In life, everyone has a goal for what they want to achieve later on, whether it is success, fame, wealth, or a strong family. Some people use every living moment of their life trying to accomplish this goal, while for others, they may lack the motivation and grit and fail. In the book The Great Gatsby, the main character has dreams of becoming successful. He meets a young woman named Daisy and falls in love and then loses her. He becomes rich and throws massive parties in attempt to get her back and his unawareness causes him troubles. Although Jay Gatsby seems like a genuine, charming person, the green light at the end of the dock symbolizes his obsession over Daisy and the American Dream, which both have lead not only him but many people down this road to corruption.

When Gatsby first met Daisy in Louisville, he immediately became obsessed with her beauty. They fell madly in love with each other and Gatsby vowed to never lose her. Unfortunately, he was called to fight in WWI, and Daisy married Tom while he was gone. Thus, prompting Gatsby to devise a great plan to get her back. He would stop at nothing until he had reached his goal. While Jordan was explaining Gatsby’s request to Nick, she says, “Gatsby bought that house so Daisy would be just across the bay” (Fitzgerald 78). She also says on the next page, “I think he half expected her to wander into one of his parties, some night.” This explains part of Gatsby's great strides to getting Daisy back. He specifically bought his house directly across from Daisy’s, and threw gigantic parties every weekend to attract countless people hoping that she would walk in one night to take her back. The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock represents Gatsby’s vision as a whole. Always distant and faint when looked at from Gatsby’s house. The green light also represents Gatsby’s tunnel vision towards his goal and the unawareness of the fact that his dream isn’t achievable. Thats is why when Nick is describing his first encounter with Gatsby he says “he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling (Fitzgerald, 21). This quote quite plainly states that the dream is impossible to grasp, something Gatsby just can’t register in his mind.

James Gatz was born to a very poor family of farmers from North Dakota. He experienced struggles throughout his childhood and had a large ambition to be successful. It was his lifetime goal. At age 17, multi-millionaire Dan Cody offered James Gatz his American Dream, which was to escape the trap of his past and reinvent himself as a new man: Jay Gatsby. While on Cody’s yacht travelling the globe, Gatsby worked hard and honest for him because he was driven by his motives which were to be successful and carry out his American Dream. Everything was going well until Cody died and Gatsby was only left with twenty-five thousand dollars of the inheritance with Ella Kaye getting the millions. This represents the failure and destruction on everything Gatsby had wanted and forced him to resort to crime to attain his goal. “So while Gatsby’s story arc resembles a traditional rags-to-riches tale, the fact that he gained his money immorally complicates the idea that he is a perfect avatar for the American Dream. Furthermore, his success obviously doesn’t last. He still pines for Daisy and loses everything in his attempt to get her back.” (Wulick).

Gatsby’s fast success and his dream for Daisy set him up for inevitable failure. He was too blind to realize that Daisy doesn’t really love him, she only loves his money. The same goes for Tom too, she only married Tom before Gatsby because he gave her the opportunity to be immediately rich. As it explained here: “Daisy, Tom, and Jordan lack the inner resources to enjoy what their wealth can give them. They show the peculiar folly of the American dream. At the pinnacle, life palls. Daisy is almost unreal” (Telgen). Daisy is a gold digger and Gatsby doesn’t realize, which only increases the distance between him and his goal. Towards the end of the book the green light ceased to represent a dream for success. “As Gatsby’s dream is dashed, the green light stops being something that is his lone, and instead takes on a universal quality  Now it stands for the unreachable dream that lives inside all people” (Wulick).

Although Jay Gatsby seems like a genuine, charming person, the green light at the end of the dock symbolizes his obsession over Daisy and the American Dream, which both have lead not only him but many people down this road to corruption.

Jay Gatsby’s charming and glamourous charisma fooled many different characters. The green light symbolizes his nonstop obsession Daisy and his goal to be successful, his American Dream. His tunnel vision and loyalty to achieving a dream that was unreachable ultimately lead him to his downfall. Gatsby lived the life of multiple men in half the lifespan of a normal person, and all were mostly failures. Everyone has their own version of the American Dream. If you experience a setback, don’t simply give up and resort to bad things like Gatsby, you must stay resilient and have the grit to push forward. Hard, honest work always has a reward.