In this novel, the pursuit of the American Dream and the pursuit of a romantic dream are the ultimate causes of the downfall of the book's title character, Jay Gatsby. Throughout the story, Jay Gatsby avoids telling the truth of his hard, unglamorous childhood. He does this to keep his superficial image of himself and to save himself from the embarrassment of being in a state of poverty during his youth. His parents were lazy and unsuccessful people who worked on the farm, and because of this Gatsby never really accepted them as his parents.

Jay Gatsby's real name is James Gatz and he is from the very unexciting North Dakota. He changed his name to

word love. She is caught up in the times and in living the immoral and careless lifestyle that she leads. She could care less about what happens to anyone except for herself. This whole situation proves that she is definitely not deserving of the high pedestal that Gatsby has placed her on.

Tom describes Gatsby as a "bootlegger, cheap swindler, and a crook."(Fitzgerald 140-141). These few comments shattered Gatsby's self-identity because of its fragileness. Tom washed all of the effort and determination that Gatsby had put into becoming what he was and earning what he received, even though his methods were illegal, with a few minutes worth of speaking. After the argument, Gatsby can feel a minor sense of victory because Daisy refuses to speak to Tom and when they are leaving, Daisy leaves with him.

This is the greatest blow to his romantic dream of him and Daisy being together forever because she chooses Tom over Gatsby in a time of crisis. It shows that the man that she truly wants to be with the most is the man she is living with now. Gatsby realizes this and his life begins to be pointless. This is his dream brought to reality. The dream is completely dissipated and he knows it will never be achieved.

It did not take long for George Wilson, Myrtle's husband, to trace the yellow car, which killed his wife back to Jay Gatsby. Because George Wilson wants revenge for his wife's death, and he believes it is Gatsby who killed his wife, he goes to Gatsby's estate and kills Gatsby and then himself. This is the tragic end of Gatsby's life. All of his heroism, his rapid rise to the top, all brought to a calamitous end because Daisy did not love him as much as he loved her. Although Gatsby's romantic dream was already dead, his version of the American Dream was still alive and beaming. He still had everything going for him; his youth, money, and personality. Gatsby is morally superior to his fellow East Eggers and Nick acknowledges this when he tells Gatsby, "You're worth the whole damn bunch put together." (Fitzgerald 162).

The beginning of the downfall of Gatsby's dream occurs when Tom suspects that Daisy is cheating on him with Gatsby. His hypothesis is proven correct when he, Gatsby, Daisy, Nick, and Jordan Baker, are at a hotel in New York holding a conversation, which breaks out into an argument. It is during this argument that Tom finds out that Jay Gatsby and Daisy have been in love for five years and that they have never stopped loving each other. As Tom and Gatsby argue it becomes evident that Daisy does not know which man she wants to be with because she is in love with both of them because both of them are rich. All Gatsby wanted was for Daisy to tell Tom that she never loved him, but she could not do that. She knew that it would be a lie if she said that so she simply said to Gatsby, "I did love him once- but I loved you too." (Fitzgerald 140). This statement opens the well into which Gatsby's dream will eventually fall because it shows that Daisy is not Gatsby's woman alone. Tom begins the undermining of Gatsby's idealist concept of

Some common words found in the essay are:
Gatsby Daisy, American Dream, Jay Gatsby, Daisy Gatsby's, Daisy Gatsby, Gatsby Gatsby, Tom Buchanon, George Wilson, Dream Throughout, Gatsby You're, american dream, gatsby daisy, jay gatsby, fell love, love daisy, romantic dream, daisy love, love gatsby, gatsby's dream, version american dream, gatsby rich, gatsby daisy driving,
Approximate Word count = 2101
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)