Everyone has dreams, aspirations, goals, whatever word you choose to use. We turn these dreams into careers, hobbies, and even parts of our personality. One can tell a lot about a person from their desires. “Big dreamers” can be seen as ambitious, crazy, childish, or unrealistic. “Small dreamers” can be seen as boring, unmotivated, but also smart and calculated. In terms of factors that are actually within our control, our dreams may be the biggest part of who we are.  F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book The Great Gatsby, can be interpreted as many things; a story of love, a story of tragedy, or a story of history, but my favorite way to look at is that of a story of personal dreams and the American dream. 

The book tells the story of Jay Gatsby, a man who pulled himself up and went from rags to riches; a true example of the American dream. Except, his rise is not as glamorous as what you would believe. His methods were immoral and illegal. See, he gained his wealth off of many illegal activities, including bootlegging, the sale of illegal alcohol. With this money, he relocated to West Egg, Long Island, New York. From there he went on to host extravagant parties and built connections, specifically with the narrator, Nick Carraway. All of this, for his dream, winning back the love of an old acquaintance, Daisy Buchanan. 

If we ignore all the questionable morality of Gatsby’s actions, we can still see that he made almost all of the right moves. He accomplished at least one of his dreams, getting out of poverty, but his other dream of winning Daisy remained unsuccessful. Becoming rich, making connections, speaking with Daisy, they were all an illusion of progress. Daisy would have never left Tom in the end, she valued that stability, lifestyle, and status more than anything Gatsby had to offer. A hardworking man, Gatsby was motivated to a fault. He always pushed towards his dream, but that left him tunnel visioned, and unable to face the reality that what he desired most was always locked behind an impossibly high barrier. 

“And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it.“

I find the topic of dreams, and the journey to reach them, an incredibly important topic to me, and people around my age. As we approach the age where we are expected to specialize in one field, most kids drop their dreams in favor of safety and security. So far I’ve written about how chasing dreams too blindly is dangerous, and well, it is, but does not mean to completely abandon your goals. At the top level, be it in sports, business, or other forms of competition, people are completely dedicated to their dreams, and if you aspire to reach that level one day then you must also put complete dedication into your goals. Most kids, including myself, are now tasked with assessing how ambitious we are going to have to be with our dreams.  

To be honest, I don’t really have an answer to how hard one should follow their dreams. As cliché as it may be, my best call to action would be for everyone to begin thinking harder about their dreams, and how they want  to accomplish them. Reevaluate your situation, goals, personal beliefs, etc. and then do what’s best for you. This process is not simple, and definitely won’t be a five minute affair. Reevaluating your dreams could take months or even years, but it’s important to start thinking about it now rather than regretting your choices later.