In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, all the characters are, in one way or another, attempting to achieve a state of happiness in their lives. The main characters are divided into two groups; the rich upper class and the poorer lower class, which struggles to attain a higher position. Though the major players seek only to change their lives for the better, the idealism of the American Dream is unavoidably crushed by the reality of life, leaving their lives without meaning or purpose. The materialists produced the Buchanans; the idealists produced the Gatsbys. The idealist like Gatsby are dreamers, people who believe that what ever they think up and work on they can do. The materialist like Tom and Daisy Buchanan are far from reality, they are made happy and satisfied only by material possessions.

Tom and Daisy Buchanan, the rich socialite couple, seem to have everything they could possibly desire; however, though their lives are full of material possessions and worldly goods, they are unsatisfied and seek to change their circumstances. Tom, the arrogant ex-football player, drifts on "forever seeking a little wistfully for the dramatic turbulence of some irreco

case by the reality of Daisy's rejection. Without his dream, Gatsby has nothing, no fire to keep him going, no direction and no purpose.

woman with neither strong desires nor convictions. Even before her loyalty to either Tom or Gatsby is called into question, Daisy does nothing but sit around all day and wonder what to do with herself. She knows that Tom has a mistress on the side, yet hesitates to leave him even when she learns of Gatsby's devotion to her. Daisy professes her love to Gatsby, yet cannot bring herself to tell Tom goodbye except at Gatsby's insistence. Even then, once Tom pleads with her to stay, Daisy quickly caves in and ultimately leaves Gatsby for a life of comfort and security, or in other words material wealth. The Buchanans are the ultimate examples of wealth and prosperity, the epitome of the rich life of the American Dream, yet their lives are empty, unfulfilled, and without purpose.

Jay Gatsby's idealistic view of Daisy Buchanan creates a conflict for him once he is confronted by the reality. Over the course of five years, Gatsby has built Daisy up in his mind to be the perfect woman, someone that the actual Daisy could never measure up to, "no amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart." Daisy cannot help but fall short of Gatsby's dream, and so Gatsby is disappointed that the woman he loves does not exist as he imagines her to

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Approximate Word count = 958
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)