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 characters 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 leads to the corruption of human
nature and moral values. Ultimately, the American Dream goes awry for Jay 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 fulfill
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
doesnt 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 Daisys 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 wealth and status. "[Gatsby] and this
Wolfshiem bought up a lot of side-street drug stores here in Chicago and sold 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 Gatsbys major misconception is that he is able to earn Daisys 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 generations 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 Gatsbys 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 (Smiljani 6), thus Jay Gatsbys American Dream will never
become true.

Daisy Buchanan is a shallow character who is determined 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 Gatsby 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 marry 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 lack 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 peoples lives; she lets Gatsby take the blame for her
unintentional manslaughter of Myrtle Wilson. Her careless actions eventually result in
Gatsbys 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 Gatsbys 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 class. 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 little 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 aristocratic
faade is safe.
However, the class difference between Myrtle and Tom is simply too great to
yield the possibility of marriage, which is Myrtles American Dream. Tom physically
abuses Myrtle, knowing that she will not react and would rather suffer 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 concentration 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. Myrtles
insecurities and easily manipulative nature ultimately results in her tragic death.
In the process of chasing their individual Dreams, Jay Gatsby, Daisy
Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson, and Tom Wilson in The Great Gatsby become corrupted
and are left with no sense of purpose or morality. 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 peoples 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

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