The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald - 1234 Words

The Gold Rush and the huge economic burst during the Roaring 20s offered diligent youths numerous opportunities to rise up in the social ladder and accomplish their dreams. Yet Fitzgerald suggests through Gatsby’s tragic demise that the American Dream is an unattainable illusion. This fantasy arises from the endless possibilities in America and pushes people to devote their lives to futile attempts of fitting into an idealistic upper class they do not belong to. The countless opportunities in America initiates Gatsby’s naà ¯ve dream of becoming a member of the fantasized elites and push him to follow his unreachable dream relentlessly. Great changes in America brought about by the economic bursts make the social hierarchy extremely fluid.†¦show more content†¦To Gatsby, Dan Cody has successfully lived out his American dream and has everything he could ever wish for. Cody’s yacht â€Å"represented all the beauty and glamour in the world† (64). Gat sby sees it as a promise of his bright future with all the money, luxury and status anyone could desire. Overexcited by this tangible promise, Gatsby ignores any possibilities of failure. He fails to realize that Dan Cody never fits into the upper class but wanders on his yacht along the shores for more than five years. Furthermore, Cody is tricked by countless women for his possessions and is left suspicious, weak-minded and addicted to alcohol. Cody lives a relatively lonely and miserable life and is tricked out of all his money after he dies. Gatsby chooses to not be disillusioned by Cody’s ending but to fight for the glamorous upper class life represented by the yacht. By presenting Gatsby as a highly impressionable individual, Fitzgerald implies that the American Dream is unrealistic and callow. Young Gatsby’s dream of ascending to the highest stratum forces him to reinvent his past. Gatsby has never accepted his true identity as a poor farm boy and has always had a â€Å"Platonic conception of himself† as the wealthy New Yorker Jay Gatsby. Influenced by the seemingly successful example of Dan Cody, Gatsby finally decides to follow through with his dreams at all costs. He â€Å"invented the sort of Jay Gatsby that