I once had this dream where I fell into a lake. I didn’t know how to swim, so I started sinking through the murky water, unable to do anything else but reach my hand toward the light at the surface. I wasn’t panicking or struggling, it was just this peaceful descent into the depths, until I could no longer see the surface of the water anymore and then I woke up. When I woke up, I wondered why I just accepted my fate. Was it because I didn’t know the reality of what was happening to me? In reading The Great Gatsby, I’m reminded of this dream. But instead of me drowning, it’s the characters and what they’re reaching for is the American Dream. They don’t know that they won’t ever be able to grasp it because they are denying the reality that they’re drowning. We see this especially in Gatsby and his romanticism of Daisy and the American dream. He’s constantly reaching for something that he can’t grasp because he doesn’t know how to swim in the reality of his situation. Unlike me, who didn’t panic, we do see Gatsby panic when he realizes that Daisy isn’t who he thought she was and when his status is threatened by Tom. Gatsby slowly realizes that his idealist view is not realistic and also not sustainable. Not only does Gatsby realize this, we the readers do too when Gatsby dies. We are kind of slapped in the face with this realization, but that’s what I think Fitzgerald was trying to do.