Jiazhen(Diana) Li - A Wild Goose Chase

The Great Gatsby, a book written by Scott Fitzgerald, discusses how people view their American Dream and how they fail to achieve it, and Jay Gatsby, the protagonist, is just one of those who get lost in the vast fantasy. His American Dream consists of two parts, money and, ultimately and more importantly, Daisy, and he tries very hard to make his dream come true. Gatsby is undoubtedly a practical person and he has many personalities that are vital in the process of realizing one’s dream. He works hard and puts in effort. In the book, Gatsby made a very successful reverse in terms of financial assets and business networking. He used to have absolutely no money and he wouldn’t accept his parents since they were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people; within a relatively brief time after the great war, he was able to make himself a household name in both East Egg and West Egg. He is even willing to achieve his dream through dishonest means. He was so into Daisy that he falsified himself an identity and a family background, he accumulated money by selling alcohol illegally and he broadened business connection by intensively associating with gangsters. Granted, he has great upward movement in social status, but he is always the outcast of the Old Money because they consider him lack the superior blood.

This concept of inequality is also revealed in the documentary, Park Avenue: Money, Power, and the American Dream, and the idea is put in a very interesting way. Our daily life is described as "a rigged game played for keeps", as every person entering the game gets a pre-determined amount of power, money and opportunities. Being born is like drawing a lottery, and getting inherent social status and wealth is only a matter of luck. Some people are raced behind even before birth, and it is very hard to pull themselves out the current situation, it almost never happened. What the documentary tries to prove here explains the reason why Gatsby won’t be accepted. James Gatz was primarily labelled the moment he was born as a child of a poor family, or born to be a New Money, and this denoted his impossibility to be with Daisy. Gatsby as a member of the nouveau riches, sees the power of money and believes that he stands equal chances as the Old Moneys, since they have similar financial power; whereas Daisy who comes from a prominent family has been educated and influenced by the sense of nobility and would never find equality between these two groups. They are different like chalk and cheese, and this enormous gap marks Gatsby’s incapability of falling love with Daisy. As described in the book, Daisy is literally the only thing that could bring Gatsby his desired life and would therefore be his American Dream. Although he is equipped with the right assets and right personalities, this Dream can only be an unreachable dream.

From my point of view, the American Dream is unattainable to all and has no connection to one’s personality, since it is essentially an ideology that can only exist in perfect conditions. In broad definition, the American Dream is said to guarantee every dweller of the United States a happier, richer and fuller life as long as they work hard, regardless of race, gender, background, etc. This dream has encouraged those diligent people for decades, keeping them totally soaked in their livelihood. However, in reality, the idea of the American Dream is corrupted, because the said better off can only be reached if race, gender, background, etc. are taken into no consideration, but situations in which such parameters are in no regard, or even in little regard, are not achievable at all.

I commented on Sue's blog