Although Gatsby is a flawed character, Nick sees that Gatsby has a profound commitment to his ideals, a trait that is missing from the likes of the west-eggers, Daisy and Tom. Gatsby had to make himself, while Daisy and Tom are reckless and careless and simply inherited their social status. Fitzgerald emphasizes this from his use of point-of-view, first person, or more specifically, his use of Nick as the narrator of the majority of the story. Fitzgerald chose Nick, a young man who comes from the west, to enhance the differences amongst the characters. Nick proclaims in the beginning of the novel that he is "inclined to reserve all judgments- because he has had opportunities others have not had, and that he is one of the few honest people that he knows (Fitzgerald 1, 64). This sets a stage for a novel, where everything the reader reads is the plain truth, unbiased because the narrator himself is unbiased and honest. What are left are then the plain realities, the truth, within the characters, and their relationships with each other. Through this POV, the relevance of the book to today's America is magnified, for now readers can see without bias the truth behind Gatsby, how he embodies the American dream of individualism, the pursuit of one's ideals, how he struggled to make a name for himself and become independent. Fitzgerald's America, the 1920's, was filled with men like Gatsby, and to this day, America continuous to be made up of self-made individuals. And it is for this reason that Jay Gatsby still speaks for today's America, he still embodies the American dream of individualism, he is a symbol of the American idealist, a character Americans have been associated with ever since their country's creation. .
Although Americans and Gatsby share a dream of individualism, they also share a lust for wealth and power "a sort of universal trait if you will, however it is somewhat typified more so in American society.
