is the only girl for him. He is so in love with everything about her. Daisy, however, refuses to accept her love for Gatsby and ultimately chooses Tom in the end. Tom Buchanan is an arrogant jerk who cannot seem to relive his glory days as an elite football player. He tries to feel this void with mistresses, one being Myrtle Wilson. Myrtle wants the life that Daisy
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Myrtle Wilson, Tom’s mistress, desires to be Tom’s wife. She said that her husband, Mr. Wilson, “wasn’t fit to lick [her] shoes” (34). Her dream was to marry Tom so she could be wealthy and live the life Daisy has. Myrtle thinks she is too good for her low-class life and husband. Mr. Wilson is a nice man though who truly cares about his wife enough to where he was willing to forgive her cheating once he found out. He wanted to take her away somewhere far away from Tom so they could save their marriage because he really loves her. However, Myrtle feels trapped and does not want this so she starts running away to find Tom. But her American dream literally kills her in the end when Daisy runs her over in Gatsby’s gaudy car, and she was not able to make it to him. The quote, “It was the man in that car. She ran out to speak to him and he wouldn’t stop.” (159) explains why Myrtle was going out in the street in the first place, to get to Tom, who she thought was inside that car since she saw him in it prior to this event. But Myrtle was never fit for their lifestyle. She spent most of her efforts to blend in with Tom’s crowd, but she always failed because she would overdress or say things that were not normally spoken. The quote, “Mrs. Wilson had changed her costume some time before, and was now attired in an elaborate afternoon dress of cream chiffon, which gave out a continental rustle as she swept about the room.” (30) displays how Myrtle acted because she envisioned Daisy floating around her and Tom’s mansion like a goddess therefore she found it pertinent to act and dress just like that. But Myrtle did not have everything that Daisy did, nor did she have the proper etiquette like the rich. She tried too hard to fit in that she embarrassed herself because she was unable to pull it off as well as Gatsby did. Myrtle wanted wealth to be like Tom and Daisy, but