Success is steadfastly defined as the accomplishment of an aim or purpose, but in The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald compares the beliefs of characters Jay Gatsby and Nick in order to explicate how the definition of success is distinct to different people in America.
In the 1920s, the American Dream was characterized as the achievement of success through wealth, and Jay Gatsby is a prime example of an American Dream, rags-to-riches success story. Gatsby grew up poor, as his "parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people" (98), and, as a young adult, Gatsby found work as "a clam-digger and a salmon-fisher" (98) "along the south shore of Lake Superior" (98). Later, Gatsby, with Meyer Wolfsheim's help, "bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago" (133), and he became a bootlegger, making Gatsby immensely wealthy. This was important to Gatsby, since he strongly believes that a person can "repeat the past" (110) and change it to the way he or she wants it to be.
Unlike Gatsby, Nick believes that success is achieved through "at least one of the cardinal virtues" (59). Nick personally believes that his is honesty, stating that he is "one of the few honest people" (59) that he knows. Not everyone can obtain wealth comparable to Gatsby's, except by being dishonest. Therefore, it is better and more acquirable to be morally successful than having success through wealth.
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