The notion of the American Dream figures prominently in this story. How should readers define "American dream"? Moreover, is pursuing the American Dream necessarily a good thing, as evidenced by The Great Gatsby?

The idea of an American Dream was coined by historian James Truslow Adams in his 1931 book The Epic of America, and characterised as a dream in which “each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable… regardless of [the] circumstances of [their] birth or position”. The dream is more commonly typified as one’s ability to go from ‘rags to riches’ in America, however, there is a deeper sense of the ‘dream’ that goes to the core of the American identity, right back to its ‘Founding Fathers’. America’s first settlers, who left Europe because of religious persecution in the early 16th century, came to the New World with a dream of peace, prosperity and a new way of life. The Great Gatsby can be read as a criticism of the conspicuous consumption of the roaring twenties and the debasement of the American dream from ideas of opportunity to ones of just getting rich. Jay Gatsby might be seen to personify both the original, uncorrupted American Dream and the corrupted Dream of the 1920s that Fitzgerald is criticising. While his actions are motivated by an honest and noble desire, his love for Daisy, he can only envisage his solutions through achieving great wealth, which he does through corrupted and illegal means. Seen in this light, therefore, Gatsby’s failure to achieve his dream of marrying Daisy can be read as an allegory for America’s own failings in realising its Dream.Fitzgerald, however, treats Gatsby as something of a tragic hero by the end of the novel, celebrating his earnestness and the integrity of his motives. ’They’re a rotten crowd.’ Nick says to Gatsby, ‘You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.’ Nick’s use of the word ‘rotten’ is significant here as it describes something that was once healthy but has since become infected and been spoiled, true both of the characters of the novel (aside from Gatsby) and of Fitzgerald’s notion of the American Dream. ‘The Great Gatsby’ suggests, therefore, that while there is an integrity at the heart of the American Dream, the corruption of the dream by the 1920s means that pursuit of it will inevitably result in a disappointed, frustrated outcome.