Gatsby Essay, Prompt #2

Gatsby’s desire for success is somewhat of a representation of the American Dream: peace, love and prosperity. However, Gatsby’s desire for success also displays the perseverance for a personal sense of honor. Jay Gatsby is definitely a symbolization of American culture and he continues to show this throughout the entire novel.

The American dream focuses on the central ideas of peace, love and prosperity. Jay is always throwing lavish, expensive parties with hundreds of people he does not even know. This certainly shows that Gatsby portrays an image of success - his prosperity. This display of lavish parties and his seemingly careless spending habits also reflect much of the American culture we see day to day. Americans will spend money on anything expensive just to make themselves look successful, to make it look like something they're not. Jay continues to buy irrelevant material possessions and throws expensive parties only to make him seem like something he really isn't.

As far as love goes in Gatsby’s life, he is somewhat a flop. However his desire for it is definitely something tied to the American dream. Throughout the entire novel, Gatsby is basically trying to woo his Ex into loving him again. He does this by secretly going out with her behind Tom’s back - yet another prevalent habit among men in America. This is a great example of him having selfish desires. An example of this is when in chapter 5, he invites Daisy over and impresses her with his house and material possessions.

As far as peace goes, there isn’t much of it for Gatsby. It seems as if through the whole novel he is never at peace, he’s always worried or stressed about something. This ultimately leads to his downfall / death in all. He is in reality a very lonely person, with Nick being his only real friend. Although his social circle is small, Gatsby’s demeanor isn’t that of someone who is content with or at peace with themselves.

It seems as though however, the little true happiness Gatsby had came from Daisy! The money he had and the parties he threw weren’t what made Gatsby truly happy, in fact it was Daisy. This again, led to his eventual death. While Daisy was driving Gatsby’s car, she hits Myrtle Wilson, and Gatsby loved Daisy so much he took the blame. In the end, George ends up killing Gatsby and everything for him is over with.

Gatsby’s life is more of a dream that was so very close - yet so far. Although Gatsby had to die, life as always goes on, and all he was had been turned into a memory… a thing of the past.