The concept of the American Dream has been popular since America was colonized in the 1600s. Throughout history, the meaning of “American Dream” has changed. For the early immigrants America was a land of opportunity, offering a new start to life. In the 1900’s it meant the opportunity to work your way up from the bottom and create a better life for yourself. Today, the American Dream is about having a good education, establishing a strong career, and having a respectable social life. Our modern American Dream is often to provide the best life possible for our children (Vanity Fair).
During the 1920’s the idea of the “American Dream” skyrocketed as World War I ended and all of the men returned home. F. Scott Fitzgerald encompasses the atmosphere at this time in his book The Great Gatsby by demonstrating the concepts of wealth, materialism, and high social status. Marilyn Roberts, in her article “’Scarface,’ ‘The Great
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Gatsby,’ and the American Dream,” explains that in The Great Gatsby “the central characters place their faith in a highly material version of the American Dream that seems to promise wealth, the love of a high-status woman, and immediate justice” (Roberts 71-78). Gatsby, a young soldier returning to the city, centers his whole life on becoming rich and attaining the girl of his dreams, Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby embodies the whole “rags to riches” idea associated with the American Dream. This concept of wealth was instilled in Gatsby during his youth. He worked on the yacht of a very rich man named Dan Cody. For five years Gatsby worked with him and in the end “that yacht represented all the beauty and glamour in the world” (Fitzgerald 100). Gatsby was supposed to inherit his riches when Cody died, but instead it all went to Ella Kaye, his mistress. This encounter gave Gatsby the desire to reach the American Dream. After his time with Cody, Gatsby was training to be a soldier in the war when he met Daisy. They fell in love, but could not remain together because he left for the war. When Gatsby returned from the war, his love for Daisy also drove him to aspire to reach the American Dream. When Nick was meeting with Jordan Baker, she explained to him that “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (78). The desire to attain the perfect woman is just one factor of the American Dream. To attract the perfect woman, there are three main factors that one needs to have—wealth, materialistic things, and a high social standing. These three aspects encompass the American Dream. First, Gatsby achieved wealth. Gatsby, a resident of West Egg, had to create his fortune on his own, while the people who lived in East Egg inherited their fortune. Money was the driving factor of some of his actions. Gatsby took part in illegal bootlegging to achieve his riches. For many people it is a mystery where Gatsby’s money comes from. When Nick first attends one of Gatsby’s parties, women tell him of their theories that Gatsby killed a man, was a German spy, and lived in Germany—all completely different ideas. Nick discovers Gatsby’s bootlegging business when he accompanies Gatsby to lunch with Meyer Wolfsheim, who says to Nick, “I understand you’re looking for a business gonnegtion” (70). Wolfsheim was the one who had fixed the 1919 World Series, and Nick explains that “it never occurred to me that one man could start to play with the faith of fifty million people—with the single-mindedness of a burglar blowing a safe” (73). At the time, people would do anything to get money and reach the American Dream, and Gatsby is one of those people. Fitzgerald emphasized the importance of wealth when Gatsby described Daisy’s voice as “full of money” (120). Nick continues to describe her voice of having an “inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song of it….High in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden girl” (120). Daisy represents the end goal of the American Dream. Since she lives in East Egg and has inherited her fortune, she is already wealthy and unconcerned with the American Dream. However, she is what everyone aims to be. Her lifestyle is what everyone is trying to achieve. Along with the wealth, comes materialism. When the war ended, the nation became wealthier and the people as a whole became greedy. Gatsby is “a powerful critique of the pursuit of material success and physical beauty” (Roberts 71-78). The use of extravagant automobiles in The Great Gatsby emphasized this part of the American Dream. Nick emphasized the extravagance of Gatsby’s car: “I’d seen it. Everybody had seen it. It was a rich cream color, bright with nickel, swollen here and there in its monstrous length with triumphant hat-boxes and supper-boxes and tool-boxes, and terraced with a labyrinth of wind-shields that mirrored a dozen suns. Sitting down behind many layers of glass in a sort of green leather conservatory, we started to town” (Fitzgerald 64). Fitzgerald gave a long, detailed description just for Gatsby’s car to prove that people at the time believe in materialism so strongly. All of these features of his car show his wealth and success. Gatsby’s materialism overtook that of anyone else. He was widely known for his extravagant parties. “Every Friday five crates of oranges and lemons arrived,” and “by seven o’clock the orchestra has arrived” (39-40). People from all over the city heard about Gatsby’s parties, and they all came. The whole point in this extravagant, materialistic display was to get attention, and that is exactly what Gatsby got. Gatsby just wanted to gain the attention and affection of Daisy. Jordan Baker said that she thinks “he half expected her to wander into one of his parties, some night” (79). Daisy, of course, never did so that is why he decided to have their meeting arranged. During their reunion, Gatsby again showed that materialism is an aspect of reaching the American Dream. First, he took it into his own hands to fix up Nick’s lawn and decorate the interior of his house with a vast amount of flowers. After Daisy had arrived, Gatsby insisted on giving her a tour of his house. Throughout the tour, Daisy and Nick were constantly impressed by the luxury of all of Gatsby’s things. One key moment during this tour was when Gatsby showed Daisy all of his shirts.
