The novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is about the American Dream, an idealistic and illusionary goal to achieve wealth and status. The ruthless pursuit of wealth leads to the corruption of human nature and moral values. Fitzgerald uses characters in the novel to show the corruptions and the illusionary nature of the American Dream. The superficial achievement of the American Dreams give no fulfillment, no real joy and peace; but instead, creates lots of problems for the characters in the novel. What happens to Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway, and Daisy Buchanan represent the failure of the American Dream. Each character has a different dream. For Jay Gatsby, his dream is to attain happiness, represented by Daisy's love, through …show more content…

However, when Tom told Daisy about Gatsby's "bootlegging," with the intention of destroying her desire to leave him for Gatsby; her will, which is very weak, wavers. She is a person without any strong desires or conviction or loyalty to anybody, including her true love Gatsby; Tom, her husband; and her own baby girl. Even when she knows that Tom has a mistress outside, yet she finally decides to choose him over Gatsby, who is really devoted to her and is offering her true love. She chooses to forsake Gatsby for a life of comfort and security, but full of emptiness. Her behavior in responding to the car accident in which she killed Myrtle, Tom's mistress, again reveals her corrupted nature:

"…Careless people…smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was… and let other people clean up the mess they had made…" (Pg 179)

When looking back at the foundation qualities of the American Dream in the Great Gatsby, which are hope, strength, and determination to reach a person's idealistic goals in life. Daisy is a very good example of the failure and the corruption of the American Dream.

The corruption and failure of the American Dream is seen through Nick Carraway, the narrator of the novel. Nick's dream is to find someone who can realizes the idealistic American Dream, and he finds this person in Jay Gatsby. Nick is the only character in the novel that stands aside as an observer and