The strong theme “The American Dream,” is shaped and created with these important components in mind, materialism, selfishness, and social standing. Materialism plays one of the key components in the theme of The Great Gatsby. Nick gives a great opinion of how money corrupts, "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy -- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept …showed first 75 words of 409 total…

…showed last 75 words of 409 total…The whole novel was broken up into the small theme of rich verses poor. Even the location of the where characters lived was divided by status. The West Egg represented the “new money” and less exclusive, where the East Egg represented the more elite. Unfortunately, the American Dream is not achieved in this story because of the one missing component, happiness. Any sum of fortune can’t buy you pleasure unless your fortune is happiness.