The idea of the "American Dream" can be dated back to the book The Epic of America by James Truslow Adams (1931). The author describes the American Dream as 

 "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. [...]

It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature [...] regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.

The character of Daisy reunites every one of those traits. She is the "better and richer"; she has also attained a "fullest stature", and to make things even better for her, she was born under "fortuitous circumstances of birth AND position". 

These traits make her quite a desirable woman, especially to a man like Jay who visualizes her more as a piece to complete his American dream puzzle than anything more. 

Like the idea of an American dream, Daisy, as far as her purpose in life and her personality, can be easily described as "fickle". She weaves herself into the minds of men who describe her and her voice as:

high in a white palace, [she is] the king's daughter, the golden girl 

Daisy's aura is that of an unattainable princess. Much like the American dream, she lures, feels "comfortable enough" to be dealt with, appears to be complete, and her voice is tempting, "full of money", musical, and luring. In the end, however, Daisy slips from Jay's hands. 

The American Dream is not much different in terms of its nature. It entails the attainment of specific goals having to do with things that signify success. Achieving it is entirely in the eyes of the beholder. However, much like Daisy, you cannot give your everything to it, as it can also slip away from your hands. It can be also quite fickle if it is meant to remain "a dream". 

Daisy is also a dream. Jay, who is limited as far as knowing what really should matter in life, quickly acquires the riches, the money, the home, pretends to have an education, and lavishes people in comforts and luxuries...but he still feels that Daisy would complete the equation.

She is his "missing link". As such, he is obsessed with getting her back. Here's the catch, though: he has built such a fantasy of Daisy that he cannot even tolerate thinking that time has passed, that she has moved on, that she has changed, or even the fact that Daisy has even had a child with Tom. 

To Jay, Daisy has remained the exact same "girl" that he met prior to going off to war. He expected her to wait for him the way he waited for her. He has made a symbol out of her; a goal more so than a companion for life. The result is easy to guess: he really never gets her, or anything out of her that he had expected. What he gets, instead, is an unstable ex-girlfriend who could care less about him. She is hard to reach. She is a mere illusion in Jay's schema of things. 

Daisy Buchanan represents Gatsby's ideals -- she is the girl that he feels will complete his life. Before he goes off to war, they are attached, and he has every intention of marrying her when he returns. However, when he comes back, she has moved on to Tom. From that point on, he builds his fortune in order to win her. He moves into his house to be closer to her. He builds up a reputation of mystery and praise in order to entice her. She is his every desire. Yet, as Gatsby discovers, she is unobtainable. 

In this way, Daisy represents the American Dream, and shows the extreme disillusionment of the Lost Generation. If Gatsby can win Daisy, he will know that he has "made it." Everything about Daisy is related to wealth (her voice has money in it), easy (she lounges around the house most days), and position (the Buchanan's are well-respected members of their society). However, Daisy is an illusion. The closer Gatsby gets, the more he realizes that he cannot have Daisy. This is how Fitzgerald viewed the American Dream.

In The Great Gatsby, how does Daisy Buchanan represent the American Dream? Daisy may be considered Gatsby's American Dream, but how does Daisy represent the American Dream? Please provide a thesis statement to summarize information.

One can only consider Daisy Buchanan to embody the American dream if you see her as merely an object of desire, or of the male gaze, rather than as a human being with her own life, goals, and individual existence. In fact, from a feminist perspective, one could argue that The Great Gatsby itself shows women mainly as objects of male sexual desire and as rewards for male characters rather than as genuine people with their own needs and stories. 

Jay Gatsby himself, of course, embodies the American Dream in his reinvention of himself and his portrayal as a self-made man who gets rich by his own hard work and cleverness. His aspirational goals include not just wealth but being accepted by the powerful and aristocratic families of East Egg. One is never sure whether Gatsby loves Daisy for herself or for the old money she represents. While she is part of Gatsby's dream, she herself represents the precise opposite of the American Dream. 

Daisy is descended from wealthy "old money" and married to a man of the same class. Despite having an affair with Gatsby, she eventually returns to Tom and lets Gatsby take the fall for her killing Myrtle. She represents the way in which old money is entrenched and the powerful WASP elite establishment is eventually impermeable; her narrative arc suggests that the American Dream is just that—a dream or illusion. 

In The Great Gatsby, how does Daisy Buchanan represent the American Dream? Daisy may be considered Gatsby's American Dream, but how does Daisy represent the American Dream? Please provide a thesis statement to summarize information.

Thesis: Daisy embodies both the American Dream and the downfall associated with such a dream.

Support: The American Dream is often described as a sort of 'get-rich-quick' scheme.  Happiness and success are desired as quickly as possible - usually in the form of money - at whatever cost necessary.  Daisy is a perfect representation of just just a belief.  She knew Gatsby 5 years prior to the story, years before she knew Tom.  But she refused to marry Gatsby because he was not rich.  She came from money, and she felt that, in order to remain happy and successful, she needed to marry someone with money. So, she watches Gatsby build his fortune and his mansion just for her, in order to entice her into leaving Tom.

However, as much as she represents the American Dream, she represents the downfall of it as well.

"The danger is, like Gatsby, she carries the “well-forgotten dreams from age to age." (enotes character analysis)

Daisy cannot let go of her vision of the perfect American Dream, and she carries these dreams with her, unable to adapt to new situations.  So when Gatsby lets her drive and she kills a woman, she cannot accept responsibility for it.  She needs her life to continue to be beautiful and happy simply because she has money.  Therefore, she abandons Gatsby and returns to her husband.  She then leaves before Gatsby's funeral.  She feels that to go to his funeral would require a sacrifice of this dream that she shared with Gatsby, and as long as there is no tangible evidence, she can cling to money as happiness and success.

Therefore, Daisy can be seem as representational of both the American Dream and the destruction of it.