The Great Gatsby and The American Dream (this essay contains spoilers)

The Great Gatsby and The American Dream

F. Scott Fitzgerald once stated: “Life is essentially a cheat and its conditions are those of defeat; the redeeming things are not happiness and pleasure but the deeper satisfactions that come out of struggle.” These views can be seen in his writings, and they exude a sense of melancholy about the social systems of his time. Fitzgerald clearly has qualms with the American Dream, and his most famous work shows the cheats and/or defeats in the lives of three men and the eventual deeper satisfaction of one of them. The lack of social mobility in these characters' lives leads to their failure socially. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the experiences of the wealthy Tom, the rich Gatsby, and the middle-class Nick to convey how The American Dream is very hard to achieve. Fitzgerald argues that a system of social control by the wealthy that imposes limitations on others is in place to block people from reaching the American Dream in his masterpiece The Great Gatsby.

Tom's social standing in the book is that of a person who has achieved the American Dream. However, this social standing and the wealth that comes along with it came from his parents and did not come from his own hard work. His inherited status as wealthy causes him to buy “a cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion, overlooking the bay. The lawn started at the beach and ran toward the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sun-dials and brick walls and burning gardens” (Fitzgerald 6). The feat of buying a mansion mostly shows Tom's high economic status. However, the type of mansion Tom bought, with its elegant scenery, is perfect for formal social gatherings that can impress people and secure Tom's high social status. Also, the mansion is in East Egg, a place where many people in similar situations to Tom live and where these people are available for Tom to impress. Tom's mansion is a clue to how he is able to gain higher social status, but it is also a clue to why Tom has had high status to begin with.

Because of the social status that Tom has gained from his inherited place in society, Tom has social power that he is able to use to prevent other people from becoming socially mobile and reaching The American Dream themselves. For example, Tom uses this power to coerce his wife Daisy to stay in their troubled relationship. His coercion ends all hope for Daisy and Gatsby's plans to fulfill their their social dream of being able to live with and marry each other as lovers. Tom appeals to Daisy by granting her forgiveness: “'Daisy, that's all over now,' he said earnestly. 'It doesn't matter any more. Just tell him the truth—that you never loved him—and it's all wiped out forever” (Fitzgerald 132). When faced with the tough choice between Tom and Gatsby, Daisy chooses Tom because of the social power that he uses to convince her in addition to the social opportunities and comforts that come with being in his social class. Tom's words are ironic because he loves another woman besides Daisy, his mistress Myrtle. In fact, Myrtle's husband George is the main other person besides Daisy and Gatsby that Tom uses his social power against. The power in Tom's words makes the hardworking, blue-collar George give in to him and shows how low in social status George is: “'And if you feel that way about it, maybe I'd better sell it somewhere else after all'” (Fitzgerald 25). Tom's words show an ignorance to the economic and social struggles that George faces. This ignorance is ironic because Tom causes George's social struggles by having Myrtle as his mistress and therefore ruining George's marriage. After Myrtle is killed in a car crash blamed on Gatsby by Tom, Tom uses his social power to lead both George and Gatsby to their downfalls. In response to a question from Nick as to whether he told George that Gatsby killed Myrtle, Tom states: “'What if I did tell him?'” (Fitzgerald 178). This telling leads an already unstable George to end the lives of Gatsby and himself and therefore any more chance of upwards social mobility for either of them. Tom uses social power to undermine the social dreams of others for his own benefit. However, this does not mean that all ends well for him, as Myrtle dies and his relationship with Daisy becomes more strained.

Although Gatsby shares that grim day of death with George, he gets a lot further in his quest to realize The American Dream than Mr. Wilson. However, he is not able to reach The Dream fully because of social limitations that prevent him from fully reuniting with Daisy. Instead of trying to reach success by legitimate jobs like George, Gatsby involves himself in illicit operations in order to reach the economic heights that can secure the social status that he needs to gain Daisy's love. In convincing Daisy to not leave him for Gatsby, Tom remarks about Gatsby's shady operations: “'He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That's one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn't for wrong'” (Fitzgerald 133). The fact that Gatsby is the only one of the main cast of characters in the book to significantly rise in economic status through personal merit and not marriage shows how hard it is to attain The American Dream legally. Gatsby's economic successes allow him to throw extravagant parties that he uses to gain social status and mask his illegal activities. However, these parties are not able to give Gatsby what he really wants, Daisy's love and the very high social status that he thinks comes along with it. Daisy is used to the structured and elegant life of the wealthy class that Tom is part of, and the unusual people at and the wild nature of Gatsby's parties negatively startles her: “She was appalled by West Egg, this unprecedented 'place' that Broadway had begotten upon a Long Island fishing village—appalled by its raw vigor” (Fitzgerald 107). Gatsby realizes Daisy's feelings after her attending of one of his parties, but he realizes too late. His inability to socially impress Daisy is one of the main reasons why she does not leave Tom for him. The fact that Tom's lifestyle impresses Daisy more than Gatsby's supports the idea that a social hierarchy system exists which is very hard to reach the top of without high social status gained at birth. The most substantial tragedy of Gatsby's life is that his business dealings and parties lead to very few meaningful relationships. His lack of social success is epitomized by his funeral. Nick recalls waiting for people besides himself, Gatsby's father, and a minister to arrive at the event : “I took [the minister] aside and asked him to wait for half an hour. But it wasn't any use. Nobody came” (Fitzgerald 174). This statement sadly shows that no shady business partners or partygoers really value Gatsby as a friend. They go into business with him or go to his parties in order to make fortunes or have a fun time, respectively. Gatsby achieves the economic American Dream, but this does not correlate to him reaching The Dream socially.

Nick is an upper middle-class character who moves to West Egg, and he tries to achieve The American Dream economically through a job selling bonds and socially by hanging out with Tom and Daisy. At first, he feels like he can fit in with the society and East and West Egg, but he is repulsed because of the lack of character of all the people there except Gatsby. After Daisy’s decision to stay with Tom and Myrtle’s death, Nick shouts to Gatsby “'[Tom, Daisy, etc…] are a rotten crowd ... You're worth the whole damn bunch put together'” (Fitzgerald 154). Because of his mentality of not judging that he states at the beginning of the book, Nick observes both Tom and Gatsby’s social occasions. It takes learning Gatsby's full backstory and Tom's full self-centered attitude for Nick to realize which one of them is his true friend. Unfortunately, before a great friendship can develop Tom plays a major role in causing Gatsby's death. Nick realizes that he will not make it in the bond market because he spends too much time in the social scene in the Eggs. He also realizes that Tom will not help him increase his social standing, as he discovers through Gatsby's death that Tom is actually prone to destroying the social lives and even lives in general of others. Nick returns to his real home in the Midwest, solemn but a better man with a friendship of a lifetime to remember.

The diverse experiences of Tom, Gatsby, and Nick in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald show how social limitations put in place by the wealthy lead to a very hard to reach American Dream. Tom is successful, but his success is inherited and he uses it as social power that blocks others from reaching The American Dream. Gatsby is successful economically, but he is unsuccessful socially due to Tom's advantage of being wealthy. Nick is unable to move up socially due to being taken aback by Tom's character. In conclusion, Tom and Gatsby’s cheats and defeats show the happiness and pleasure might not be possible in Fitzgerald's narrow view of The American Dream, yet Nick’s struggle and understanding lead him to a deep satisfaction that hopefully leads to the realization of his dreams.