Throughout history you hear "The American Dream" referenced numerous times. For many people the reality of just living in America is a dream come true, others strive for more and dream of becoming rich and famous. The majority of Americans live our their dreams by having a family, settling down with a good job, and raising their kids the right way. No matter how you look at it, "The American Dream" can be satisfied many different ways. Fitzgerald attempts to portray this circumstance and how it does differ throughout and in the end of the book.
Gatsby is perhaps the most prominent character in the book that Fitzgerald talks about his American Dream throughout the plot. Gatsby's dream was in a sense based off of one person, Daisy. When Gatsby and Daisy first fell in love around the time of the war, Gatsby thought she would wait for him, but because he was not as rich and went off to war, Daisy went and married Tom, a more well off man. Gatsby's dream then became to become wealthy, so that he could eventually get Daisy back in his life.
Obviously we know that this dream did not come completely through. Although Gatsby did reach out to Nick and Jordan and did reaquaint himself with Daisy, his dream of them "riding off into the sunset" so to say did not happen. Daisy wasn't so willing to just up and leave Tom and eventually Gatsby was killed. This can be viewed different ways about just what Fitzgerald was trying to portray about "The American Dream". One view may be that although Gatsby was wealthy and lived lavishly, he did not end up happy or with what he wanted most. Obviously this pointing at the fact that money cannot buy you happiness. The other theme that this could be hitting is that Gatsby had worked so hard, waited so long, he still "failed" in the end. In other words, you can't always end up with what you want or how you want it, no matter how hard you try.
Other characters are also personalized in the story to aim at the American Dream. George for one, is a character who was much like many Americans in the fact that George wanted to own his own shop, make a decent living, and live his life happily with his wife. George however, did not reach this dream as his wife cheated on him for a more wealthy man and George could not compare because he was located in the ashes. Daisy is also portrayed as a woman who's American Dream was based off of a materialistic want. Daisy wanted nice things and wanted to live nice. But seems to not be sincerely happy because of this desire for materialistic items.
Fitzgerald aims to take his own take on the American Dream throughout The Great Gatsby. He tries to include the positive and morally right dreams like George. However he also knocks at the 20s where most people wanted one thing and one thing only, materialistic items.
