The Great Gatsby: Corruption of the American Dream By Wendy Guo
The American Dream is the ideal that people are able to build a loving family and acquire enough wealth to live comfortably and happily. The basic aspects of the Dream revolve around power, freedom, and social status; however, the specifics of the Dream itself vary from person to person. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates how the American Dream is an idealistic and mirage-like goal, and can become corrupted as exemplified by each character’s focus on acquiring wealth, power, and material objects. The ruthless pursuit of wealth and status associated with the strive for the epitome of the American Dream Dr eam leads to the corruption of human nature and moral values. Ultimately, the American Dream goes awry for Jay J ay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson, and George Wilson. The fates major characters in The Great Gatsby reveal the corruption and the illusionary nature of the Dream. None of the characters achieve their American Dreams; rather, they lose part of their humanity in the pursuit of the Dream. The superficial achievement of the American Dream does not bring about fulfillment, joy, or peace; instead, the false misconception creates complications for the characters in the novel. The possession of money and power can provide a shallow material satisfaction in life, but it cannot fulfill the deeper human needs of true love and genuine happiness. In order to fulfil l their American Dreams, the characters in the novel give up their moral values and righteous beliefs and in turn, the Dream reveals its true deception.
Jay Gatsby is a powerful, influential, and wealthy man who had risen to his current state by “beating his way along the south shore of Lake Superior as a clam-digger and a salmon-fisher” (Fitzgerald 95). He adores Daisy Buchanan and does everything in his power to try to make her love him again. Daisy represents a distinct purity and innocence to Gatsby, the idea of which he had fallen in love with in his youth. Gatsby is mystified by the facile aura enshrouding Daisy, however he doesn’t directly love her - he loves the ideals that she represents. In pursuing Daisy, Gatsby is ultimately chasing after his Dream of being a wealthy and successful man, someone who is “worthy” of Daisy’s love.
It is nearly impossible for James Gatz, a poor country boy, to earn a large fortune worthy of a heir. The newly professed Jay Gatsby desires Daisy and his Dream so desperately that he craves intensely for money, no matter through which means. Thus, Gatsby engages in illegal business in order to build his fortune and name. Rather than righteously winning over Daisy, Gatsby is blinded by his American Dream and illegally deals products to achieve wealt h and status. "[Gatsby] and this Wolfshiem bought up a lot of side-street drug stores here in Chicago and s old grain alcohol over the counter" (Fitzgerald 141) to fuel his opulence, a desperate and corrupted attempt to attract Daisy. He hosts lavish parties every night, attempting to lure Daisy to his home. When Gatsby invites Nick and Daisy to his house, “he took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them one by one before [Daisy]" (Fitzgerald
98). He elaborately displays his mansion, and even his numerous silk shirts as a statement of the wealth he has accumulated since they last met.
Jay Gatsby’s major misconception is that he is able to earn Daisy’s pure love through materialism and power. “Gatsby genuinely believes that if a person makes enough money and amasses a great enough fortune, he can buy anything. He thinks his wealth can erase the last five years of his and Daisy's life and reunite them at the point at which he left her before he went away to war ” (Singer, 2008). In the process of impressing Daisy and chasing after his Dream, Gatsby becomes materialistic. His ambitions and values are sacrificed for his determined obsession of living up to Daisy's standards. Unfortunately, materialism causes Gatsby to act desperately, which leads to his corruption:
“Money and material possessions prove to be a small portion of what constitutes the American dream: Money by itself cannot buy happiness, and therefore Daisy cannot bring happiness to Gatsby. In this sense, The Great Gatsby becomes a study of the consequences of that generation’s mindless devotion to false, or at least incomplete values” (Fahey 63).
Consequently, Gatsby's materialistic desire of winning Daisy's heart causes him to be involved in shady businesses with Wolfshiem, thus Gatsby's materialistic values prove to be damaging to his character, since Gatsby holds a notorious reputation and is known as a corrupted man. Furthermore, “the money that buys [love] dissolves it, or turns it into something else” (Sandel 94). In Gatsby’s case, he is not able to completely win over Daisy, and ends up dying to protect her crime. “Because Gatsby
still retains some aspects of morality and goodness, and Daisy seems to be the epitome of both material success and corruption that wealth can bring, they cannot have a future together” (Smiljanić 6), thus Jay Gatsby’s American Dream will never become true.
Daisy Buchanan is a shallow character who is dete rmined to preserve her high class status and to live comfortably by being wed to a wealthy and prominent figure in society. Daisy lives by her own motto that “the best thing a girl can be in this world, [is] a beautiful little fool” (Fitzgerald 17). She implies that she would rather live lavishly by using her beauty rather than out of hard work and knowledge. Gatsby loves her for her innocent and sweet character; however, he only sees her superficial beauty and does not realize that she is truly cunning, merciless, and above all, self-centered.
