The Great Gatsby, Essay

F. Scott Fitzgerald criticized the American Dream in his novel “The Great Gatsby” in a fantastic way. He showed that this supposed “American Dream” is not perfect. The frivolous spending, the stupidity brought on by alcohol and the feeling of immortality, not to mention the utter lack of respect for human nature. All of these things are horrible side effects of “The Great Gatsby’s American Dream”.

At first glance, one might think that Gatsby’s unlimited amount of money and good looks, along with his extreme popularity would be the perfect view of the American dream. Everybody would want those things, and at first it would seem perfectly fine to have all of those things. Fitzgerald showed that these things were less than perfect.

Gatsby, not Gatz, represented “The American Dream”. He was extremely wealthy and had everything that a person could possibly want. But Gatsby’s money and materialistic ways came through dirty dealing and bad decisions in life. He worked with criminals, sold illegal substances in bulk and was possibly a murderer. The American dream in my opinion doesn’t just mean extreme materialism, but good morals and general human kindness. Gatsby had zero morals and zero social graces.

Gatsby was (supposedly) involved in illegal trading, distribution of illegal substances and he tried to steal someone else’s wife. If these things alone don’t show a criticism of the American Dream, think of this. Every single person who had money, whether they were well educated or not, acted like a complete fool.

Gatsby, who was the suppose to be the very essence of the American Dream, had no social graces, let Daisy take complete control of him to the point that he bought a house near hers just so she might come over and he took the blame for killing a person, which ended up getting him killed. Tom, who also represented the American dream, (because of his endless wealth) cheated on his wife, lied about it and acted like he was completely invincible, which is one of the worst things all any one could do.

I believe that the statement “The Great Gatsby is a criticism of the corruption of the American Dream” wholeheartedly. All of the characters that represented the American Dream acted like fools, spent their money frivolously and had a complete disregard for their own mortality. The American Dream is great in concept, but not always in practice. The reason why the above mentioned prove how the American dream corrupts people is because all of these things lead to poor outcomes.

When people act like fools, they make poor decisions. Gatsby got involved with bad business, possibly even the mafia. Tom and Daisy were both cheating on each other, Tom cheated more than once. If Gatsby hadn’t gotten involved with alcohol he might have made something of himself in a legal way, he might not be as wealthy but he didn’t need all of that money anyway. If Daisy hadn’t have cheated, she Tom and Gatsby never would have gotten in an argument, meaning she wouldn’t have been hysterical and wouldn’t have hit Myrtle. If Tom hadn’t been cheating, Myrtle wouldn’t have tried to run out to him, meaning she might still be alive, (Gatsby too).

“The Great Gatsby” was an amazing book and F. Scott Fitzgerald did an amazing job explaining the corruption of his characters. From Gatsby’s job and life style, to Tom’s extreme spending and affairs, his characters were constantly being blinded by their money and high statuses in society. Even Nick, our supposedly unbiased narrator, was trying to achieve the American Dream, even though he could see what it was doing to his friends and family. His wanting to be rich alone could be seen as corrupt.

I believe that every word in “The Great Gatsby” criticizes the American Dream. Every character was corrupted in some way or another. In my opinion, the most honest sensible one in the entire story was George Wilson. His only fault was loving his wife. The only moment throughout the entire book where he was less than that was when he shot Gatsby. Other than that one moment, he was the only one that never let money or the “American Dream” corrupt him. Other than George Wilson, every single person in “The Great Gatsby” let money and power run their life, and it always ran them into horrible places. That is why I truly believe that the statement, “The Great Gatsby” criticizes the American Dream” is completely accurate.