First Draft:

In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the American dream is demonstrated. The American dream in this story is to have both money and love. However, we all know that sometimes you just can’t have both. The characters in the story try to live with both and end up having a lot of problems along the way. This story sets a good example of how you can’t always have everything that you want. With the American dream Myrtle, Gatsby, and Daisy confuse money with love and end up losing what they already had.
Myrtle dreams of being with Tom because he has a lot of money and she doesn’t have much beings she is part of the lower class. Tom will buy her anything that she asks for. “‘My dear,’ she cried, ‘I’m going to give you this dress as soon as I’m through with it. I’ve go to get another one tomorrow. I’m going to have a list of all the things I’ve got to get. A massage and a wave and a collar for the dog and one of those cute little ash trays where you touch a spring, and a wreath with a black silk bow for mother’s grave that’ll last all summer. I got to write down a list so I won’t forget all the thing I got to do.’”(Fitzgerald 40-41) Myrtle knew that as long as she had Tom, she could have whatever she wanted. Tom had bought her a puppy that she wanted for the apartment they had in New York City. Myrtle was married to Wilson, who worked at a gas station and didn’t get much for money. They lived in the Valley of Ashes, which was like a lower class town. Myrtle felt that with Tom she could live the American dream, but she heads up getting hit by a car and dies. Tom has lost his lover, but yet he is able to move on with Daisy as if he didn’t know her that well.
Gatsby changed everything about himself so he would have enough money for Daisy to be with him. Gatsby was part of the lower class when he lived at home with his family. Gatsby met Daisy with he was heading off to war. The two of them spent about a month together. When Gatsby left for the war, Daisy said that she would wait for him. However, Daisy does not wait for him and goes off and marries Tom. Tom had a lot of money and Daisy’s father approved of him. When Gatsby finished serving in the war, he build a mansion across from Daisy’s house so he could still be close to her. He had big parties at his house, hoping that one day Daisy would come walking in. Gatsby didn’t get his money by heritance he got it by bootlegging. Gatsby meets up with Daisy five years later and Gatsby shows Daisy everything that he had. Daisy was amazing and seemed to be falling for him all over again. Tom and Gatsby begin to fight over Daisy and whom she really loves. Gatsby says that it has been going on for five years. Tom says that it couldn’t have been going in for that long. Gatsby wanted Daisy to tell tom that she never loved him, but Daisy said that that would be lie. Gatsby tells Tom, “‘She never loved you, do you hear?’… ‘She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved anyone except me!’” Gatsby changed his life because he felt that if he wanted to live the American dream he need money to have Daisy. Daisy was everything that he dreamed of. Gatsby ends up getting shot and nobody goes to his funeral. Daisy, the one who he truly cares for, doesn’t even come. She doesn’t even send a letter of anything. She just moves on with out him like she didn’t really know him that well.
Daisy is in a relationship for money; she would never marry a man who didn’t have money. Tom has affairs a lot, but Daisy will not leave him because of his money. They just move always if Tom and his lover got too close. The night before Daisy’s wedding, she was a mess because she had received a letter from Gatsby. Daisy was no completely over him, but he didn’t have enough money to support her. When Daisy saw Gatsby for the first time in five years, she was in shock and amazed with what he all had. Beings Gatsby had money, Daisy wanted to be with him. Money seemed to be the only thing that weighed on her mind. “‘Her voice is full of money, he said suddenly.’”(Fitzgerald 127) Gatsby says that when he is talking with Nick. Everyone can see that a man with money interests her very much. Daisy could love someone and be very close to them, but refuse to marry them because they did not have enough money. Daisy started spending more time with Gatsby and she started to feel closer to him. When they all went into the city together, Tom and Gatsby fought about who Daisy truly loved. Gatsby and Daisy ended up heading for home together before the rest of them. When they were driving through the Valley of Ashes, Daisy ran Myrtle over. She did not stop, she just kept on driving. When they arrived home, Gatsby waited outside to make sure that she was okay. Daisy never talked to him again and Gatsby dies soon after. Daisy didn’t even feel close enough to him to even attend his funeral. She didn’t even send a note. Daisy felt that if she wanted to live the American dream she needed a man that had money and in the end, she lost Gatsby but still had Tom.
Myrtle, Gatsby, and Daisy all believed that the perfect American dream was to have both money and love. They soon found out that it was hard to have both. They realized that you sometime can’t always get what you want. During this story everyone lost what they secretly and truly wanted. Myrtle lost her life because of Tom. She thought it was Tom in the car, but it wasn’t. Gatsby lost his life because of Daisy. If he wouldn’t have been going after her, tom may have never even known him to tell Wilson that he was the one driving the car that hit Myrtle. Daisy lost Gatsby completely because she hit Myrtle and didn’t turn herself in. With this story’s American dream, it is very hard to live a happy life with both money and love together.