Fitzgerald is saying that those who pursue the American Dream can never be satisfied, because the American Dream entails always striving for something more than what we already have. Gatsby embodies this in the decadent wealth that he is always accumulating, and alsoin his pursuit of Daisy. Even when Gatsby succeeds in seducing Daisy, and even when she wantsto run away with him, he does not feel satisfied. He wants her to say she never loved Tom and to live in his house with him as if she had been married to him all along; this is impossible for her to do. Because of this, Gatsby will always be unsatisfied, and this destroys him. This can be seen as representative of the frustration all those who try to pursue the American dream feel. Specifically in terms of the time period, the 1920s were a time of great economic growth, especially in the stock market. The theory of the stock market was that wealth is infinite; that is, if you work hard (keep up with your investments), your income will always grow. The belief was also that anyone could become a part of it, even if they were born poor (like Gatsby). This was the crux of the American Dream in the 1920s and is a common theme in the novel; however, this idea of infinite growth turned out to be untrue, as the economy crashed in the 19...