“He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel,” demonstrating just how much wealth he had achieved (92). Roberts explains that “the shirts represent the fulfillment of a dream of wealth,” that dream being the American Dream (71-78). The shirts show power and masculinity, as they are custom, expensive shirts. “The display of shirts is one of the protagonist’s most effective strategies in winning over the woman he desires,” and this is proven when Daisy begins to cry about the shirts (Roberts 71-78).
While it seems that Daisy is simply crying over the shirts, there is much more to it. The shirts symbolize Gatsby’s dedication to the American Dream, and furthermore, Daisy. The materialism and wealth associated with the American Dream lead to one thing—attention. The last aspect of the American Dream is to establish a high social status and obtain the perfect woman or
man. Gatsby has established an upper class status with his fabulous parties, grand house, and flashy car. While Gatsby was able to achieve the upper class status desired of the American Dream, Myrtle Wilson struggled to reach this standing. Her ideal American Dream was to be a wealthy, highly respected woman. Through her affair with Tom, she managed to live this dream, even if it was only for short amounts of time. When Nick went to New York with Tom and Myrtle, Myrtle simply stated “I want to get one of those dogs,” and Tom bought her the dog, right on the spot (Fitzgerald 27). With her husband, Myrtle could never live this life. Wilson’s American Dream was to make money and make Myrtle, the woman he loved, happy. He dreams of one day making enough money to take him and his wife to a new, beautiful place, where he and his wife can start a new life. Wilson wants to buy Tom’s car, saying he needs “money pretty bad” (123). When Tom asks why he is in such a rush to buy the car, Wilson explains that “my wife and I want to go West” (123). Wilson is struggling to reach his American Dream of keeping his wife happy and preserving her love and attention. While Fitzgerald successfully represents all of the aspects of the American Dream in multiple ways throughout the novel, he symbolizes the American Dream as a whole with the iconic green light at the end of Gatsby’s dock. The first time Nick saw Gatsby was when Gatsby “stretched out his arms towards the dark water in a curious way” and Nick could “distinguish nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock” (20-21). Later Nick realizes the green light is the light at the end of Daisy’s dock, and Gatsby is reaching out to her. Daisy is the driving factor and end goal to the American Dream for Gatsby. At the end of the novel, we are reminded that Gatsby never gave up hope on his dream. Fitzgerald tells us that “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us” (180). Barbarese explains that “the American Dream is too much an ideal ever to be consummated except in the sense to which "orgastic future" corresponds” (509). The American Dream is something that always gives people hope, and this green light is a prime example of that. The green light never stopped burning, just like Gatsby’s American Dream never diminished. Fitzgerald emphasized the American Dream and all of its aspects—wealth, materialism, social status, and finding the perfect girl. While Gatsby encompassed most parts of the American Dream, Fitzgerald enforced small parts of the dream through other characters, as well. This idea of the American Dream prevails today. While the dream may not be exactly what it was during Gatsby’s time, people still find the idea of “working your way to the top” appealing. Vanity Fair even goes as far as saying “we lean toward the view that the American Dream is more robust right now than at any time in the past.” The American dream will always be prevalent.
