The Great Gatsby: Presenting the Myth of the American Dream
Almost all interpretations of the American Dream idolize the pursuit of wealth. Notwithstanding, criticisms of American capitalism abound, often citing breaches of personal and societal ethics as evidence of a corrupt system. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby introduces such criticisms through its depictions of wealth. Set in prohibition-era New York, The Great Gatsby follows the tale of self-made millionaire Jay Gatsby, who yearns to both gain acceptance into the “old money” class in the suburb of East Egg and elicit the undivided love of the desirable Mrs. Daisy Buchanan. While Gatsby exemplifies the positive aspects of the self-made man, being hardworking, enterprising, and determined, his character also unveils the weaknesses that come with great ambition: superficiality, obsession, and moral compromises. Using Gatsby as a tragic hero, the novel serves as a cautionary tale about the pursuit of wealth. The novel argues above all else that the American Dream is a myth. Regardless, it asserts that if one wants to appear to achieve the American Dream, like Jay Gatsby, one must do three key things: one, reject one’s past, two, unhealthily idolize wealth, and three, embrace conformity. However, through Gatsby’s death and his failure to capture Daisy, the novel solidifies Fitzgerald’s dictum: the American Dream is apocryphal; no matter how much money you acquire, you die into the same class that you were born into.
Implicitly defined in the American Dream is an agreement to reject one’s past. If one wishes to rise in social standing, he or she must be able to move on from their beginnings and see themselves as part of a new class. The longer the odds to success, the fiercer the need to reject poverty and cling to visions of wealth. Gatsby does just this. In fact, his rejection of his past did not start after his acquisition of wealth, but as a boy in North Dakota. So intensely did he strive to reject his origins that “his imagination had never really accepted […] his parents at all” (Fitzgerald 98). Yet, this incompatibility between his origins and his dreams only grows as he achieves wealth. Once wealthy, Gatsby’s identity “sprang from a platonic conception of himself” (Fitzgerald 98). One of the most notable instances of his “platonic conception” is when he introduces himself as an “Oxford man” (Fitzgerald 49). However, Gatsby’s facade far surpasses educational credentials. While taking narrator Nick Carraway for a drive, he speaks of living “like a rajah in all the capitals of Europe”(Fitzgerald 65), after coming “into a good deal of money”(Fitzgerald 65) in addition to hailing from “wealthy people in the middle west”(Fitzgerald 65). Gatsby’s grandiose pronouncements, perhaps overstated by Fitzgerald, illustrate an important point: The rejection of one’s past comes with the creation of a new self. Given that Gatsby rejected his low status practically from birth, he needed an identity to call upon later in life. So why not make his identity fit his own visions? Furthermore, Gatsby’s false identities, and the skepticism they arouse, reinforce Fitzgerald’s message that one never truly rises above their social class. To people of inherited wealth, Gatsby’s claims seem risible and transparent, or as Nick says, “I suspected he was pulling my leg”(Fitzgerald 65). The artificiality of Gatsby’s statements, however, is understandable. To a young striver like Gatsby, his ideas of inherited wealth are entirely theoretical. And so the only examples of inherited wealth he can come up with are the most stereotypical, complete with an Oxford education and galavanting in Europe. The most intriguing part of Gatsby’s false identities is his own inability to recognize their superficiality. That is, Gatsby falsely thinks he is duping the “old money” class into viewing him as one of their own. This fact is Fitzgerald’s ultimate blow to the American Dream. Even when one is trying their hardest to make something of themselves, like Gatsby, their roots inevitably show. Of course, Gatsby’s rejection of his past is only a function of his deification of wealth.
