Gatsby and His Un-American Dream

While reading The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, I realized that for society's standards in the 1920s, Gatsby's dream to find his lost love was considered ridiculous by most. I found it interesting that no one showed any support or thought is possible besides Nick Carraway, one of the few who thought ahead of his time. For most of the characters in the book, morals and ethics were unheard of for all but Nick. Meanwhile Gatsby, who had good intentions, often lost his footing on the path to his goals and ambitions. With moral values slowly fading and materialism on the rise, the typical dream that most people in New York, and American society in general, chased was the illusion of happiness derived from wealth, vast properties, and fleets of cars. Most of the people in East Egg had been born into wealth and whose morals had begun the process of decay since birth. However, these are the same people who reside on the top tiers of the social hierarchy. Often times, society has adopted the opinions of elites as the opinions of all. Thus, the American dream of materialism was born. Slowly, materialism and shallow dreams became the American Dream of the 1920s, leaving no room for any other. Gatsby's dreams suffocated with the tightening grip of superficial desires which led to the inevitable death of Gatsby, and with him went the last of the genuine American Dreams.