Toxicity of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby (Essay Sample)

What does the American Dream truly mean? Is it buying a house and raising a family somewhere? Is it chasing the dream of being a millionaire or becoming a world renown singer or actor? Or is it simply to give back to the community and make those around you proud of what you have become? Regardless of what some people's version of the American Dream is, many people believe that the American Dream isn't truly alive still. The American dream has been killed for them in many different ways. In ways like, they just had a rough life growing up and have a harder path to achieve their dream. Or they just have such a far way to go and not enough motivation and don’t have the work ethic to get there. But for some people the American Dream is still very much alive in their eyes. Some people had an easier path than others to get to their dream because they were put in such a good position to get there early on in their life. But some people just put their head down and outworked everyone else and went through the struggle to get where they are now. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, argues that the American Dream can be poisoned or destroyed when one is pursuing their American Dream by those around them. Highlighting the character Tom Buchanan, ripping on those around him and being careless and oblivious to his actions and the outcomes of them.

Through the character Tom Buchanan, he corrupts the American dream by judging people for what their American Dreams are and what they did to achieve it. Tom Buchanan is most corrupted by the American Dream of others when he is first hearing about Gatsby. He automatically assumes that since he has not heard his name, he is coming from new money and thinks that he is making his money in a dishonest way. “Tom is talking to Nick about Gatsby. Tom automatically assumes that since he hasn't heard of Gatsby that he is “new money”. After that he assumes that he is some bootlegger who made his money dishonestly”(Fitzgerald 107). This quote shows what Tom thinks of Gatsby and how he thinks Gatsby made his money. It really shows what type of person Tom is. He says this about Gatsby without ever really meeting him and getting to know him well enough to make an opinion on him. This kinda ties into how we are as a society today in America. We are so judgemental of what people do to make money and how they chase their dreams. We make assumptions on people completely based on where they work and those assumptions could be completely wrong. As a result of his actions, Gatsby and Tom get into a heated argument over Daisy. “I found out what your ‘drug-stores’ were.” He turned to us and spoke rapidly. “He and this Wolfshiem bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That’s one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn’t far wrong”(Fitzgerald 133). Tom and Gatsby are arguing over Daisy trying to sway her over to their sides. Tom then begins to rip on Gatsby for what he does to get his money. He tries to make Gatsby seem like this big bad guy to make everyone go against Gatsby. He is trying to expose Gatsby and he is exposing him for what he does when he says “He and this Wolfshiem bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter.”(Fitzgerald 133).  but it seems like nobody is on his side really. Tom is ripping on Gatsby to make himself seem like he is the better person even though when doing that he is not really gaining anyone on his side. Additionally, the American Dream being poisonous is not only shown in the Great Gatsby, it has come up in text and stories from the real world. In a video called Why I think the American Dream is toxic highlights how toxic the American Dream is here in America. “She is talking about how her transition was from America to germany. Shementioned how judged she felt when she was working in America. She mentioned that sometimes even she was guilty of judging people for their own American Dream and what they do to get by. People are quick to judge what you do to make money and get by and become ahead of themselves and put themselves higher up than others.”(Why I think the American Dream is toxic). This quote highlights how the American Dream has become almost a toxic standard. This toxic standard shows how blind society is to truly being happy, people can be happy doing whatever they want but someone will always judge them for it. It also points out how toxic we are as a society and how judgemental we are. We assume that if someone is not working a good job that they are not successful, they are unhappy, they are dumb, the list goes on. This also ties into The Great Gatsby because everyone is always judging Gatsby for what he does for money and nobody has even really gone as far as meeting him and getting to personally know him. Tom for instance before ever talking to Gatsby assumed he was some bootlegger who made all his money in a dishonest way. Therefore, Tom Buchanan poisons and destroys Gatsby's American dream just by exposing him to make himself look and feel better. He gets enjoyment and boosts his ego by bashing and beating others down.

In the novel, Tom judges Gatsby because of who he associates with and what he does to make his money. But is Tom in the wrong for making these accusations? Tom judges Gatsby for associating with Wolfshiem who is known for doing some shady things. Wolfshiem is known for fixing the world series which is very shady. He also is a part of some sort of mafia/gang and does illegal “business”. “Gatsby and Nick are with wolfsheim. Wolfshiem seems to think that Nick is looking for a “business connection” and it never said what that entails. Gatsby tells Nick that Wolfshiem was the man that fixed the world series”(Fitzgerald 71). This quote shows what type of person Wolfshiem is and what type of person Gatsby associates himself with. Wolfshiem is notoriously a shady person and does not do the most honest of things. In general who people surround themselves with reflects on what type of person they are. So this makes gatsby come off as a shady and dishonest type of person. Because of who Gatsby associates himself with, Tom and other people make assumptions about what type of person Gatsby is. Though they are making these assumptions without knowing Gatsby very well, they can make assumptions like this because of who Gatsby associates himself with. “Somebody told me they thought he killed a man once.”A thrill passed over us… “it’s more that he was a German spy during the war.” One of the men nodded in confirmation. “I heard that from a man who knew all about him, grew up with him in Germany.”... “it couldn’t be that, because he was in the American Army during the war.”... “You look at him sometimes when he thinks nobody’s looking at him. I’ll bet he killed a man”(Fitzgerald 44). In this quote it really shows all of the different assumptions that are made upon Gatsby by others when they are at Gatsby's party and in Gatsby's house. When they are talking about what he did during the war and what side he was on, it really shows how mysterious he seems when people don't know him. For example when they say “it couldn't be that, because he was in the American Army during the war”(Fitzgerald 44). This quote shows how toxic society can be when making assumptions without knowing the person. People are making assumptions that he was a war spy and he killed a man, all while they were in his very own house at his party. Not even just in the novel, people now are making assumptions and decisions on people based upon what they do and who they are associated with, without even knowing the person having spoken to them or interacted with them.  “Affluenza was even used as a defense in a recent, highly publicized drunk driving trial in Texas, where a 16-year-old boy claimed that his family's wealth should exempt him from responsibility for the deaths of four people''(Gergoire 1). This quote alludes that the person who caused the deaths of innocent people through his own illegal actions thinks they are above everyone else because they have money. They think this way because they are assuming that since they have money they are better than everyone else and deserve to be treated differently than everyone else. This person had no clue who the people were that he killed but automatically thinks that he deserves to be treated differently and more special because his family has a lot of money. This transfers to our society today but on a smaller scale. Such as someone assuming just because someone works at a grocery store they are dumb, poor, lazy, sad about their life.  Therefore, even society now is still toxic and poisoned by the  American Dream even when it comes to others Dreams. There will always be criticism to go around for their dreams and people will always try to beat someone down to bring themselves up. Overall I believe that yes some people do heavily criticize and bash people for how they get their success and how they measure their success. And that people will always make assumptions of you no matter what you are doing. But some of it is partially on you for how you portray yourself in society because that's what will set you up for getting those accusations. In summary you can't change when people judge you, but you can change how they judge you.