In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby and his many displays of wealth represent the actuality of what is called "the American Dream." The American Dream is the idea that anyone can "strike gold" in America if they try hard enough and that wealth is the ultimate life-goal. Although the novel is fictional, Gatsby's great fortune and resulting downfall reveal the failure of The American Dream to satisfy even the wealthiest in our society, and in the end, somebody ends up paying for it.
There are many visual and cultural parallels between The Great Gatsby and today's America. Some Americans do have huge mansions, lavish parties, closets full of colored shirts, and a lifestyle like Gatsby himself. And, unfortunately, incidents of drunk-driving accidents, careless spouses who abuse their partners' trust, and people who don't show up for each other when it counts are also common among the wealthy. The Great Gatsby argues, among many things, that incidents of immense wealth and incidents of immense destruction are connected in America. For example, Gatsby's possessiveness of Daisy and illusion of a happy future for her leads to him taking false responsibility for Daisy killing Myrtle in the hit-and-run, which led to Wilson taking fatal revenge on Gatsby.
This quote gets at a reality of the American Dream that relates to our lives:
“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”
Here's one real-life parallel to this quote and how the American Dream in The Great Gatsby is connected to our lives: in my middle school, which was in a pretty privileged neighborhood, there was a big problem with kids leaving trash from lunchtime strewn about the cafeteria. One of the defenses from them was, "that's why we have custodians." Finally, one of my teachers said, "No, that's your job. The custodians' job is to make sure the building is safe for us–not to be your babysitter."
In this scenario, my peers had learned to feel entitled to the privileges of having "the help" around. However, the entitlement served nobody: as it continued, the custodians had to take time away from making sure the school is structurally sound to throw away a kid's sticky yogurt wrapper, the kid who left it missed an opportunity to learn respect and self-sufficiency, and the whole classroom misses out on learning time because the teacher has to reprimand them.
The Great Gatsby presents several important aspects of the American Dream. Overall, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s attitude is that striving too hard to achieve a dream is likely to end in failure. Jay Gatz reinvented himself as Gatsby in part because of his romantic ideas. He believed that if he were successful, Daisy Buchanan would love him again.
The search for love as an aspect of the American Dream is still present in modern society. The proliferation of dating sites on the internet and the popularity of television shows like The Bachelor(ette) are indications that people are searching for love as a way to bring meaning to their lives.
Gatsby also had few scruples about the way he made his money. In the 1920s, when the sale of alcohol was illegal in the United States, Gatsby got rich as a bootlegger. In the 2010s, the sale of drugs is illegal, but many people try to become rich by selling them. More generally, the pursuit of material gain and the promotion of glamor in rich people's lives is still widespread, as evidenced by the fascination with the Kardashians.
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