Gatsby’s “instinct for future glory” (Fitzgerald 99), lies in his obsession with wealth. This ambition propels Gatsby towards financial success, but also ultimately leads to his “constant, turbulent riot”(Fitzgerald 99). Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald demonstrates that the cost of Gatsby’s wealth is his own turbulence. This is especially evident when Gatsby frequently has to take strange phone calls, argue with shady businessmen, and go to great lengths to make sure his extravagant parties are always in order. The first instance of such turbulence that we encounter is during Nick’s first party at Gatsby’s, in which the millionaire is begrudgingly pulled away from his guests by a Chicago phone call. As Nick notes, “almost at the moment when Mr. Gatsby identified himself, a butler hurried him toward the information that Chicago was calling him on the wire”(Fitzgerald 48). This is not the only instance of such interruptions. Later in the book, Gatsby is bombarded with messages from his business associates, leading others to question his dealings. For instance, when he is at the underground speakeasy, Gatsby, “jumped up and hurried from the room”(Fitzgerald 71). This gives Tom Buchanan the opportunity to talk to Nick Carraway about Gatsby covertly. Then there is the first party in which Tom Buchanan attends, in which Gatsby is hurriedly “called to the phone”(Fitzgerald 106), leading Tom to proclaim that he does not trust Gatsby and thinks he is some “big bootlegger”(Fitzgerald 107). Gatsby’s hectic lifestyle, always being one phone call from a business calamity, reminds the readers that his magical lifestyle is not without a cost. When we compare this with the stability of Tom Buchanan’s life, the disparities are striking. Unlike Gatsby, Tom never needs to attend to an important business call, because he inherited his wealth. Fitzgerald’s point is clear. Gatsby may have achieved financial success, but ultimately, the class disparity shows when Tom gets to lay back while Gatsby must be always working to maintain his wealth. Fitzgerald uses these examples to show that even if one idolizes and acquires wealth, the costs associated with gaining wealth are much greater than with inheriting it, which casts doubt on the class equity advocated by the American Dream. Evidently, wealth is not enough. For Gatsby to fully achieve his vision of himself, he must fit the habits and customs of the “old money” class as well.
Conformity represents Gatsby’s final vehicle for achieving the American Dream. Gatsby’s greatest manifestation of this conformity is his pursuit of Daisy Buchanan, a girl from an “old money” family. Gatsby considers Daisy the first “nice”(Fitzgerald 48) girl he had ever known and as a consequence of the affluence she represented, always felt “married to her”(Fitzgerald 149). Essentially, by seeking to marry a rich girl, Gatsby is more than just pursuing wealth, he is pursuing belonging, wishing to no longer be a striver, but a member of the upper class. Yet, as novelist Jesaym Ward explains in a New York Times article, “the dream Gatsby wanted for himself was predicated on exclusion. That Gatsby was doomed from the start. He’d been born on the outside; he would die on the outside.” So if Daisy was Gatsby’s last hope of truly entering the upper class, his death signals the death of his dream, The American Dream. And with this, Fitzgerald’s point is heard.
The Great Gatsby doesn’t have a positive outcome for the pursuit of the American Dream. But rather than simply argue its futility, Fitzgerald’s novel acts as a thought experiment. It functions by first genuinely considering the possibility of the existence of the American Dream and showing that even when it appears to be “achieved”, it really has not been. For Gatsby, through his creation of a new past, his single minded pursuit of wealth, and his desire to seek conformity with the upper class, on the outside, swimming in mansions and roll’s royce’s, he seems to have succeeded, but underneath, from his constant business interruptions to his apocryphal stories being picked apart by Tom, Nick, and other “old money” characters alike, Gatsby remains a successful striver, but a striver nonetheless. After all, it was Tom, not Gatsby, in the end, who continued his relationship with Daisy. If there is anything that Fitzgerald’s story teaches us, it is that no matter how hard- working and strategic someone is about achieving the American Dream, ultimately, certain privileges will only come to those born into wealth. With this realization, the pronouncement of “each and every according to his ability” seems dubious, as in America, even if you follow the same three principles to “achieve” the American Dream that Jay Gatsby did, as The Great Gatsby shows, you will always be an outsider.
References:
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Paperback ed., New York, NY, Scribner, 2018.
Ward, Jesmyn. “Jay Gatsby: A Dreamer Doomed to Be Excluded. The Novelist Jesmyn Ward Explains.” New York Times, 12 Apr. 2018. New York Times, www.nytimes.com/2018/04/12/books/review/jesmyn-ward-great-gatsby.html. Accessed 11 Mar. 2021.
