The Great Gatsby: The American Dream Each character in The Great Gatsby has achieved his part of the "American Dream". It didn't always improve the person, in most cases it got worse. It made the characters see life in an unnatural light that they otherwise wouldn't have seen. First I need to clarify what the “American Dream” really is. The "American Dream" is to have a lot of money and material objects. The average person in a third world country thinks that American streets are "paved with gold" and that poverty doesn't exist at all. Millions of people living in America think that because they are Americans, they must have money to be happy in life. They can't even imagine not having money and that's all they think and talk about. They also talk/brag about the things they buy with the money there. This is just the way Gatsby behaves. He always brags about his nice house, his nice car, and every aspect of his life. He makes his life "perfect" by studying at a high-class institution. He thinks the only people destined to have a lot of money are well-educated people who have led "perfect" lives. He can't ignore the fact that he got all his money from smuggling. All this money didn't make him a good person at all, in fact, it made him a worse person. He lies to everyone about his entire life and who he really is. He thinks that now that he has all this money the only way to be happy is to use it. Nick achieved his version of the “American Dream” by living the life he was expected to live. He is not rich and does not need money to be happy. He is simply living life to the fullest and is happy with how his life is going. The problem with Nick is that he is dragged by Gatsby into this worldly world: money, prestige is all that creates happiness. He is starting to think that his life is not as complete as it could be because he doesn't have Gatsby's money. Daisy is in love with Gatsby. She thinks that just because he has money and she has money they will be happy. This is not the case. The main difference in the wealth of the two is that Daisy inherited hers and Gatsby got his from bootlegging. Daisy has no idea what it means to be poor, but Gatsby does. Daisy is in a dream world where once you have money you always have money. Gatsby knowing what it means to be poor has the power to tell her what it means to be poor. I think Daisy should know what it's like to be poor so she can do things to help people who are poor and only then she realizes that not everyone has money and that there are other ways to find happiness besides money. Tom is like Nick in the sense that he lives the life he is expected to live. He's happy the way he is. He doesn't need money or anything else to make his life acceptable. To me he is the character who has achieved his dream the most, not the general "American dream". I believe one should live life to the fullest and never put all the happiness in one thing because if that thing goes away, the person is not happy. Especially money because nowadays money can be made and lost in seconds and if all your happiness depends on money and it goes away then you are not happy. Life should be about hard work and effort to achieve an end goal. None of the characters in this book did this, so I think each of them led lives that could have been much more fulfilling..
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