How Is Jay Gatsby Unattainable

There is always something hindering Jay Gatsby from obtaining the "American dream". Jay Gatsby loved Daisy Buchanan, but he couldn't have her because he was once into the lower class. Daisy has always had money, but Gatsby had to work for his. He is never entirely accepted into the upper class. Gatsby tries so hard to get something that he can never have – he loses his life in the process. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby the Character of Jay Gatsby conveys the theme that the American dream is unattainable.

Gatsby is initially a part of the lower class, and because of that he cannot have Daisy Buchanan. When Nick talks about Gatsby's parents he says that they “were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people” (Fitzgerald 98). Gatsby didn’t inherit from his parents

He had to work hard for everything that he has. It took him five years to gain his wealth. Yet, the people of the upper class disregard it because he wasn’t born wealthy. There is always something stopping him. Nick talks about how Gatsby “had come in contact with such people [before], but always with indiscernible barbed wire between” (148). Throughout the story Gatsby always wants something that he can’t have. After becoming wealthy, he buys an exquisite mansion right across the bay from Daisy's. He throws very vast parties and he buys flashy items so he can show everyone his wealth. He has everything that Tom has but he can't have Daisy because he was a part of the lower class. After Myrtle was murdered, Nick saw Gatsby hiding in the bushes; Nick saw Gatsby’s suit and he could think about anything ‘except the luminosity of his pink suit under the moon’” (142) Nick also sees “the pink glow from Daisy’s room” (144). Nick asks Gatsby what he was doing outside, and Gatsby tells him that he waited for Daisy to come