The American Dream
James Truslow Adams once defined the American Dream as "Life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement, regardless of social class or circumstances of birth.” However, the American dream can be different for each individual, for some it can focus on happiness, and for others it can focus on wealth. The pursuit of the American Dream is a predominant theme throughout The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which was represented by the green light, Gatsby’s excessively extravagant parties, and Mr. Jay Gatsby himself.
To begin with, Fitzgerald emphasized the American Dream through the green light, which was positioned on Daisy Buchanan’s dock. The green light situated on Daisy’s dock represented Gatsby’s hopes and dreams for the future. Gatsby tried his best to achieve an ideal future, “He stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curios way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward-and distinguished nothing except a single green light” (Fitzgerald 21). This statement proves that the green light symbolized Gatsby’s American dream in life, which was to build a future with Daisy. Daisy was Gatsby’s American dream because she was “The king’s daughter, the golden girl” (Fitzgerald 128). Daisy had all the qualities to be Gatsby’s ideal wife; she was his “trophy wife.” Even though Gatsby did not achieve his American dream “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter-tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…” (Fitzgerald 180).In this novel, Gatsby fails to win over Daisy, but he still believed in the green light, and he wanted another opportunity, in which he could try harder to achieve his dream.
Moreover, in the novel The Great Gatsby, the American Dream is also represented by Gatsby’s extravagant parties, which signify all the riches that Gatsby possesses. Gatsby threw these lavish parties in hopes that Daisy would get attracted towards them, and spent the rest