Essay On The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

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What is the American Dream? The dream is a dream of opportunity, wealth, and freedom.
The Dream is that anybody can be successful as long as one is able to work hard for their goals.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald's truly American novel “The Great Gatsby”, the reality and corruption of the American Dream unfolds in the lives of Jay Gatz and Myrtle Wilson. Both these characters are distorted by this dream, believing that wealth will bring them status and happiness. To these individuals each of their “American Dreams” are corrupted by wealth and obsession which later causes their ultimate downfall. Gatsby is the symbol of the American Dream. Starting from close to nothing and becoming an affluent man, the perfect rags to riches story. Although it seems …show more content…

She is a poor woman living a boring life as the wife of a lifeless auto repair shop owner in the Valley Of Ashes. Her desire for a wealthy life leads her to have an affair with Tom, which makes her husband in deep despair. Tom represents the life that Myrtle has endlessly dreamed of, a life on the upper end of society. She values money more than her own marriage which shows her materialistic values. At first Myrtle was crazy about marrying a gentleman like George but she says “The only CRAZY I was was when I married him. I knew right away I made a mistake. He borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in and never even told me about it, and the man came after it one day when he was out”(39). After finding out her husband was not rich she lost her morals and let lust and greed monopolize her. She tries to redefine her social class by having an affair with Tom, she believes this would make her rise in the ladders of social hierarchy. The dream for wealth, higher social class, and elite status corrupted Myrtle’s reality. She thought these dreams were attainable and they were temporarily through Tom. This dream caused her inevitable downfall, She was struck and killed by Gatsby’s car, believing that Tom was driving it. Ironically he was Myrtle’s way to achieve her dream of acquiring a higher social class, though her desire and obsession caused her

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