The Ashy Limbo and Seeing People For Who They Are
The American Dream promises that hard work will pay off in the form of success and prosperity. This concept plays a big role in American society. If one does well in school, gets good grades and a good job, they wouldn’t spend the rest of their life working at a minimum wage job. However, The Great Gatsby proves that the American Dream is not as guaranteed as people suggest. Throughout the movie, the Valley of Ashes emphasizes that there are people who cannot achieve the American Dream, not because of lack of effort, but because they were in a situation where it is impossible for them to achieve it.
Today, it seems as though accomplishing the American Dream is impossible as people are increasingly unlikely to accomplish the American Dream. This can be due to rising inflation, rising cost for higher education and the cost of owning a home increasing. As Kaleigh White, writer of The Campus puts it: “We can no longer afford the lives our parents led, or the lives their parents led during the birth of ‘the American Dream.’” (White 2021). In 2024, a survey done by Pew Research Center found that 47% of people believe that the American Dream either was or was never possible. Additionally, when asked about the American Dream, they found that almost a third of people asked believe that the Dream is out of reach for them (Borelli, 2024).
From the Pew Research Center
The idea that constantly working will improve one’s life is an oversimplification of how to be successful. It undermines the reality that life is not fair, there are limitations put in place to achieve everything one would want. This viewpoint impacts us everyday because it views those who don’t achieve success (or are financially unstable or even homeless) as lazy people who refuse to work. In reality, there are many other factors that can cause financial instability, not just refusing to work. Like the people in the Valley of Ashes, they do everything they can to make progress on the American Dream. They work hard, but are stuck in a dark, depressing limbo with little to no social mobility. Realistically, it will be almost impossible for people in the Valley of Ashes to achieve the American Dream, as it requires an investment in family, healthcare and education that no one can afford.
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Like Nick, many people from across the world immigrate to the United States because it is seen as an opportunity to become wealthy. However, sometimes achieving that wealth may not be the best. In Nick’s case, he did not achieve his American Dream of becoming wealthy, as the recklessness of the wealthy disgusted him so much that he moved out. Nick’s character arc throughout the movie emphasizes that while achieving the American Dream may seem promising, it is never worth it to sacrifice one’s character in exchange for it.
Nick in the opening scene, coming into Wall Street
Initially, Nick moved to New York to learn how to learn about bond business. Throughout the beginning, he was in awe of New York. It was there where he was exposed to many extravagant parties hosted by Gatsby. He got to meet Gatsby, and helped him reunite with Daisy. Unfortunately, that did not last. When Myrtle was killed, George (Myrtle’s husband) assumed that Gatsby killed her. This led to George killing Gatsby as revenge. At Gatsby’s funeral, only Nick came.
The lack of care of Gatsby after his death exposes how the wealthy did not care for him. In an experiment done by the University of California Berkeley, they had two participants play a game of Monopoly. However, one of the participants was given more privileges (such as more money at the start) than the other. As the game went on, the richer player showed “dominance and displays of power” and inevitably won the game. They found that “as a person's levels of wealth increase, their feelings of compassion and empathy go down” (Piff, 2014). This is most evidently seen in how Tom and Daisy reacted to Gatsby’s death. Instead of going to his funeral, they both moved out of New York.
Nick is the only character to see Gatsby more than just a rich man that throws lavish parties, he sees him as an ambitious man who worked hard to get where he is. However, the public were not interested in seeing Gatsby more than the person who “killed” Myrtle. The reaction to Gatsby’s death, especially Daisy’s, created disillusionment in Nick from achieving wealth. It was at that moment that Nick knew that achieving great wealth leads to decreased compassion for others. Nick, a man who “always [tries] to see the best in people”, decided that it was not worth it to sacrifice his humanity and empathy in exchange for overindulgence and carelessness all for the sake of achieving his American Dream. In the last scene of the movie, Nick shows that he kept his humanity. He created a memoir to honor Gatsby’s death. Nick’s story shows that even though achieving one’s dreams is promising, the corrupting nature of being wealthy emphasizes that it is not worth it.
Nick, typing his memoir about Gatsby
