Great Gatsby - Final Essay

Fitzgerald’s depiction of the American Dream is a dim and distorted one. Each character in their lavish lifestyle cannot achieve happiness. Each character, miserable in their unique way, cannot be satisfied through financial means. The American Dream is that anyone in society can rise above their social standings to achieve happiness through money. However, Fitzgerald addresses the theme in The Great Gatsby that money does not equate fulfillment, shown as each character reaches their demise through death or a life doomed to unhappiness.

            A key example of a character looking for fulfillment in wealth is Daisy. Although she claims to have loved Gatsby she moves on quickly in the hopes of the financial security of another. Even in her rocky marriage Daisy ignores her husband’s infidelity in order to continue feeling secure. Finally as she begins to reach out to Gatsby for a relationship, she sees the tremendous wealth he has acquired and weeps for the financial advantage lost when she compares his clothing to her own husband’s. Although there may have been emotional feelings coupled with her financial motives, Daisy’s priorities are clear. Her shallow upbringing led her to become acquired to wealth and rely on it to live. Due to her greed her world revolved around money, Gatsby even describes her voice as, “rich with money.” Yet despite all of the riches her husband owned not only was her marriage unsuccessful but neither partner remained faithful to the other. At the end of the book, as Gatsby waits outside of the house for Daisy there is silence between the two partners. In the silence however there is an unspoken acquisition, and a promise to continue life as it had been although neither partner was contented.

            Myrtle, Tom’s mistress, found herself in a marriage where she could not respect her husband. Originally she married her husband, but when he could not come into any money their relationship began to suffer. She began to cheat on him with Tom, a man with wealth. It was this confidence she found in Tom’s money that made the relationship so serious to her. Like Daisy, she found security in money that Tom could offer her. However, the relationship she found with Tom was unhealthy: she found the security in his wealth, was hit by him, and was continuously lying to her husband. Ultimately this connection she made with Tom’s money led to her death as she ran to the car she believed she was in. Although she knew she was hurting herself and her husband she was so attached to the prestige that Tom’s money granted her that she fell into a vicious cycle that led to her demise. Ultimately she could not find any fulfillment in the money Tom could give her.

            Gatsby’s relationship with money is a key example of the statement that money does not equate happiness. Although Gatsby does not want money for the sole purpose of the security or glamour that it holds as Myrtle and Daisy do, he understands that without any wealth he cannot attract Daisy. In this way the pursuit of riches is so important to Gatsby that he resorts to criminal activities to get Daisy back. However, these pursuits of Daisy cannot be satisfied through money. His money cannot guarantee Daisy’s commitment, or his happiness. Even before Gatsby had reunited with Daisy, his lavish parties and extravagant house could offer him any consolation or fill the void he had. In chapter 9 Gatsby’s money couldn’t offer him any protection from a shooter or any friends at his funeral. In the end no amount of money could offer him any contentment in his life.

            The Great Gatsby argues the corrupt nature of the American dream. This central theme, shown through the book, portrays a world in which money guarantees no happiness. No character in the book reaches a state of fulfillment despite the riches they possess and find their identity in. As no character could find the satisfaction that the American dream promises follows wealth Fitzgerald depicts the illusion that money can fulfill anyone.