Scott Fitzgerald going into extreme detail about how the shirts look and feel, and how the shirts make Daisy feel. In this quote, Fitzgerald is describing the emotions Daisy feels while looking at the shirts. "Suddenly, with a strained sound , Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily. "They're such beautiful shirts," she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. "It makes me sad because I've never seen such -- such beautiful shirts before." (Pg 86). The way Daisy feels about the shirts, and her having such a dramatic or emotional reaction to them, really shows that they symbolize something much more then just an average shirt. Maybe the shirts being wrinkled and tossed everywhere symbolize how Gatsby felt when Daisy left him because he wasn't rich enough, or how Daisy feels when she's with Tom. In this next quote Fitzgerald shows examples of imagery, by going into detail about how the shirts look while being tossed everywhere. "He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel, which lost their folds as they fell covered the table in many-colored disarray."(Pg 86). The shirts being thrown around so carelessly shows that in The Great Gatsby objects that are as simple as a shirt don't matter, regardless of the emotions or memories connected to them. That things like shirts are just another materialistic thing that we as a
She was materialistic and only saw the lavish lifestyle, and lived void of a good conscience. She ran off with Tom because she saw his wealth. Even with endless dresses, and polo horses, Daisy still wanted more. Reunited with Gatsby after meeting in Nick's house, she walked with Gatsby to his house. It was only when she realized the huge mansion across her own house belonged to Gatsby, that she truly wanted to be back with him. Walking in the house, hand in hand, ignoring Nick who follows behind, it seemed the two were reunited by love. In his bedroom, "he took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel. (Fitzgerald 92)" Gatsby is clearly extremely wealthy, able to afford whatever suits his interest, and he was in the mindset that he would buy anything for Daisy. Daisy seeing this, "suddenly, with a strained stained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily. 'They're such beautiful shirts,' she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds (Fitzgerald 92)." She doesn't cry because she has been reunited with Gatsby, she cries because of the pure satisfaction all his material wealth brings her. When Tom's wealth was not enough, she ran off to something more
The characters of “The Great Gatsby” were blinded by the materialistic wealth in the flashiness of the 1920’s. Daisy is amazed at how beautiful Gatsby’s shirts are and how many he has. she is so astounded that she starts to crying. “They’re such beautiful shirts,” she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. “It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such — such beautiful shirts before.”(Fitzgerald 92). Another way the characters were materialistic is Gatsby’s proclamation that Daisy never loved Tom and the only reason she married Tom was because Gatsby was poor. “She never loved you, do you hear?” he cried. “She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved any one except me!” (Fitzgerald 130). This shows that Gatsby knows that Daisy is materialistic but he still wants her and having Daisy in his life will complete his picturesque lifestyle of wealth. It also shows how they only perceive themselves as wealthy or poor but not with depth. While materialism is one of the important themes in “The Great Gatsby” Fitzgerald’s use of colors ,such as green,blue and yellow, g...
Gatsby is a very rich young man who lives in the West egg and always throws big huge expensive parties. Gatsby is the main character of the story. Gatsby only cares about having Daisy and having money and material things. In the book Gatsby how Daisy his beautiful shirts Daisy cries of how beautiful they are she states that she has not seen nothing more beautiful than that ¨There are such beautiful shirts,¨ she sobbed, ¨It makes me sad because I've never seen such- such beautiful shirts before” (Great Gatsby 92).
The American Dream There is no set definition to be found anywhere of the true meaning of The American Dream. Any hope, dream, or goal pursued by anyone in the history of America is an American Dream. In modern times the accepted dream seems to be 2.5 children, a house with a white picket fence, and a perfect spouse. However, as it is shown throughout literature from the early days of America to contemporary times, the American Dream is not always so simple a concept. America was originally founded on the dream of freedom.
