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Recommended: Character of Jay Gatsby with regards to his ambition
Matt Olson
Brad Miller
English 3
2/26/2014
American dream or American Scheme
“As real as it seems the American dream is nothing but another calculated scheme.” (Tupac Shakur). The ideologies behind the America dream appear to be fun and ascertainable when in reality they are nothing more than in intricate plot to distract people from the real issues in America. In the Great Gatsby many characteristics of the American dream are present in most of the characters, the ones focused on in this essay are Tom Buchannan and, Jay Gatsby. Dreams and longing for unrealistic things are two surfacing themes in the Great Gatsby and in the 2011 film ‘Midnight in Paris’. Is it possible to obtain everything you want in life or is it just not conceivable?
What happened to the promise that anyone could build a better life by honest labor? What happened to the life that was allegedly going to be better than our parents? In modern America the rich are getting richer and the poor are staying poor. “The problem came down to this: Americans, who had invented the modern assembly line, the skyscraper, the airplane, and the integrated circuit, no longer believed in the future.”(Packer). The American dream is hardly alive in today’s society. We work all our lives for what? To have a house, a family and a picket fence? Is there more in life and are we selling ourselves short of our true potential? You have the opportunity to achieve the American dream every day of your life by trying your best and making a positive change towards your surroundings. If you wake up, Clock in and Clock out, eat and go to bed what have you really achieved during that day? Are you just another brick in the wall? Or are you here to see change and make the best out of life ...
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...t time. Gil’s lover ultimately decides to stay in the past and sadly, they part ways.
Is it possible to obtain everything you want in life or is it just not conceivable?
Re stated claim. Conclusions and recommendations to reader
Works Cited
Bruccoli, Matthew Joseph, ed. (2000). F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby: A Literary Reference. New
York: Carroll & Graf Publishers.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, and Matthew J. Bruccoli. The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Scribner, 1996. Print.
Gatsby, The Great. "F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby (Chapter II)." Poetry Genius. Web. 06 Mar.
2014.
Holms, John. "The "True" American Dream." WriteWork. Web. 06 Mar. 2014.
Packer, George. The Unwinding. New York, NY: New York Times, 2013. Print.
"Quotes About Everything." 111 Quotes. Web. 06 Mar. 2014.
Yasirfarabi. "Midnight in Paris." IMDb. IMDb.com, 2011. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.