Harry Nilsson---The Puppy Song

Dreams are nothing more than wishes
And a wish's just a dream you wish to come true

If only I could have a puppy
I'd call myself so very lucky
Just to have some company
To share a cup of tea with me
I'd take my puppy everywhere
La la la la I wouldn't care
Then we'll stay away from crowds
With sites that say no dogs allowed
Oh we... I know he'd never bite me
We... I know he'd never bite me

If only I could have a friend
Who sticks with me until the end
And walk along beside the sea
To share a bit of moon with me
I'd take my friend most everywhere
La la la la I wouldn't care
And we'll stay away from crowds
With sites that say no friends allowed
Oh we...we'd be so happy to be...
We...we'd be so happy to be together

But dreams are nothing more than wishes
And a wish's just a dream you wish to come true
Dreams are nothing more than wishes
(Your wish will come true)
And a wish's just a dream (Your wish will come true)
Your wish to come true (Your wish will come true)

• James Gatz had a dream to be someone rich and in the upper class of society.  This dream was realized when he became Jay Gatsby, but it was not wholly fulfilled.  That did not happen until he me Daisy.

• Daisy became his dream, the center of his life the first night that they kissed (p117).  Her house is even described as dreamy, classy, rich, and full of light, everything Gatz was dreaming of (p12).  To Gatsby, Daisy is the full package and he will do anything to get her, to finally fulfill his dreams.

• On page 101 Gatsby comes to think that maybe Daisy isn’t all that he thought she was.  Nick thought, “Daisy tumbled short of his dreams”.  After all, they had been apart for five years and his mind could have played her up to be greater than she actually was.  This didn’t stop Gatsby for one moment, he went right ahead with his mission and didn’t even look back.  Could Daisy have felt the same way about Gatsby? She could have remembered him as being so much greater than Tom because she probably didn’t even know him long enough to find anything wrong with him.  Tom, on the other hand was with her so much that they had grown apart.  They might have even grown apart enough to break up if Gatsby hadn’t driven Daisy back into the arms of her husband.

• To some people Jay Gatsby wasn’t even real.  He almost seemed as if he was an actor pretending to be someone with lots of money that would frequently throw parties for his friends.  When Owl Eyes discovered that Gatsby hadn’t cut the pages on his books (p50) he thought that he was a good businessman.  That was not the quality that Nick got from that situation.  He read it loud and clear, Gatsby was a fraud.  Sure, Gatsby’s stories were untrue and no one knew exactly how he had gotten all of his money, but he isn’t really a fraud if he followed what he believed in with all his strength and power.

• After he looses Daisy forever, he gives up on his dream.  He didn’t bother care about anything.  What was the point?  He couldn’t even have the only thing he truly wanted.  “he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream(p169).”  He was lost, but what else could he do?  All his life he had been searching for her, every single breath he took was for her.  Now what?  His dream was gone, was he supposed to keep on breathing without her?  Unfortunately he didn’t have to make that decision for very long.

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