Corruption Of The American Dream In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

The Corruption of The American Dream
The American Dream is starting with nothing and through hard work someone can achieve all the happiness one can handle. But if that person were to try to buy the past to regain the happiness they once had they will never succeed. A example of this is F. Scott Fitzgerald 's, The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald criticizes the American dream in his novel, The Great Gatsby, by showing ones belief that money can buy happiness and love through the American dream and also shows the corrupting influence of wealth to the purity of that dream.
The first example of the belief that money can buy his happiness is when Nick Carraway describes the West Egg, where he lives. The houses are very luxurious but there is a distinction

At the party 's guests marvel over his Rolls Royce and his swimming pool. He wants the attention of all of these people. This is a side of him that is enjoying how the American should be. While touring the house, Nick wanders into the library and runs into Owl Eyes, who remarks that none of the books were cut. The books back then had the pages stuck together at the top and when someone read the books, they had to cut each page. All this shows that Gatsby is trying to use his money to buy his happiness and the love of many others although he only has one person truly in mind. He is truly living what would be today 's version of the Dream life.
The lavish items that he buys are not for his happiness though, he is trying to attract Daisy. His house was picked solely because it is directly across the bay from Daisy 's house. At night her house can be seen by the green light that flashes at the end of her dock. The green light is a recurring symbol in the book and is stated that "In his own private world past and future can be held captive in the present"(Fitzgerald 117). The green light symbolizes Gatsby 's attempt to retrieve his past love for