Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Gatsby was a man who tried to live the American Dream. He was man who assumed had money, power, and love. In my opinion, that is what the American Dream is, money, power, and love. That is what Gatsby thought he had, but he really did not actually live the American Dream.

The first part of the American dream is to have money. Gatsby was living this part of the dream even if he didn't live any of the others. Gatsby states in the book, "My family all died and I came into a good deal of money" (p.70). Gatsby had so much money that he always could buy any objects he wanted. Gatsby owned many different, expensive, sports cars and lived in a huge mansion on the shore. Even though Gatsby had all that money, he did not make it the American way, by working. Gatsby was a bootlegger and gambler. That is how he got all of his money, and that is not the American Dream.

Another part of the American Dream is to have power. Gatsby also thought he had power. Since Gatsby was rich, he used his money to get power. He would use the money to bribe and payoff people to do things for him. Gatsby used rumors of his past to scare people and use that to his power. At one of Gatsby's parties, Jordan states to Nick, " I think he killed someone"(54). Though Gatsby thought he had all the power and respect of the people, he really did not. No matter how much money he had or how many rumors got started, Gatsby never had the power or respect of the people.

The greatest part of the American Dream, to me, his love. Gatsby, once again, thought he had this part of the American Dream too. Gatsby thought that he had all of the American Dream because he found the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby states to Tom, " Your wife doesn't love you...She's never loved you. She loves me"(137). Gatsby