The Great Gatsby and the American Dream
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a story about Nick Carraway and his introduction to the American Dream. Nick, the narrator of the novel, born in Minnesota, moved to New York. His “American Dream,” was to become rich from his success in the stock market. In between that time period, he attended Yale for college and fought in World War I. To achieve his dream, Nick moved into a small house next door to the mansion owned by Jay Gatsby just outside of New York City. Jay Gatsby and his mansion were the perfect example of the “Roaring 20s” because of the extravagant parties he threw all the time. Living next door to this man and his parties did nothing but feed his hunger and make him strive even harder to achieve his dream. Once Nick finally meets his neighbor, he attains a grasp on what the American Dream actually is. Gatsby's dream is to win the girl of
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his dreams, Daisy, back from her current husband. The best way to do this in his mind was to attract her by wealth. The American Dream is a concept that has been around forever, and in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the peak of the American Dream is shown in its true form. Since the beginning of America itself, there has always been that dream that there would be someplace even beyond economic opportunity. The dream for immigrants was that the common man should have had every equal opportunity in the same exact way the rich did and that's what America was (Churchwell). It has adapted and developed since then and at the time of the, “Roaring 20s,” it became something more. During the 1920s there was a change in culture, where people accepted new styles of dancing and dressing, and rejected their traditional standards. Also known as The Roaring Twenties; prohibition took place, people illegally purchased and sold alcohol. Today, the American Dream is somewhat similar; people from Mexico and the Middle-East are attempting to move into the United States for a better life. This better life would consist of a safe, free country, where they can find work to support their family. While the dream in the past was actually something within grasp, today it is just corrupt as it was during the 1920s. Corruption meaning; moral perversion; depravity. "’I found out what your 'drug-stores' were." He turned to us and spoke rapidly. "He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That's one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn't far wrong’" (Fitzgerald 133). This quote explains exactly how Gatsby attained his status of wealth. It shows just how corrupt the 1920s actually were because of abolition. However, it also emphasizes the lust he had for Daisy and how far he was willing to win her back. The story of Jay Gatsby is one that portrays the exact representation of the American Dream, from the outside in the 1920s. While the American Dream has been around since the beginning of America, it has changed in many different ways over its course. The American Dream in its simplest form consists of becoming rich, living in a huge mansion, and throwing the wildest parties. Gatsby's dream however, had much more depth to it; he did all of this just to attract the attention of one girl. “...Gatsby's financial prowess, which he hopes will impress Daisy enough for her to return to him. He knows one of the reasons they were unable to marry years ago was that Daisy's family and social class frowned on an engagement between a wealthy woman and a young man of modest means" (Verderame). The Great Gatsby critiques the American dream and its materialistic attributes, although these attributes never apply to Gatsby (Seshachari 36). Gatsby never did what he did for himself, but it shows the materialistic values of the American Dream in others such as Daisy and possibly even Nick. The novel is written in Nick Carraway's point of view, and at the time of the book he was nothing but the average American trying to become rich and successful.
Although, his viewpoint gives us a sense of what it's like to try and become as successful as Gatsby. “There was music from my neighbor's house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars. At high tide in the afternoon I watched his guests diving from the tower of his raft or taking the sun on the hot sand of his beach while his two motor-boats slit the waters of the Sound, drawing aquaplanes over cataracts of foam" (Fitzgerald 39). These parties that Jay Gatsby threw were the stereotype of the Roaring 20s; plenty of alcohol, lots of people, loud music. Then Nick seeing this, it shows how Nick wants to find the high point of American civilization (Way 43). His way of doing this would eventually be through his friend Jay Gatsby. Unfortunately, this would be impossible because Gatsby was murdered next to his
