The American Nightmare - EC

Question: Is there a dark side to American success?

I believe that there is a dark side to the American Dream.  The American Dream is that someone can start out poor, work really hard, and then become really rich and successful.  This is really hard to achieve; but if someone manages to, it never is what they expect it be like.  A good example of this is Jay Gatsby.

Before Gatsby became rich, he was James Gatz.  The son of unsuccessful farmers, he always dreamed he should be rich.  He even said that "his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents" (Fitzgerald 104).  He was determined to become wealthy, no matter what the cost. Since he couldn't become rich legally, he became rich illegally.  He expected that once he was wealthy, everything would fall into place.  Daisy would be his and everything would be perfect.  However, this is not the case.  Daisy is married to another man, but this doesn't stop Gatsby.  He is prepared to do whatever is necessary to make her his "and to this conception he was faithful to the end" (Fitzgerald 104).  But Daisy doesn't feel the same way, thereby crushing Gatsby's dream; she states, "'Oh you want too much!'" (Fitzgerald 134).  Until the day he died, he never gave up on his dream.  He truly was ""faithful to the end" (Fitzgerald 104).  Gatsby did achieve the American Dream, but it didn't turn out to be everything he expected it to be.