The overall theme of “The Great Gatsby” is the American dream. Originally, the American dream was supposed to be the pursuit of happiness and the love between a man and a woman. During the story, the American dream is corrupted by the selfish pleasures of the men and women in the story. After the soldiers got back home from World War 1, there was a major rise in materialism and greed. Nick and Gatsby both fought in the war and Gatsby reflects the materialistic ways of the people at this time. He has parties every Saturday to try and get Daisy over to his house even though he knew that she was married. Eventually Daisy comes over to Gatsby’s house and they have an affair while Daisy’s husband is also having an affair. This shows the decline of moral and social values of this era. Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, and Myrtle all put money and pleasure before the wellbeing of others and it ends up leading to death and destruction. Gatsby ends up loosing Daisy when she learns about his criminal past and then he has nothing to live for anymore and he ends up getting shot by George Wilson. Gatsby was Nick’s best friend and Nick feels lonely once Gatsby is dead and he returns to the Midwest where people have good moral values.
The author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, is trying to show Nick pursuing the American dream by coming to New York to be a bondsman and maybe find a woman to spend the rest of his life with. When Nick comes to New York he has very good values and beliefs but notices that the people of New York do not. At the end he returns to the Midwest where he can continue living out his good moral values.