pool. Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, shows the truth behind the American Dream and how it took place during the 1920s. The book never directly states, "American Dream," although it does come close and leads to false promise of self-empowerment that we want to believe (Churchwell). This dream varies from person to person and obviously changes over time. From an outside perspective it may all seem like the same thing, but in reality everyone has different dreams in their heads. Every single person is corrupt in one way or another, but achieving the money is what brings it out in the open. Gatsby's corruption was breaking the law to achieve his dream, but Nick’s corruption was not yet brought out in the novel. However, if Gatsby was to live longer, I could imagine Nick becoming his right hand man and joining him in bootlegging. Even though Nick wasn’t corrupt in the book, there was still corruption inside of his dream. "Whatever the American Dream has become, its truest contemporary representative remains Jay Gatsby, at once a gangster and a Romantic idealist and above all a victim of his own High Romantic, Keatsian dream of love” (Bloom). Works Cited Bloom, Harold. “Introduction.” 2004. Jay Gatsby, edited by Bloom, Broomall, Chelsea House, 2004, pp. 1-160. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. 2017 ed., Richmond, Alma Classics, 2016. “The Great Gatsby Delusion; F Scott Fitzgerald’s Masterpiece, the Most Emblematic Novel of the ‘American dream’ is as Misunderstood as that Cliched Phrase, says Sarah Churchwell.” Daily Telegraph [London, England], 31 May 2014, p. 16. SP00, Accessed 2 May 2018. Seshachari, Neila. “The Great Gatsby: Apogee of Fitzgerald’s Mythopoeia.” Jay Gatsby, compiled by Harold Bloom, Broomall, Chelsea House, 2004, pp. 1-160. Originally published in Fitzgerald/Hemingway Annual, 1976, pp. 27-37. Verderame, Carla L. “The American Dream in The Great Gatsby.” Encyclopedia of Themes in Literature, 3-Volume Set, Facts On File, 2010. Bloom’s Literature. Accessed 7 May 2018. Way, Brian. “The Great Gatsby.” Jay Gatsby, by Harold Bloom, Broomall, Chelsea House, 2004, pp. 39-62.
The Great Gatsby' is set in the Jazz Age of America, the 1920s which have come to be seen as a bubble of extravagance and affluence which burst with the Wall Street Crash in 1929. Fitzgerald wrote the book in 1925, and in it he explores the fundamental hollowness which characterized the Age as he saw it, and casts doubt upon the very core of American national identity - the American Dream.
Americans are perpetual dreamers, unwavering optimists, and incessant innovators. We believe in ourselves, we believe in a better world and we believe that we can do anything we put our minds to. Pursuing the American Dream at all costs, economic class, race, and religion are not barriers; we achieve our goals no matter how unattainable they may seem. We are a nation of underdogs who put our heads down and work towards our goals. Dating back to the Revolutionary War, this mentality won us our freedom; we were David and England was Goliath, but we wanted freedom more than they resisted it. Our nation had a dream and it was determined to make it a reality. 250 years later, Americans are just as ambitious as our Founding Fathers. Young people in this country
The book starts off with the narrator Nick Carraway. He is from Minnesota and in 1992 he moves to NYC in the summer. He starts by giving us advices that his father told him about not to make fun of people what so ever. Daisy Buchanan is Nick’s cousin; she is married to Tom Buchanan. Jordan Baker is Daisy’s close friend. Daisy Baker falls in love with Nick, and he loves her back. He goes to NYC to study about the bond business.
The Roaring Twenties was a time of excitement for the American people, with cities bustling with activity and a large community that appreciated Jazz, thus creating the title the “Jazz Age.” The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald takes place in this magnificent age characterized by Jazz and the popular new dance, the “Charleston.” Through the midst of all this new activity, we follow a character named Jay Gatsby through the eyes of the narrator, Nick Carraway. Fitzgerald’s themes of friendship and The American Dream is seen in The Great Gatsby through Nick and Jay’s companionship and Gatsby’s growth from being a simple farm boy to becoming a wealthy man.
The Objectification of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby The American Dream is a major in American Literature. According to James Truslow Adams, in his book Epic of America, this dream promises a brighter and more successful future, coupled with a vision based on everybody being equal irrespective of their gender, caste and race. It emphasizes that everyone is innately capable of achieving his or her dreams with hard work. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, the American Dream is portrayed by Jay Gatsby's vision of attaining the social status he desires.
America is the land with the most dreamers. America is the land of opportunity and equality. In America your dreams can be fulfilled if you work hard to achieve your goals. The American dream to most is, to be wealthy and to be able to afford anything. Wealth is a plus in life because you can afford expensive items that do not necessarily have a use, but it does not necessarily matter how hard you try or how much you spend you can not buy happiness. Although being wealthy can make you seem happy on the outside, on the inside you would not be as happy as you seem. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author shows how being wealthy will not make you happy. Many people have voiced their opinions of the America dream.
