Gatsby's American Dream

I believe that there was a time when Gatsby truly loved Daisy. But as the years grew, that love and longing turned into a fantasy that consumed Gatsby. He became obsessed with the idea of impressing Daisy. He lit up his house like a circus or fair in hopes of attracting her to it, he shows her his dozens of beautiful shirts, and even gets Nick’s lawn trimmed knowing she will see it. When Daisy does enter his magnificent home, Gatsby “revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes.”

I believe that Gatsby ultimately wants the satisfaction of winning Daisy. She really has become his American Dream and a sort of object to him. If Gatsby gets Daisy, he will feel as if he has beaten Tom and fully gained everything he has wanted. He is already rich and successful, but Daisy would be the icing on the cake. She would symbolize the grand finale to his list of attributes: powerful. Gatsby would have power over Tom in the same way that Tom feels he has power over George Wilson. But Daisy cannot simply just decide to be with Gatsby rather than Tom, Gatsby “wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you.’” Gatsby is so hung up on the past. He states he can repeat the past and that he will “fix everything just the way it was before.” Nick believes that Gatsby “wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps,” and “if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was.” Obtaining Daisy is that starting point and the part of his past that Gatsby wants to repeat. If successful, it will be Gatsby’s American Dream come true and the final fulfillment of his life’s ultimate aspirations.