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In The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald, dreams, goals, and ambitions have a way of enticing and enchanting the characters. A goal becomes more than a goal; it becomes something into which the characters submerge themselves and by which they define themselves. These dreams then set up impossible expectations which are detached from what can realistically be achieved. Gatsby dreams of love with Daisy, a dream which eventually consumes his life. It seduces him into giving himself up entirely for its attainment. Similarly, Tom's ambitions to control every aspect of his life end up consuming him. It might be considered this fundamental tendency of human dreams to seduce the dreamers into dedicating themselves completely to those dreams which constitute their dangerous nature. Likely the most well known evidence of this comes on the very last page of the book, where it is stated that Gatsby “believed in the green light,” which is a metaphor, as is implied by apposition, for the “orgastic future that year by year recedes from us”(180). The fact that such a future is constantly receding would convince any rational person to give up-- especially because it is receding faster than we can chase it, which is implicit in the wording of the end of the paragraph, “Tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms further... and one fine morning--”(180). The fact that this statement is so small in scope, as if the speaker has tunnel-vision, implies that the goal is unattainable because we know the speaker to be Nick, who sees the bigger picture and realizes that such a course results in ruin. But Gatsby is so enraptured by his dream that he cannot bear to let it go, nor accept the idea that his quest to attain it is doomed. In ... ... middle of paper ... ...panic” as they slip “precipitously from his control”(125). He feels nothing constructive, but he feels panic, which is a typical reaction to being unable to cope with one's surroundings and situations. It is this moment which affords us most clearly a view of how Tom has been consumed by his ambitions. Take Tom as one example, and Gatsby as another. It seems clear that Fitzgerald intends the reader to see the dangerous, seductive side of such dreams as these. Some might call it a cautionary tale to the dreamer, for it warns us that this is a plight to which anyone, from the optimistic and idealist Gatsby to the pragmatic and realist Tom, is susceptible: the danger of being ensnared by an unattainable dream or ambition, and then seeing that dream fall to pieces before us. Works Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Scribner, 2004. Print.