The American Dream Within the Great Gatsby

The American Dream within The Great Gatsby
Michael
5-23-13

Part of The Great Gatssby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, that was noticed for its message throughout the book was the American Dream and what it truly meant to achieve it. In Gatsby, the American Dream is starkly portrayed as having immense wealth, power, and being higher up than those less fortunate in life. Some of the characters in the book, Tom, Daisy, and Jordan, have all had wealth for most of their lives and they show little regard for those less fortunate, being corrupted by greed and selfishness.
Everyone has their own version of what the American Dream is and what it means to them. Identity is important to every person because it shows other people who they really are. An example of a character that has wealth and some power is Tom Buchannan, the husband of Daisy, who's the cousin of Nick Carraway, who lives next door to Gatsby. Tom has money, however he doesn't seem to have a whole lot of brain in him. His wealth leads him to believe he is upper-class and that he's sophisticated, although he constantly quotes books or people he's heard, while often not having a clue what he's talking about. An example of his inarticulate babble is "I read somewhere that the sun's getting hotter every year," said Tom genially. "It seems that pretty soon the earth's just going to fall into the sun-or wait a minute-it's just the opposite-the sun's getting colder every year" (p.118).
Aside from his maner of speech, Tom has a huge disregard for those of the less fortunate, mostly due to his amount of money, he feels he can do what he wants to whom he wants. An example throughout the book of his negligence is his actions towards his mistress, Myrtle Wilson. Tom is married himself to Daisy, yet he has a secret affair with another woman. He breaks Myrtles nose at one point because she said Daisy's name repeatedly. Basically, he uses her and treats her like she's nothing. But Tom is furious when he finds...