Green Light & American Dream

How is Gatsby's life an indictment of the American Dream?

The so-called American dream is defined as the idea where people have an equal opportunity to become successful if and only if they put in the hard work. However, every person's "American dream" is unique, because their view and definition of success are different. At first, we often determine or characterize one's success in accordance with their financial or materialistic success, but as we grow older and become less naive, we realize that being successful has a deeper meaning. Success to some people can mean simply being successful mentally or spiritually, for others being successful may just be making the world a better place than how they found it.

Gatsby's original definition of success is in terms of financial and materialistic success. And this is where his American dream becomes true, and over time he builds up his wealth and assets. However, it is only at the end of the story where Gatsby realizes that amassing his wealth was never his dream, but his dream was to be with Daisy. I think Fitzgerald uses Gatsby's life to show us how sometimes our definition of success can be very naive, which therefore results in us not being able to achieve the so-called "American dream" which we envisioned, even if we do work hard.