Dan Cody exemplifies the destruction of the dreamer. Cody is a miner, "a product of the Nevada silver fields, of the Yukon, of every rush for metal since seventy-five." He becomes a millionaire through hard work, ambition and a little bit of luck. Yet, it is his fate to die alone, drunk, and betrayed. Through Dan Cody, Fitzgerald shows how twenties society treats their dreamers; it manipulates them, uses them for money, and then, forgets them. .

             This pattern plays through again through Gatsby. A child growing up in a nameless town in the middle of Minnesota, Gatsby dreams the impossible and achieves it. He sets out methodically, with a list of "General Resolves: Study electricity, baseball, practice elocution and how to attain it. . . " And after less than two decades, he is one of the richest men in New York. Yet, Gatsby, too, was just another tool used for the fun of society. He was never truly a member of this society. At his own parties, ". . . Girls were swooning backward playfully into men's arms, even into groups, knowing that someone would arrest their falls - - - but no one swooned backward on Gatsby, and no French bob touched Gatsby's shoulder, and no singing quartets were formed with Gatsby's head for a link." His home was full of the Leeches, Blackbucks, Ferets and Klipspringers, while the champagne was flowing. Yet, when he died, no one came. Gatsby, too, died alone. Dreamers in a healthy society are respected and encouraged. Yet, in the twenties, they were used and mistreated. Fitzgerald uses the notion of destroyed dreams to exemplify his lost generation. .

             Even more substantial to the degradation of society than the destruction of dreamers, was the sad truth that twenties society lacked the ability to fulfill its dreamers' desires. As a child, Gatsby dreams of climbing the ladder to success and being accepted by society's rich. When Gatsby finally invites the Sloans and Buchanans to his home for the afternoon, they show nothing less than utter disrespect for him.