The American dream has always piqued people's interest. It can be defined as the belief in the possibility of thriving and succeeding in all areas of a person's life. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates how the characters in the novel strive to achieve the American dream and hints to readers what an unattainable concept it is to achieve. To do this, the author focuses on the actions that the characters take to achieve their dreams and how these characters end up being insatiable. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Throughout the novel, the main protagonist, Jay Gatsby, builds himself up from nothing in an attempt to achieve the American dream. Yet, his popular status in society was not enough to achieve his ideal dream and in trying to go further, it led to his death. Daisy, who was already married, was Gatby's past love, but Gatsby was still too obsessed with her. He was intent on finding her, which led him to build his house right across the street from Daisy where he can see "a single green light, a minute away...at the end of the platform." (Fitgerald, 24 years old) The author of the novel proves to the readers that Gatsby has reached the status in which he is financially and socially stable to build his house wherever he wants, but Gatsby feels the need to build his house right across from Daisy which represents the “one green light” to try to feel closer to her and have the feeling of realizing the missing part of her dream. This evidence proves that although Gatsby tried to achieve his dream, it was impossible to achieve it given the extent of his efforts. At the end of the novel, Gatsby finds himself dead and without Daisy. In his life, Gatsby represented so much wealth that "his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to realize it", and yet that is exactly what happened. His dream of becoming rich was already fulfilled, but the dream of being with Daisy, even though she was married and he was extremely close to her, was not successfully realized. Little did Gatsby know that [his dream] was already behind him, somewhere in the vast darkness beyond the city..." (Fitzgerald, 193) Fitgerald brings up the idea that even if Gatsby had lived, he would not would never have known that his desire to be with him Daisy was a mission impossible and it would lead him on a long journey to continue to persistently persevere for a life with Daisy that would never happen. Gatby's actions prove the argument that the American dream is an unattainable dream that leaves people wanting more but not being able to get more. Additionally, other characters who seem to share the same fate as Gatsby are George and Myrtle Wilson. The American dream did not exist for George Wilson who was a hard worker who could not leave the West with his wife, Myrtle, due to lack of funds which led to the couple's deaths. George Wilson was a mechanic who was unaware that his wife Myrtle was cheating on him with Tom Buchanan, Daisy's husband. Myrtle was a woman who wanted more than what a blue-collar worker could give her, which is why she had an affair with Tom. George reveals to Tom that he has "been sick all day... [and is] all run down." (Fitzgerald, 131) Trying to earn enough money for him and his wife to move was very stressful and it made him physically ill, which is why "in the sun his face was green." (Fitzgerald, 131) In this section, Fitzgerald proves that George and his wife are not of the same social class as Tom Buchanan because George does not have enough money to pursue hisAmerican dream which is to leave the city with his wife. Gerorge has to work hard to try to earn enough money, which has a detrimental effect on him. Later in the novel, Myrtle is killed by a car that hits her in which Geroge suspects she was his lover. George then continues to assume that Gatsby is his lover because he was the owner of the car that hit Myrtle, so George kills Gatsby and then himself. (Fitzgerald, 162) The couple's death symbolizes how striving to climb the social ladder was never a possibility for them because they did not come from wealthy families and actually had to work to obtain what they needed. Gatsby, Myrtle, and George are all characters in Fitzgerald's novel who have to work very hard to become someone of high standing in society, but they never fully succeed. Myrtle attempted to take a shortcut and try to achieve social betterment with someone who was already privileged and yet she was unable to achieve what she wanted. Gatsby and Wilson worked hard, but their hard work didn't get them this far. Based on the character's actions in the novel, it can be determined that the American dream does not exist and can also be considered dangerous to attempt to achieve. Regardless of Fitzgerlad's novel, the United States has conducted numerous polls that demonstrate a common trend in citizens' ideas of the American dream. For several years, Americans have built their opinion on the American dream as it has been adapted. Specifically in the late 1900s and early 2000s, the American Dream was a hot topic that represented materialistic and financial security with a stronger influence of technology. Before that, it was more focused on equal opportunities, respect and freedom. A newspaper article by Sandra Hanson and John Zogby shows a collection of polls from various sources asking Americans their opinions on specific issues or statements. Table 7 in the journal article asks interviewers to respond to what they think of the statement: “Hard work offers few guarantees of success. » The survey shows a mixed review of responses which are consistent over the years from "Strongly agree" to "Don't know." Even if the majority say "Somewhat disagree" or "Somewhat disagree", it should be noted that the percentage of people saying "Strongly agree" and "Somewhat agree" is constant over a period of 10 years. Opinions on this survey vary across all responses, showing just how undecided Americans are about whether hard work pays off and contributes to their American dream. Based on this scattered data, I can establish the idea that the American dream is an unattainable concept because many Americans still do not know whether or not hard work can pay off. In addition to this journal article, Table 8 is another survey in which respondents are asked: “Do you agree or disagree: The American dream has become impossible for most people to achieve ? This survey collects opinions from 1995 to 2003, which makes this table more recent than the previous table presented. In Table 8, the percentage of people agreeing with the question is slightly higher than the percentage of people disagreeing in the years the survey was conducted. Additionally, the percentages never seem to show a huge relative change for the two categories. This table allows us to conclude that in recent years, more and more people do not believe in the American dream and what is associated with it..