Money, success, and happiness always seem to be interconnected with each other, especially within the American Dream. Surprisingly, the American Dream included comfort, freedom, and opportunity. However, as America became prosperous, the American Dream gradually transformed into the idea that happiness depends on money and success. The novel The Great Gatsby illustrates Jay Gatsby chasing the American dream, only to find himself failing to achieve it. Despite his relentless pursuit of the object of his obsession, Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby's relentless efforts are marred by money and pleasure, inevitably resulting in looming tragedy. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses flashbacks to show the decline of the American dream as it becomes full of materialism, all about the wealth and status that marks success. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In chapter 4, F. Scott Fitzgerald presents Gatsby's previous account of his past when he meets Daisy. Jordan begins to remember when he first met Gatsby with Daisy and how they fell in love. She tells Nick that one "October day in nineteen seventeen" she came across Daisy's Fay house which had "the biggest of banners and the biggest of lawns." Jordan also points out that Daisy "was only eighteen". When Jordan arrived in front of his house that morning, he saw an officer and Daisy engrossed in each other. She insists that the officer's "name was Jay Gatsby and I didn't see him again for over four years." However, Daisy "married Tom Buchnana of Chicago" who "came with a hundred people in four private cars and rented an entire floor of the Seelbach Hotel" in Gatsby's place. She was too tired waiting for Gatsby who had gone to war, but above all she wanted more wealth that Gatsby did not have. The story of Daisy's acquaintance with Gatsby demonstrates Gatsby's persistence in the past. He sees it, his American dream, as the ultimate prize of glory and success achieved. His obsession rather than love for Daisy makes him believe that he can only obtain her with wealth and status; it stops him from realizing that he can't build a future with her while missing out on other complications and connections. In Chapter 6, F. Scott Fitzgerald reveals to Nick how Gatsby flashes back to how he got his name and what his childhood was like. Jay Gatsby, originally called James Gatz, had "changed his face at the age of seventeen and at the specific moment that saw the beginning of his career." His parents were failed farmers, and coincidentally, Gatsby warned Dan Cody, a copper and silver mining millionaire, on his yacht. He was hired as Cody's assistant for five years. As they sailed, he lived a charmed life separate from his life in North Dakota, and James Gatz learns to be Jay Gatsby. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Gatsby's substantial childhood background describes that Gatsby was inspired by Cody who had so much wealth and status, and he strived to become another identity which also became Cody's invention: Jay Gatsby. His declining American dream gradually turns into a dream full of materialism.