One of the major influences of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel ‘The Great Gatsby’ is the idea of ‘The American Dream’ or rather the myth of it! The American Dream is an ideal “of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement”. This was stated by James Truslow Adams, an American writer and historian who coined the ‘American Dream’ phrase. He and many others believed that regardless of which social class you were born into, that through hard work, anyone is capable of achieving a successful lifestyle. Fitzgerald uses symbolism throughout the novel to express the concept of the ‘Myth of the American Dream’. We are shown that in reality, the American Dream is corrupt and unachievable. We follow our main characters journeys and experiences in attempt to attain their personal dreams. In which most end in failure, proving against the American Dream’s promised capability.

“If it wasn’t for the mist we could see your home across the bay… You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock” – Chapter 5 of The Great Gatsby. The green light across the bay from Jay Gatsby’s mansion, on the Buchanan’s dock, is one of the main symbols of the American Dream. It represents Gatsby’s passionate desire and hope to rekindle his love with Daisy Buchanan to accomplish his own American Dream. To him the green light seems so close, yet realistically is out of reach, a metaphor to the idea of falling back in love with Daisy. “It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock.” This passage from when Jay reunites with Daisy for the first time suggests to when he realises that time has changed everything and Daisy isn’t this ‘perfect ideal’ he has created in his mind. His dream is exposed as being a huge ‘out of reach’ delusion and shows how he ignored any complications it had, such as Daisy being married. Gatsby had given his everything to lead him up to this moment which turns out to be not what he expected. His American Dream was a failure. He had everything but Daisy, and in pursuit of gaining her back, draws him to a tragic death. Ultimately this reflects on how people that are striving towards the American Dream, always want better and more than what they already have. This gap between their expectations versus reality can determine their happiness greatly. The false hope of the American Dream causes believers to never feel content or satisfied as there is always something impossibly out of reach.

In The Great Gatsby, the colour white portrays purity and perfection but is also used to reveal the corruption and myth of the American Dream. This colour is seen on the “white palaces of fashionable East Egg”, white clothing worn by the protagonists and Gatsby’s mysterious white card. Most importantly, white is predominantly affiliated with the character Daisy Buchanan. She often dresses in white, drives a white roadster, and the daisy flower is also white. To others, particularly Gatsby, she is perceived as a perfect ‘it girl’ example of the American Dream. Throughout the novel, readers discover her true personality and how her innocence has been stripped by the wealth and West Egg lifestyle. Some readers may say she’s one of the most amoral characters in the entire book. Daisy has an affair, lies, and kills Myrtle with no guilt, a death which Gatsby receives the blame for. She’s an ideal example of the corruption and illusion of the American Dream. “Taking a white card from his wallet, he waved it before the [policeman’s] eye’s”. This scene where Gatsby uses a ‘get-out-of-jail-free card’ to law enforcement is another key moment where the colour white is used to signify the American Dream’s corruption. Jay is ranked high in society and extremely wealthy, he and others of his status share a common belief that they are authorized to bend rules and do whatever they crave without consequence. The American Dream is not all glitz and glamour as it is anticipated, the dreamers that ‘succeed’ usually have a lack of morality, break laws, and are very selfish. Fitzgerald expresses this several times with the colour white symbolising the contrast between the hope and false innocence of the American Dream and the reality.

Fitzgerald uses water as a symbol to convey the illusion of the American Dream. It appears in many forms such as rain, mist, and even swimming pools throughout the novel to help the reader to gain a deeper understanding of the reality of the American Dream and that it’s an unrealistic belief made popular by society to advance the economy. When James Gatz reinvents himself into the false identity of ‘Jay Gatsby” with the help of wealthy sailor Dan Cody, this is considered the birth of his American Dream. Gatsby worked on his yacht and over time learned a lot from Dan until his passing. Of course, water is connected to this, the beginning of Gatsby’s American Dream, which is conventionally built on a lie. “He stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and…I could have sworn he was trembling.” The bay of water is the literal separation between Gatsby and his final quest to his dream, Daisy. The water in this context sends readers the message that overcoming this struggle for his dream is unrealistic and impossible. The bay also divides between East Egg and West Egg, both examples of the American Dream. The death of Jay Gatsby can additionally represent the failure/death of his own personal American Dream. This unfortunate passing takes place in his swimming pool as he is shot by George Wilson in an act of revenge. “The touch of a cluster of leaves revolved it slowly, tracing, like the leg of transit, a thin red circle in the water.” Despite lying, illegal activity, time, and work Gatsby still didn’t carry out his American Dream, proving its deceiving and isn’t legitimately reliable.

In conclusion, The American Dream is largely an idea based on the encouragement for Americans to climb the economic ladder and advance life quality with hard work and effort. The novel presents that this isn’t always possible and is impractical. Through symbolism, the author portrayed this idea in a clever way to present the hidden truth. While the perception of the American Dream was to create equality between wealth and opportunity of Americans, Fitzgerald shows America in the 1920s was an entirely unequal place where only the rich and privileged benefited from. For most the idea only provided them with false hope and promise and kept them at the bottom, afar from reaching any potential. There was a clear ugly division through society and classes, nothing close to equal. I’d like to say that the American Dream is dying out and is becoming a realisation of a myth to most of society, but there are sadly definitely still factors of it prevalent today.