In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, although the protagonist, Jay Gatsby, is an example of a tragic hero, his flaws lead him to remain a failure, which symbolize the failures of the American Dream. There are many sections of the novel that show direct connections between the real world and the life the Jay Gatsby lives, such as the green light, which also plays an important role in the failure of the American Dream.
In The Great Gatsby, there are plenty of parts in the novel that are symbolic to the American Dream. In this novel, it is safe to say that the "American Dream" can essentially be replaced by "Gatsby's Dream". Gatsby's dream is similar to the American Dream because both dreams are believed to bring happiness, which can be acquired by attaining money. The reader finds out towards the end of the novel that Gatsby is not only interested in Daisy because of his deep love for her.
The reader, in fact, is finally able to realize that Gatsby's love for Daisy is tied in with his attraction to her wealth and standard of living. The wealth and lifestyle that Daisy lives is called Old Money. Old Money is wealth that is passed down from an older generation. Tom and Daisy are both perfect examples of this. The reader senses that Gatsby is after Daisy's "Old Money" lifestyle when Nick, the narrator, says,
"... Gatsby was overwhelmingly aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves, of the freshness of many clothes and of Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor." (p. 157).
With Old Money, there is a particular way of acting. This is what separates it from new money, which is recently acquired...
Great Gatsby
You miss the point that Gatsby was a perpetual dreamer. His ideals are that of adolescent in puppy love. What's tragic is that he is a man living a faded yet in his mind real dream of what love was. This is illustrated by the fact that he doesn't mind amassing his wealth illegally and the respectability he loses if Daisy finds out, but doing it just to simply impress her. He wasn't in love with what Daisy represented which is old money, but he was in love with Daisy, because he really did love her. He did not see any of her flaws. He wanted to woo her like he did before the war. This is the only way he knew how. A man of his background couldn't do it legally so he did it illegally. But he did it not for his own enjoyment as was shown by the fact that he did not read his books or danced at his own parties. He did not hobnob with the people there because he was only interested in one thing. The person across the lake, which is Daisy. He would have read the books to impress old money people who would've quizzed him naturally but he didn't showing he no inclinations of impressing old money people. All the people he invited were new money type of people anyway. He despised old money, which is represented by Tom Buchanan. Through the eyes of Nick, you see all of Tom's flaws. Gatsby hated how Tom abused Daisy and slept with Mertyle. Gatsby wanted everything that Tom was and more, the man whom she was knew. But unlike before he was stained by the fact that his own business was illegal and thus unrespectable.
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