The American Dream — страница 2

acting as one of Toms many possessions, Daisy even says of herself, “Sophisticated-God, I’m sophisticated” (22). Carelessly causing accidents and then forgetting about them Daisy has no goal in life other then to try and maintain a somewhat stable relationship with Tom, the man she does not love. She even has the opportunity to try and achieve the true American Dream, but she chooses not to. When given the chance to go with Jay Gatsby and be happy with her true love, she decides to leave him, causing his premature death, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy-they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (188). Daisy is the prime example of how living the wrong American Dream can be

destructive to others. Gatsby like many of the other characters is affected by the corruptness of money, yet he also has the necessary reasons for wanting the American Dream that justify his actions. Jay Gatsby is extremely na ve and does not realize any of this. He thinks that money is the answer to everything. Because of this Gatsby surrounds himself in money and expensive things, he feels this will bring him closer to Daisy. Nick said of Gatsby, “If personality were a series of gestures ” (6). This shows the pureness of Gatsby and of his hope for getting what he wants, Daisy. For her, he sacrificed everything he had and forged a new life. By bootlegging and illegally selling alcohol, Gatsby becomes as rich as he deems necessary to get Daisy. Gatsby tells Nick that

Daisy’s voice is “full of money” (127), along with his obsession of money this shows that his love of Daisy and his greed with money are one of the same. Despite his reason for loving Daisy, Gatsby still has the purest quest of every other character in the novel. He put his hopes of the American Dream in love, not a material item. The green light at Daisy’s house is a symbol of Daisy, and Gatsby’s love towards her, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future” (189). With a corrupt view on things, Gatsby makes everything ok by having a love for Daisy so great he does anything to attain her. Fitzgerald gives us many different characters and with each of them shows how their attempts at the American Dream failed. By placing all value in material

possessions characters in the novel forget the importance of the true quest for the American Dream. Money clogged the thoughts of many people and distorted their views on what the American Dream was. People no longer cared about the dream itself instead they only cared about what came along with it. Only Jay Gatsby sticks with his original dream, after becoming rich, his quest is only beginning. He continues to try and win Daisy over and does so until his dying day.