Failure of the American Dream in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby :: Great Gatsby Essays

Failure in The Great Gatsby In Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby, all the characters ar, in one way or another, look foring to fit happier with their lives. The characters in the novel are divided into two groups the rich upper class and the poorer lower class(West egg and East egg) though the main characters only try to make their lives better, the American romance they are all trying to achieve is eventually ruined by the harsh reality or life. turkey cock and Daisy Buchanan, the rich couple, seem to have everything they could mayhap want. Though their lives are full of anything you could imagine, they are hard-pressed and seek to change, gobbler drifts on forever seeking a little wistfully for the dramatic turmoil of some irrecoverable football game(pg. 10) and reads deep books with long words in them(pg. 17) just so he has something to talk roughly. Even though tomcat is married to Daisy he has an affair with Myrtle Wilson and has apartment with her in New York.. Daisy is a n empty character, someone with hardly any convictions or desires. Even before her relationships with Tom or, Gatsby are seen, Daisy does nothing but sit around all day and wonder what to do with herself and her friend Jordan. She knows that Tom is having an affair, yet she doesnt leave him even when she hears about Gatsby loving her. Daisy lets Gatsby know that she too is in love with him but cant bring herself to tell Tom goodbye except when Gatsby forces her too. Even then, once Tom begs her to stay, even then Daisy forever leaves Gatsby for her old life of comfort. Daisy and Tom are perfect examples of wealth and prosperity, and the American Dream. Yet their lives are empty, and without purpose. Though Myrtle Wilson makes an attempt to escape her own class and pursue happiness with the rich, she ends up gaining nothing and eventually dies. She is basically a victim of the group she wanted to join. Myrtle tries to become like Tom by having an affair with him and taking on his wa y of living, but in doing so she becomes unsatisfied with her life. Her constant clothing changes show that she is unhappy with her life, she changes personalities every time she changes her dress with the influence of the dress her whole personality had also undergone a change.