Every American citizen has heard the term “American Dream.” We are taught from a young age that in America, we can make something of ourselves. Everyone has the dream of starting small and making it big. However this American Dream may not be as realistic as it is made out to be. The “American Dream” is defined as: “the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative” by the dictionary. The Great Gatsby is a perfect literary example of this American Dream. The story incorporates many different characters that represent different aspects of this American Dream. I think it is important to think more deeply into common sayings and ideas like this. …show more content…
One of the places that sticks out to me is the Valley of Ashes. This valley of ashes represents the failed American Dream. Workers tried making it big and they were unsuccessful so they have to make ends meet in a different way now. The city can represent the people in the process of achieving this American Dream. “Over the great bridge, with the sunlight through the girders making a constant flicker upon the moving cars, with the city rising up across the river in white heaps and sugar lumps all built with a wish out of non-olfactory money. The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.” Nick describes the city as this wondrous place where anything can happen. People move to the city to achieve greatness and make it big but realistically this doesn’t happen for everyone. East Egg and West Egg can also be representations of this American Dream. East Egg is the “old money,” the people born into their riches while West Egg is the new money, the people who found success. This is all an illusion as none of these people had actually worked and achieved their money in they way that the American Dream makes it out to be. The old money in East Egg was acquired from relatives and ancestors while the new money in West Egg was acquired in illegal ways. As described by a New York Times novel in the public imagination Great Neck has acquired a more sinister association: the crackup of the American dream.” Great Neck is the real life location that Fitzgerald based East and West Egg on. The story by Fitzgerald shines a light on what really goes on with these wealthy people. Before his story many people didn’t know the reality of the wealth. Fitzgerald opens readers eyes on the reality of this American
Chapter 1: Chapter one introduces the reader to the narrator Nick Halloway and most of the other other characters of the story. Including his cousin daisy, her husband tom and their friend jordan - the golfer. Nick comes from a wealthy family; however, doesn’t believe in inheriting their wealth. Instead he wishes to earn his own wealth by selling bonds in the stock market. Chapter one also talks about the separation of the rich. Where the east egg represents the inherently rich whereas west egg represents the newly rich. The people in the east also seem to lack social connections and aristocratic pedigree. Whereas the people in west egg possess all those qualities usually lacked by people in the east.With nick living
The West Egg houses are more recently built and are elaborately decorated, where as the houses in East Egg are still as big but very conservative in architecture. The two neighborhoods represent the division of the upper class at this time in America. During the 1920's, the conservative "old rich" despised the "new rich". A good example of an "old rich" family would be the Rockefellers, where as a "new rich" family would be the Kennedys. The East Egg represents the conservative money of the "old rich".
The East and West Egg are two opposite parts of Long Island. The East Egg is where people of old money reside, like Daisy and Tom, who have inherited their riches of the aristocracy. However, The West Egg is the home of the nouveau riche or new money. It is where Gatsby and Nick reside, who have accumulated great wealth on their own. Fitzgerald...
In the novel entitled the great Gatsby, the ideals of the so called American dream became skewed, as a result of the greediness and desires of the main characters to become rich and wealthy. These character placed throughout the novel emphasize the true value money has on a persons place in society making wealth a state of mind. The heart of the whole notion of wealth lies in the setting of the novel, the east and west eggs of New York City. The west egg was a clustering of the "Nouveau riche" or the newly acquired rich, and the east egg was where the people who inherited their riches resided.
Fitzgerald’s uses setting to describe how West Egg and East Egg represent new money and old money. West Egg represents the new money and East Egg, the old money. While they seem quite similar at first, because they are expensive places to live. West Egg is described as “the less fashionable of the two, although there is little contrast between them.” But, yet there are many differences. Such as when Nick describes his own house as "an eyesore" that is "squeezed between
The story takes place in an area near New York called "Long Island." It is in a shape of an egg. They focus in on places on there named "East Egg", "West Egg", and "The Valley of Ashes." West egg is for people who have recently made their fortunes. The characters Nick and Gatsby live there. The Valley of Ashes is for people who are not wealthy. The Wilson family lives there. The East Egg is for people who inherit their money. The characters Daisy and Tom live there. Daisy is a distant cousin one removed of Nick’s. One of her friends is a character named Jordan baker.
People aspire to achieve greatness, sometimes causing them to be or become someone they are not. The American dream is defined as someone who starts out low on either the economic or social level and by working hard earns his or her way to fame, wealth, or prosperity. Many characters such as Myrtle and Gatsby, in the novel The Great Gatsby, all wanted power, money, and happiness and would do anything in their power to obtain them. Recent events support the claim that the American dream can be achieved with costly repercussions. People are willing to corrupt themselves in order to achieve their goal.
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.
First, what is the American dream? According to David Wallechinsky, “the traditional American Dream is based on the belief that hardworking citizens can improve their lives, pay their monthly bills without worry, give their children a start to an even better life, and still save enough to live comfortably after they retire” (1). “The American Dream” states, “It has always represented the possibility for individuals to succeed and live a life of wealth and comfort, made possible by both the political and economic attitudes in the USA and the individual’s own hard work” (1). Daniella Nicole adds that “in years past, chasing the American Dream meant the sky was the limit. . .” (1).
The American Dream had always been based on the idea that each person no matter who he or she is can become successful in life by his or her hard work. The dream also brought about the idea of a self-reliant man, a hard worker, making a successful living for him or herself. The Great Gatsby is about what happened to the American Dream in the 1920s, a time period when the many people with newfound wealth and the need to flaunt it had corrupted the dream. The pursuit of the American Dream is the one motivation for accomplishing one's goals, however when combined with wealth the dream becomes nothing more than selfishness.
The idea of the American Dream is achievable although most often is hard to accomplish and everyone’s own interpretations and expectations make it a near impossible task. Social class and status is also emphasized through the barrier that exists between East Egg and West Egg which symbolise “old money” and “new money” effectively, and the corruption of morals as witnessed and expressed by the narration of Nick Carraway. Fitzgerald shows that for all the lavishness of society there is ultimately unfulfilled dreams, corruption and separation, and in the case of Gatsby a tragic end to a tragic hero of the lower class. “Show me a hero and I 'll write you a tragedy” F. Scott Fitzgerald
The American Dream has changed; it is no longer the same as it was fifty or even one hundred years ago. Today, people not only search for prosperity and wealth, but they also search for happiness, equality, and determination. The American Dream is for everyone, not just the rich. The term “The American Dream” is a term used to describe the American way of life in general. It is a noun stating “the idea that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.” Dreams are not limited to just one social class, everyone has a different version of the American Dream but they all work together in a community to create an organized, working society. A dream is a cherished aspiration, ambition, or idea that is open to anyone.
The American Dream is an idea that anyone can live in the United States through hard work and live happy successful lives. There are many obstacles that would stand in the way from achieving the American Dream. Fear, money and education/training, families changing in size, disability, race and gender, are some of the hurdles that many Americans face as they try to achieve the typical American Dream.
The American dream is the idea held by many in the United States of America that through hard work, courage and determination one can achieve prosperity.
“In a moment she looked at me with an absolute smirk on her lovely face as if she had asserted her membership in a rather distinguished secret society to which she and Tom belonged. ”(8 Fitzgerald) East Egg represents old money, meaning that the people there are high-class and proper. Their wealth stretches back generations and helps to cover all manner of sins. Daisy and Tom Buchanan are horrible people and should not have what they do but they are privileged because of their “old money” and are able to achieve the American dream they feel as if they are better than everyone else because they have money and can achieve the American dreams unlike others and can survive in society just because they have old money.