Daisy is extremely corrupted and materialistic in the sense that she only cares about money and the things that money can buy her. "[Daisy] only married [Tom] because [Gatsby] was poor" (Fitzgerald 137). Daisy regards money to be more valuable than true love, which is why she left the poor Gatsb y and married Tom for his money. However, she pays the price of betraying her own heart as well as her loyalty to Gatsby's unconditional love, by choosing to mar ry Tom Buchanan out of convenience. The materialistic values that Daisy holds, therefore, ultimately corrupt her. Her corruption is further proven when Gatsby later describes Daisy's car accident: "Well, first Daisy turned away from the woman toward the other car, and lost her
nerve and turned back...Daisy stepped on it." (Fitzgerald 151). Daisy's cruel action shows her corruption, since she continues to drive without any consideration of the pedestrian, Myrtle. As is revealed, her desperate pursuit of her American Dream, which is represented by wealth, results in her la ck of a sense of humanity. She disregards the welfare of other human beings, because she cares only for her possessions and status. Furthermore, Daisy's materialism causes her to act selfishly through her careless lifestyle. Nick states, "Daisy...smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into [her] money or [her] vast carelessness..." (Fitzgerald 188). She uses her wealth and position to escape from the consequences of her carelessness.
Daisy is careless with people’s lives; she lets Gatsby take the blame for her unintentional manslaughter of Myrtle Wilson. Her careless act ions eventually result in Gatsby’s death, of which she shows no concern, since she does not even show up at his funeral. She commits adultery, but she had no real intentions of leaving her husband. After she learns of Gatsby’s shady background, she quickly runs back into the arms of her equally self-absorbed, corrupt husband. Moreover, her action demonstrates the dishonest exploitation of power for personal gain, since she uses her money as she pleases in her advantage as an upper class lady. Thus, materialism corrupts her, causing her to disregard the feelings of others. Furthermore, her attachment to money and her ideal of the American Dream causes her to be corrupted, since materialism causes her to show no compassion for human beings altogether.
Living in the poorest area of town, Myrtle Wilson's dream is to escape from her low-standard lifestyle and to become recognized as higher clas s. She is willing to leave George, her true and faithful husband, for the opportunity of a more luxurious lifestyle. Myrtle believes “that the only crazy [she] was was when [she] married him. [She] knew right away [that she had] made a mistake" (Fitzgerald 35), because George is neither extravagant nor cunning. Contrary to the hardworking George, Myrtle is portrayed as a thoughtless and boisterous woman of littl e education and class. She is overly pretentious and pretends to be “[despaired] at the shiftlessness of the lower orders” (Fitzgerald 30), although she belongs to the “lower orders” herself.
Myrtle Wilson intertwines every major character together in The Great Gatsby, perhaps with the least-liked and most pitied role. She is not satisfied with her steady marriage with George, who works hard to keep both of them alive. Attempting to jump to the peak of social hierarchy, Myrtle cheats on her husband with Tom Buchanan, an upper-class man. Her corruption springs from the hope of starting a new life with Tom, who is able to provide the material possessions and status that she has always wanted. Myrtle uses Tom's wealth in order to live the life of an aristocrat. She attempts to be an upper class woman, but miserably fails due to her lack of elegance, education, and image. Yet as long as she has Tom and his money, her arist ocratic façade is safe.
However, the class difference between Myrtle and Tom is simply too great to yield the possibility of marriage, which is Myrtle’s American Dream. Tom physically
abuses Myrtle, knowing that she will not react and would rather suff er in order to protect the slim possibility of her Dream. Myrtle's behavior reflects her decision making abilities and how she is vulnerable to manipulation. Although Tom is brutal and violent, his wealth keeps her content. Additionally, Myrtle is blinded from the “distress [which] accompanies a concentr ation on extrinsic goals reflecting the contingent approval of others” (Kasser and Ryan 2). She is so focused on trying to live well that she chooses to throws away her decently satisfying marriage for an affair that is never meant to be, nor will it get her anywhere better in life. Myrtle’s insecurities and easily manipulative nature ultimately results in her tragic death.
In the process of chasing their individual Dreams, J ay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson, and Tom Wilson in The Great Gatsby become corrupted and are left with no sense of purpose or moralit y. None of these characters stay true to their morals and values and their Dreams become corrupted; therefore, they corrupt themselves. In the end, every character dies either physically or mentally. Money and status takes over everything in their lives, to the point that nothing else matters. However, they fail to realize that their affluence and social status will not help them achieve their Dream by any means:
“Chase after money and security and your heart will never unclench. Care about people’s approval and you will be their prisoner. Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity” (Lao-tzu).
By getting caught up in the “foul dust" of materialism and greed, corruption undermines these characters’ sense of humanity. Thus, the Dream is revealed to be a illusionary falsehood that can never be achieved.
Works Cited
Bloom, Harold. Modern Critical Views: F. Scott Fitzgerald . New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1985. Print. Boyer, Allen. “The Great Gatsby, the Black Sox, High Finance, and American Law.” JSTOR. Web. Callahan, John F. “F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Evolving American Dream: The “Pursuit of Happiness” in Gatsby, Tender is the Night, and The Last Tycoon.” JSTOR. Web. Cullen, Jim. “The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea That Shaped a Nation.” Oxford University Press. 2013. Web. Fahey, William. F. Scott Fitzgerald and the American Dream. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1973. Print. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner’s and Sons, 1925. Print. Kasser, Tim and Ryan, Richard M. “Further Examining the American Dream: Differential Correlates of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Goals.” Selfdeterminationtheory.org. University of Rochester, 1994. Web. Sandel, Michael J. What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012. Print. Smiljanić, Siniša. “The American Dream In The Great Gatsby.” Academia.edu. University of Rijeka, 2011. Web.
