When the author introduces Jay at first in the novel, he comes across as an individual always yearning for more. As such, Fitzgerald shows that the idea of infinite success, as embodied in the American Dream, is illusionary. Jay’s desire to earn more and scale the social ladder to win Daisy’s love leads to his downfall. The extreme pursuit of materialism does not guarantee happiness or success. For instance, Jay amasses great wealth, but he is not satisfied because his definition of success cannot be completed without winning Daisy’s love. Those chasing this idea will always want more no matter the level of success that they achieve. Through Jay’s actions and desires, Fitzgerald criticizes the notion of the American Dream by showing that this idea is illusionary and cannot be fully achieved.

However, although Jay becomes wildly successful, he does not win Daisy’s love and this tragic turn of events leads to his premature death. As such, his version of the American Dream is to work hard, become successful, and earn happiness in the process. He thinks that if he becomes successful, then he would win Daisy’s love and live happily after. Gatsby’s drive for wealth and success is fuelled by his love for Daisy Buchanan. He is born poor, but he allegedly works hard by associating with a millionaire, Dan Cody, to gain wealth and prominence in society and this concept of success fits well into the underlying concept of the American Dream. Jay Gatsby is the ultimate embodiment of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby. Learn more The American Dream in the Novel In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald suggests that the American Dream is illusionary, those who pursue it, like Jay Gatsby, end up living miserably, and the impacts of such pursuits are mostly tragic as discussed in this paper. Therefore, Fitzgerald wrote this subtly sarcastic novel to highlight the many flaws of the American Dream – an idea that has been romanticized for many years since the early 1900s. This rosy view of the US promotes the myth of class equality and paints a utopian image of a country that has many inherent problems, such as systemic racism, misogyny, and widespread income inequalities among other social evils that bedevil most developed countries around the world. The American Dream is the meritocratic belief that anyone, irrespective of his or her class, race, gender, or nationality can become wildly successful in the United States through hard work and persistence. The Great Gatsby is a chef-d’oeuvre tragic love story and a pessimistic critique of the idea of the American Dream as written by F.

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