What is the American Dream?

Imagine coming home from your dream job, driving an amazing car to your house in a wealthy neighborhood, to have your kids run up to the door to greet you. Wouldn't we all want that? This is the American Dream I hold most valuable. To be able to live a comfortable, successful life, and to having a great relationship with your family
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To begin with, one of the key parts of the American Dream for me is to live comfortably, and have a successful life. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway lives in a small house on West Egg squeezed between two gigantic mansions. He describes it as, An eyesore, but it was a small eyesore and [in] the consoling proximity of millionaires.(pg. 5) While Nick's relatively small house was enough for him to live comfortably, Gatsby's house was a different story. Nick says this about the house, (if you can even call it that) The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard- it was a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy It was Gatsby's mansion. (pg. 5) The difference between Nick and Gatsby was what they considered to be comfortable. Gatsby, a bootlegger, made so much money that he threw lavish parties every week, for anyone to come to. On the other hand, Nick, a bondsman, was just content in his small eyesore. Both were successful and comfortable in their own way.

In addition to physical comfort, a great family relationship is the other essential part to my American Dream. In The Great Gatsby, we see how Jay Gatsby ruined his relationship with his family in order to attain his American Dream. When Gatsby met Daisy, the woman that he would fall in love with, is when his dream of riches started. He first met her in Louisville, while he was stationed at Camp Taylor. Gatsby is sent into World War 1 and Daisy was going to wait for him. Daisy, however, could no longer stand the wait and married Tom Buchanan. Gatsby hears about this and is devastated. Eventually he ends up in New York, right across the bay from Daisy's house.

When he gets to finally have Daisy in his arms he says to her, If it wasn't for the mist we could see your home across the bay. You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock. Daisy put her arm through his abruptly but he seemed absorbed in what he had just said. Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever.(92-93) Sometimes your dreams aren't what they appear to be. Gatsby had left his family behind to chase after what he thought was true love for Daisy when in all actuality, he was only in love with the idea of her. By reading The Great Gatsby, I've realized I need to value you my family and realize it's more important than any dream.

The American Dream is what you believe it to be, everyone has different dream. As I've shown above the my American Dream is to live a comfortable and successful life, and have a great family relationship. After reading The Great Gatsby, I now have some examples to help guide me on my journey to my American Dream.

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