Was Gatsby's dream bound to fail?

In essence, Fitzgerald, disillusioned with his own life, does mock the American Dream. Fitzgerald and his wife lived right at the center of the Roaring Twenties, the materialism, the waste of youth as it pursues the wrong values, the selfishness. Fitzgerald tells his story through the eyes of a narrator, who manages to hold onto his values and avoids the pitfalls. Through Nick's eyes, the reader comes to see the waste and corruption. When he makes the decision to turn his back on the decadent lifestlye of the Buchanans, we applaud him.