The 1920s were a decade of renaissance characterized by the ideal “American Dream” or the belief that anyone could achieve happiness on through a pure journey of their own hard work and honesty

The 1920s were a decade of renaissance characterized by the ideal “American Dream” or the belief that anyone could achieve happiness on through a pure journey of their own hard work and honesty. However during this era of hope, a decline in morality due to the increasing emergence of materialism caused a once beautiful idea of the American dream to become an artificial goal that could only be attained by unjustly accumulating wealth and social status. Many elite upper class people transformed into socialites, lavishly partying and partaking in various illegal activities such as drinking or gambling. This craving of status and wealth which had become falsely associated with the American Dream surpasses societal values and morals. In his novel, The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts a corrupt society with skewed perceptions of the American dream through George Wilson and Jay Gatsby’s pursuits of the ideal vision, revealing how the underlying erosion of morality directly related to wealth has contrived a sinful society in which the true American dream is unattainable.
Wilson’s character epitomizes a moral person with great hopes and dreams, however his lack of power causes leads his thoughts and beliefs in the wrong direction, and ultimately Wilson succumbs to the immorality around him. Wilson lives in The Valley Of Ashes and works as a mechanic in an “unprosperous and bare garage” (25). He dreams of one day becoming a successful businessman and moving to the West, a dream that closely resonates with the American dream. He ain’t said taking his ideal life through his own honest hard work and has hope that this integrity will bring his dream to life. Wilson’s hope and desire to become successful on his own sets him apart from any other character who aims to reach their dreams solely for wealth and desperately climbs the social ladder. This reveals that morality inversely equates with wealth, for although Wilson constantly fights to prioritize morality in his life, he eventually slips up in the end when he becomes aware of the immorality and infidelity surrounding him angered and driven by personal motives of love and lust he makes one rash decision to kill Gatsby but even after the Holocaust was complete Wilson’s character has still maintain the greatest cumulative morality despite the fact that he killed someone this reveals how corrupt the society was that even after committing murder Wilson is able to keep his arguably the most moral character
Contrarily Gatsby’s once admirable turned meretricious dream of Daisy makes him willing to forsake morals in order to acquire his fantasy by replacing his true intentions with the pursuit of wealth through corrupt means in order to animate his former vision.Gatsby’s in the Shell dream of Daisy is a Pier One in which he believes that any life with her would be a happy one upon seeing Daisy and innocence and vitality she represents to him Gatsby finds that he had committed himself to the following of a grail Meaning he would do whatever necessary to achieve his dream and win over Daisy however this dream transforms into a vulgar goal as the story progresses and Gatsby sees that Daisy had left him to marry into money and she had vanished into the rich hands her rich full life leaving Gatsby nothing seeing that Daisy only cares about material wealth a, Gatsby chooses to ignore her corruption of society and instead takes an immoral path in which he participates in many illegal activities in order to acquire wealth Andrew Daisy with his money Gatsby admits his immorality saying “I was in the drug business and I was in the oil business” implying he was involved with drug lord and organized crime such as the operations of Meyer wolfsheim but still Gatsby’s craving for wealth overpowers as moral senses in a conversation with Nick Gatsby says her voice was full of money. That was it I never understood before it was full of money that was the inexhaustible charm that Rose and fell in it by including this response from Nick the overall corruption in society is it supposed as people like Gatsby have become hell-bent on getting money that they forgot the pure Journey part of the true American Dream
Although the juxtaposition of these two characters and their journeys towards achieving their versions of the ideal American Dream highlight differences in their paths, the commonality between Wilson and Gatsby is that despite their social class, immorality imposed by the society they are living in disables the men from achieving their dreams. Gatsby’s crushing realization makes him feel that “he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream…A new world, material without being real, where poor ghosts, breathing dreams like air drifted fortuitously about…” (153-54). He realizes the problem with devoting one’s entire life to a goal so out of reach that it cannot be achieved, tearing away the façade that he has been hiding behind to realize the realities of the sinful world in which he lives. Wilson experiences a similar realization that the dream cannot be achieved, especially as he is slowly exposed to all the immorality around him including his wife’s infidelity along with other problems of welath that eventually lead him to abandon his morals and kill gatsby. Fitzgerald suggests that this inevitable sin that both characters are bound to experience…… puivhfevwndsmcrbweaocjklnsm the manifestation of morality differs in each character and
Overall, throughout the novel, the reader is made aware of the decay of values and morals in American society. The failure of their dreams relays the message that people have become morally corrupt and all that is left superficial society where materialism and wealth have taken the place of morals. Similar to the book and to life in the roaring twenties is modern time. Many parallels can be drawn from the book to the world we live in. Just like the twenties were full of consumerism, in modern times many people attempt to buy happiness with material wealth and possessions. People sacrifice their virtues and ethics to chase after a goal and because of this they do not achieve what it means to have the true American Dream