Francis Scott Fitzgerald portrays the American Dream, originally a set of goals that included freedom, stability, and an honest life with the possibility of social and economic mobility towards the 'high earned through hard work, corrupted and degraded by the selfish materialism of the 1920s, an era that Fitzgerald characterizes primarily by its greed and lavish hedonism, in his famous novel The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald, in The Great Gatsby, seeks to discredit the supposed purity of the American dream and the belief that anyone can achieve it through hard work. He argues instead that the dream is a mere illusion, altered so significantly from its original form that its pursuers aspire to and achieve nothing more than the hoarding of empty material possessions and empty pleasures. Fitzgerald criticizes the American Dream through his characterizations of Myrtle Wilson, Tom Buchanan, Jay Gatsby, and the people who attend Gatsby's extravagant parties without being invited. A minor character in The Great Gatsby, Myrtle Wilson, who lives in the Valley of Ashes with her poor husband George Wilson, represents the degeneration of once-prized American ideals of hard work and honesty as Myrtle attempts to climb the social ladder by becoming the lover of the rich Tom Buchanan. She lucidly embodies the dissolute morality and hedonism of the 1920s, for, when Tom visits, Myrtle, facing her husband, approaches Tom, "[looks] red in the eyes, [wet] her lips" , and tries to act in the most sensual way possible in order to attract his favor and interest (Fitzgerald 30). She also often lies to her husband, telling him that she plans to visit her sister when in reality she leaves her home to have sexual intercourse with Tom, who lures Myrtle with... middle of paper... ....ald states that the 1920s, an era of avarice, corrupted the American Dream, its ideal of hard work, and Americans. In conclusion, through his portrayal of Myrtle Wilson, Tom Buchanan, Jay Gatsby, and the partygoers, Fitzgerald demonstrates that the American dream is a mere illusion, corrupted so significantly by the people of the 1920s that it is hardly recognizable. It reveals the superficiality of the American dream: how greed and deception lurk beneath its glittering golden surface. Works Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott, and Matthew J. Bruccoli. The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Scribner, 1996. Print.Smiljanić, Siniša. "The American Dream in The Great Gatsby." The American Dream in The Great Gatsby. Np, April 2011. Web. 16 February 2014. "The Great Gatsby: Awakening from the American Dream." Dwell in the text. University of California Press, nd Web. 20 February. 2014.