The Green Breast of the New World

The Green Breast of the New World

The protagonist of the novel is Jay Gatsby, a wealthy young man from the mid-west, who has moved to New York to pursue his dream. As a younger man he meets a woman named Daisy and fell in love with her. Gatsby left for the Army, but when he returned she has married a man named Tom Buchanan. Throughout the novel, a green light is mentioned portraying Gatsby's desire for his American dream.

The novel both starts and stops with a reference to the green light. Gatsby associates it with Daisy, and in chapter one he reaches toward it in the darkness as the light leads him to his goal. Gatsby's quest for Daisy is associated with his American dream. In Chapter nine, Nick compares the green light to how, America, rising out of the ocean, must have looked to early settlers of the new nation. Nick shows how the settlers must have thought America was an amazing place. Then they realized how difficult it is to thrive in a new nation.

Gatsby put Daisy on an unrealistic pedestal. He, in his own mind, dreamed her up to be the perfect woman for him. He convinced himself she never loved Tom and only loved himself which was not true. And even if he had succeeded at winning Daisy over, he would still not be accepted into east egg's society for he did not have the old money. Therefore the green light on Daisy's dock expresses Gatsby's "unattainable dream." It is unattainable because of Gatsby's belief that wealth and social status is all he requires to win back Daisy. In effect, Gatsby sacrifices his humanity to keep his dream alive. He never establishes real relationships, but rather uses people in general to pursue his dream.