It’s been ingrained into the fabric of society that to be truly happy in life, one needs to be wealthy. The characters in The Great Gatsby show this is not always the case, and that wealth is not always as important as one would believe. Society has always placed a significant importance on being rich, being wealthy. It makes one believe that being wealthy is the only true way to live a happy and fulfilling life. With this in mind, many readers are going to look at the characters in The Great Gatsby, such as Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, and fantasize about one day living the lifestyle that they live. While many characters in The Great Gatsby would appear from the outside to be living the American Dream, it what lies underneath this image of
A dream is a deep ambition and desire for something; everybody tries to reach their dreams no matter how far away they may seem. The characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s stories strive for nothing less than “The Great American Dream”. This is the need to be the best of the best, top of the social ladder, and to be happier and more successful than anyone has been before. Fitzgerald writes about this American Dream that every character has but can never achieve; the dream is kept unattainable due to obstacles, the disadvantages of being low on the social ladder, and also the restrictions of having a high social status.
The Great Gatsby is a story of the American Dream. The Great Gatsby is a view into the society of the 1920's masterfully created by Fitzgerald. In this society, the one and only Gatsby falls right into the middle. Gatsby is an exemplary example of one trying to live out the American Dream.
In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, all the characters are, in one way or another, attempting to become happier with their lives. The characters in the novel are divided into two groups: the rich upper class and the poorer lower class(West egg and East egg) though the main characters only try to make their lives better, the American dream they are all trying to achieve is eventually ruined by the harsh reality or life.
The 1920’s was a time of great change to both the country lived in as well as the goals and ambitions that were sought after by the average person. During this time, priorities shifted from family and religion to success and spontaneous living. The American dream, itself, changed into a self centered and ongoing personal goal that was the leading priority in most people’s lives. This new age of carelessness and naivety encompasses much of what this earlier period is remembered for. In addition, this revolution transformed many of the great writers and authors of the time as well as their various works. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, perfectly symbolizes many emergent trends of the 1920’s. More importantly the character of Jay Gatsby is depicted as a man amongst his American dream and the trials he faces in the pursuit of its complete achievement. His drive for acquiring the girl of his dreams, Daisy Buchanan, through gaining status and wealth shows many aspects of the authors view on the American dream. Through this, one can hope to disassemble the complex picture that is Fitzgerald’s view of this through the novel. Fitzgerald believes, through his experiences during the 1920’s, that only fractions of the American Dream are attainable, and he demonstrates this through three distinct images in The Great Gastby.
The American Dream, “a life of personal happiness and material comfort as traditionally sought by individuals in the U.S.” (Dictionary.com) In both the Great Gatsby and Death of a Salesman, the American dream is a key concept throughout the book. Although the American dream is not the same for everyone, it still has the same result every time. It is truly just a dream. It is unrealistic and clouds your judgment, yet some still try to achieve it.
Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald criticizes the American dream very elaborately and shows the idea of the American dream to be connected with the goal of achieving wealth. Fitzgerald does not praise wealth in the Great Gatsby but condemns it by drawing attention to the dreadful fall made by Gatsby. Fitzgerald finds the desire of wealth to be a corrupting impact on people. Throughout the novel, the characters with money contradict the idea of the American dream. They are portrayed to be very snobbish and unhappy people. The American dream in the novel is shown to be unachievable. For some time, the American dream has been focused upon material things that will gain people success.
Up until now, the term American Dream is still a popular concept on how Americans or people who come to America should live their lives and in a way it becomes a kind of life goal. However, the definitions of the term itself is somehow absurd and everyone has their own definition of it. The historian James Tuslow defines American Dream as written in his book titled “The Epic of America” in 1931 as “...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.” The root of the term American Dream is actually can be traced from the Declaration of Independence in 1776 which stated “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that
The author clearly wishes to continually demonstrate broken and corrupt relationships in order to display how the failing of the American dream can poison the family. In addition, at one point in the book, Gatsby works with Nick to bring her over so that he can see her again and show her his house. The moment when they appear truly happy together occurs when they are together in Gatsby’s gardens. Fitzgerald plays upon the classic garden image to show that the two are only happy in their natural state, but they are not; they live in the world tainted by the actions and more specifically the failings of mankind. Furthermore, Roger Lewis implies the importance of the valley of ashes in the portrayal of the theme of Gatsby.