Evaluation Of The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

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The American Dream in The Great Gatsby The Roaring Twenties staged a radical change throughout the United States. This time period will always be remembered as an era of deteriorated moral and social principles as well as a time of greed and mass consumption sustained by a national economic boom. Consequently, the idea that anyone, regardless of their race, social position or gender, could achieve wealth, was collectively shared. The belief that all individuals could obtain freedom, equality and opportunity was strong amongst American society during the 1920’s. In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald created the novel The Great Gatsby, which perfectly described how the American Dream influenced people's behaviour. In both the novel and the movie, directed …show more content…

Money was what kept both of them apart. Coming from a wealthy family, Daisy was brought up to understand that an affluent girl could not be with someone from an inferior social class. When Gatsby’s beloved Daisy went off to marry Tom Buchanan, he was determined to do anything in his power to win her back. Four years later, Gatsby came back looking for Daisy, after having developed an immense amount of wealth. He moved right across her house so that he could be close to her and threw massive parties hoping that she would potentially appear one night. “Can't repeat the past?” he cried incredulously. “ Why of course you can!” (Fitzgerald p. 152 ). The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock across the bay kept fueling Gatsby’s hopes and dreams to be with her. In the movie, Luhrmann emphasizes the light many times, as a symbol of longing and desire. This symbol was what encouraged Gatsby to prevail in his attempt to make his dream come true. In Gatsby’s mind, Daisy was his American Dream. This fixation was what eventually drove the main character to his death. Fitzgerald used Gatsby’s infatuation with Daisy to represent how the American Dream was unattainable for most individuals and how their failure to achieve it led to their

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