Parody represents itself in both pieces, but Fitzgerald’s lingers murkily in the reader’s reflection. The pressure of attaining the ability to physically depict the American dream lends itself to humor. Gatsby is certain his accumulation of wealth and notoriety, that is the American dream, satisfies his intangible dream of possessing of Daisy. Gatsby is comforted by his wealth and prosperity to overcome opinions. The wealth he is able to demonstrate, allows him to feel he can count on winning Daisy over. Fitzgerald concludes the story by capitalizing on how the disillusioned American dream left him blind; to ultimately die alone unsatisfied of his desire. Gatsby rationalizes his yearning by reflecting on his financial security. He cannot see why Daisy would not run to him, as he has achieved the modern American dream. Richard Hamilton’s piece is a collage taken from various advertisements. It is constructed in a way to parody media representations of the American dream. The collage...
Daisy’s character is built with association of innocence and purity. Narrator in the novel mentions, “They were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house” (18). In this passage, the narrator talks about Daisy and Daisy’s friend, Jordan. They both were dressed in white, which represents the purity and innocence. Daisy’s exterior beauty is pure and innocence, but her interior self represents false purity and innocence in the novel. When Daisy and Gatsby reunites after five years, they seem to have found their love for each other, although Daisy loves the attention. Daisy is aware of her husband’s affair but still does nothing about it. Daisy’s response to Gatsby’s wealth proves the love Daisy has for money, especially the shirts. Narrator mentions in the novel, “Suddenly, with a strained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shorts and began to cry stormily” (92). This describes that’s for Daisy the shirts represents wealth. Daisy bows her head into the shirts representing her interest in wealthy materialism. Daisy doesn’t cry because of the pure affection unlike Gatsby.
Gatsby tries to make Daisy love him through his money and excessive spending on non essential, things. When he and Daisy first reconnect their relationship, he brings her over to his house to show off the clothes in his closet: “He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel, which lost their folds as they fell and covered the table in many-colored disarray. While we admired he brought more and the soft rich heap mounted higher — shirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint orange, and monograms of Indian blue. Suddenly, with a strained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily. (Fitzgerald 92).” Gatsby is throwing his shirts everywhere to show that he has a tremendous amount of money ...
... relationship and Gatsby’s clothes symbolize his wealth and extravagance. The rain starts at the beginning of tea with Daisy, “The day agreed upon was pouring rain” (83), and is mentioned again later on, “Once more it was pouring…” (88). This symbol is significant to the story because it shows the strain of Daisy and Gatsby’s newfound relationship. Gatsby’s clothes were first described by Nick, “An hour later… Gatsby, in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-colored tie, hurried in” (84), and later when Daisy finds all of Gatsby’s beautiful shirts, “He took out a pile of shirts… shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel… covered the table in many-colored disarray” (92). This symbol is significant to the story because it shows Gatsby’s wealth and how Daisy is reacting to the fact that Gatsby has enough money to own all of this beautiful clothing.
It is evident in Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying that both of the Bundren women, in their own way, reject typical social norms for women in the south.
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
Daisy begins to sob because the shirts are so beautiful and Gatsby consoles her while Nick watches from afar. The scene is puzzling at first glance since there is no apparent reason for Daisy to cry. However, she cries because she is so materialistic that the sight of all these beautiful shirts overwhelm her to the point of tears. Also, the shirts represent all the freedoms and joys of lives that eluded her because she was persuaded to marry Tom instead of continuing to wait for
Everything Daisy desires: money, parties or shirts, Gatsby feels the need to provide for her. The belief he and Daisy are irrevocably in love, leads him to do anything to win her affection, including the complete reshaping of his life. Because of his devotion to her, he has extravagant parties every Saturday night in an attempt to impress her. “There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams - not through her own fault but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion...
In everyday life mankind becomes more and more keen to certain milestones such as leaving home and becoming financially independent and the ability to achieve them. Although achieving these milestones is never easy, they all revolve around the traditional social ideal by which equality of the opportunity is available to all, allowing the highest aspiration and goals to be achieved. The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is an exquisite tale of America in the 1920s. It is about a fabulously wealthy man named Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan. It illustrates the idea of the death of the American Dream and shows that the main theme of Gatsby is indeed “the withering American Dream”.
All those material possessions were bought to win Daisy, which Gatsby mistakenly felt would ultimately lead him to happiness and the fulfillment of his American Dream. In the end, Gatsby’s life and the culture surrounding it serves as a cautionary tale about those seeking happiness within the narrow confines of the 1920s American