Gatsby's Dream

A detailed Summary of Gatsby's Dream

What is the American Dream? In the Webster's New World Dictionary, dream is defined as: "a fanciful vision of the conscious mind; a fond hope or aspiration; anything lovely, etc." In F. Scott Fitzerald's novel The Great Gatsby, the lead character Jay Gatsby defines the American Dream as: everyone can rise to success no matter what his or her beginnings. In the First chapter of the novel, Nick Carraway, the narrator of the story gives us a glimpse into Gatsby's idealistic dream. "No-Gatsby turned out all right in the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dream...."(6) Gatsby lives in a fantasy world that he has created base on his dream, and his dream has elicited several qualities in Gatsby. Such dream and qualities make Gatsby appear to be the "knight in the shining armor." However, such dreams and qualities also lead Gatsby to his tragic end.

For one thing, Gatsby is amoral in many ways. First, he is a crook, a bootlegger who has involved himself with swindlers like Meyer Wolfshime, "the man who fixed the World Series back in 1919."(78) Secondly, he is dishonest, because he tells lies about himself. "I am the son of some wealthy people in the middle-west-all dead now. I was brought u

p in America but educated at Oxford because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years. It is a family tradition."(69) Lastly, he spends his money like pouring water. He held expensive parties, owns a huge mansion, a Rolls Royce, two motor boats, aquaplanes, a swimming pool (ironically that he has never used it except the day he has died), and a flashy wardrobe including a pink suit. Gatsby's materialism is not something to praise about. However, all of his amoral actions are caused by one purpose, which is to fulfill his dream. Gatsby has committed crime in order to gain the life style and buy the mansion to impress Daisy. "...he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from [Daisy's] well-loved eyes."(96) Also, Gatsby lies about himself because he wants those lies to be true, and in a way, he even believes those lies are true. Furthermore, his materialism is also one of Gatsby's ways to approach his dream. He only held many expensive parties in the hope that Daisy might show up at one of them. Jordan has said, "I think he half expected her to wander into one of his parties some night, ...but she never did."(84) After all, Gatsby's amoral ways are all due to his devotion to his innocent and romantic dream.

and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby

As a young boy, Gatsby is already a dreamer. In a strange way, he has never believed that he is just James Gatz, and he has had an ideal image of who he should be, which is Jay Gatsby. At the day he saved Dan Cody-the self-made millionaire's yacht, he has told Cody his name is Jay Gatsby and left his home. Gatsby strongly believes that as Jay Gatsby, all his dreams will be fulfilled, but he does not see the fact you cannot live on idealism in a realistic world, and idealistic dream is not everything in life. Therefore, in a sense, when Wilson shoots Gatsby, he is already dead. This might be that best ending for Gatsby, because since his dream had dead, he

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Approximate Word count = 1346
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels