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The american dream in american literature
What is american dream in literature
What is american dream in literature
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Test 2 Essay Question 1} Gatsby represents the American dream because like many he had hopes and dreams of being successful and wanted to make his life worth wild. In the novel he is seen reaching towards something in sight but undeniably out of reach. This famous image of the green light is often understood as the hopes and dreams of Gatsby’s future. He put a lot of time and effort into his dream. In chapter one he even began to reach toward it in the darkness as a guiding light to lead him to his goal. However, unlike a few he is unable to succeed and accomplish his American dream. Looking at Gatsby life from a far, one might say that he is the epitome of the American dream. He started with nothing and then later gained everything from a …show more content…
big house to servants who catered to his every need. Gatsby also began to throw huge luxurious parties. The main reason he strived for riches was his undying love for Daisy Buchman, he wanted her to accept him extremally bad. However, Because Gatsby’s quest for Daisy is broadly associated with the American dream, the green light also symbolizes that more simplified ideal and Gatsby’s desire for material wealth instead of goodness and excellence ultimately results into his downfall. The main plotline of “the Great Gatsby” reflects this assessment, as Gatsby’s dream of loving Daisy is ruined by the difference in their respective social statuses, his began resorting to crime to make enough money to impress her, and the rampant materialism that characterizes her lifestyle. Fitzgerald uses conflicts and symbolism to show how Gatsby obsessing over material goods eventually hurts him in the long run as well. “[the car] was a rich cream color, bright with nickel, swollen here and there in its monstrous length with triumphant hat boxes and super boxes and tool boxes, and terraced with a labyrinth of wind shields that mirrored a dozen suns.” The car is used to paint a successful and positive representation of the American dream and how well things was going for Gatsby. Nevertheless, it is the car that eventually kills myrtle when Daisy runs her over. This scenario indirectly leads to Gatsby’s own death. Nick gives us an overall perspective of the individuals lives of those who has achieved the American dream.
Building an opinion about it. Gatsby uses Nick to show that people are not yet treated equally, and that social discrimination still exists. Nick on the other hand is also striving for something. He is a pragmatic man who comes from the middle west and does not share the American dream. Unlike Gatsby he wants to be himself, tolerant, objective, and reliable. The money of the upper class is just a tiny bit of the American dream together with his admiration for the rich east Eggers. Mainly nick’s dream of a pursuit of honesty. In chapter 9 he explains that the American dream originally was about discovery, the pursuit of happiness, and individualism. Nick believes that the ability to create an important symbol constitutes a vital component of the dream which is the way early Americans invested their new nation with their own ideas and values. However easy money or relaxed social values have corrupted this ideal dream, mostly on the east coast. As he often says to himself “I am one of the few, honest people that I have ever known.” Throughout the novel Nick finds himself surrounded by lavish mansions, fancy cars, and an endless supply of material possessions. A drawback to the seemingly limitless excess Nick sees in the Buchanans. This for instance, is a throwaway mentality extending past material goods. Nick explains in the great Gatsby, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy— They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together and let other people clean up the mess they had made. This quote shows how both Tom and Daisy is frown upon by Nick because of their social status. He began to have a mix of strong reactions to the life on the east coast, which ultimately creates a powerful internal conflict him. This does not get resolved until the end of the novel. Nick
is attracted to the fast-past lifestyle of New York but on the other hand he finds that the lifestyle is distorted and damaging. He states that there is a “quality of distortion” to life in New York, as the lifestyle made him loose his equilibrium early into the novel. As shown in chapter 2 when he gets drunk at Gatsby’s party. After seen Gatsby dreams get crushed and presiding over the appalling spectacle of Gatsby funeral. He realizes that the fast revelry on the east coast is only a cover up for the terrifying moral emptiness that the valley of ashes symbolizes. This leaves Nick no other choice but to move back to Minnesota, in search for a quieter life structed by traditional moral values have not been decayed.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel that has a large focus on the ideas of the American Dream and social class in the 1920s. In the novel, the people of West Egg and East Egg are people of the upper who have earned money either through inheritance or working hard and have had many opportunities to make their American Dream a reality. The people of the Valley of Ashes are people of lower class who have little to no money and have to work all their lives to make ends meet. Even though both social classes strive for the same thing, The American Dream, neither of them will ever truly achieve it. Fitzgerald uses a vast contrast in the settings of East Egg, West Egg, and The Valley of Ashes to display the reoccurring theme of a pre-set social class and to expose the false reality that the American Dream presents upon society.
Indeed, not only does it represent the shortcomings of his American Dream, but it is also used as a commentary on the motivations behind his dreams, motivations shared by many characters in the book. In the 1920s, the American Dream was perceived as being the achievement of success from anyone despite their social status or family history.*4 Through his popularity and financial success, Gatsby embodies the American Dream. His growth from underprivileged to being financially stable is even more highlighted by the creation of a persona and a nickname for himself. However, all the material possessions and prestige he acquires over time are actually factors which play a role in his downfall. Indeed, Gatsby really believes throughout the story that the more possessions he has, the better are his chances of getting Daisy to love him back. Having eyes only for her, he quickly becomes disillusioned. Ultimately, him and the wealthiest characters demonstrates an erroneous perception that money creates happiness, partly caused by the omnipresence of materialist and consumerist ideologies of the 1920s. This perception and Gatsby’s pursuit of happiness through illegal activities indirectly cause not only is death, but the end of his American Dream at the same
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.
Nick believes the American Dream, this is examined in Claire Stocks criticism, she states, “ Is that he believes the American Dream. Nether less, it is only Nick (whose inherited wealth is on the decline and who identifies with Gatsby’s desire to improve his social standing” (Claire Stocks 4) Nick understands the feeling and does not show judgment towards Gatsby, yes he looks down for the illegal things Gatsby does but, not for the wealth and big parties, he understands. Rather, William Voegeli A critic of “Gatsby and the pursuit of happiness” shows a different side to this, he states, “Nick rents, Gatsby buys, and the Buchanans inherit,” also stating “”you’re no better than anybody else and no one else is better than you” (William Voegeli 1) Which shown in the novel is not true, Nick is a middle class character compared to the magnificent West Egg class. He gets on his feet just because of his father 's money. These people are not equal, when it comes to society, they may have the same rights but when it comes to what they can and can not do there is a line drawn. Yes you can 't put all your value on money but, the lack of money can create a stopper in society. So yes, Nick was taught not to judge, that not all people have the things you do but, as he goes through the story he sees a change that he wants everyone to be in uniform because he can 't stand the empowerments of money anymore. Nick states, “When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into
The American Dream is the concept that anyone, no matter who he or she is, can become successful in his or her life through perseverance and hard work. It is commonly perceived as someone who was born and starts out as poor but ambitious, and works hard enough to achieve wealth, prosperity, happiness, and stability. Clearly, Fitzgerald uses Gatsby to personify the destruction of the American Dream Gatsby started out as a poor farming boy, meticulously planning his progression to become a great man. When Gatsby’s father showed Nick the journal where Gatsby wrote his resolution, he says, “Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves like this or something. Do you notice what he 's got about improving his mind?” (182). The written resolution demonstrates how ambitious and innocent Gatsby was in pursuing his dreams and how much he wanted to improve himself that his father applauded him, which once characterized the process of pursuing the American Dream. While pursuing Daisy (Gatsby’s American Dream), Gatsby becomes corrupt and destroys himself. He did not achieve his fortune through honest hard work, but through dishonesty and illegal activities. Furthermore, Gatsby has a large, extravagant mansion, drives flashy cars, throws lavish parties filled with music and
Gatsby represents the negative and positive aspects of the American Dream. He was so consumed in Daisy that the American Dream became corrupted. He gained success through his wealth and material possessions, but they ended up going against him. They were all the factors that led to his death. He made the American Dream all about Daisy and not what the American Dream meant to him.
Nick’s naïveté and innocence leads to continual judgement of the deceiving upper class community he surrounds himself with; however, he realises Gatsby is the most genuine and optimistic man he has ever met. Gatsby’s never ending confidence in his dream of a future with Daisy represents blind faith of an unattainable dream, yet Gatsby never ceases to reach for his goals. Gatsby even believes that he can fix every mistake he has made in the past (Fitzgerald 128). His naive and ignorant outlook on his future influences many vindictive decisions he has made in his past. Nick’s admiration of Gatsby’s ambitions compels him to recognize Gatsby’s efforts. Nick exclaims that Gatsby is “worth the whole damn bunch put together” (Fitzgerald 126). Nick idolizes Gatsby because his questionable actions were driven by his immense passion for Daisy. Believing that the elite, upper class society is corrupt, Nick found that Gatsby was the only wealthy individual he had met who is pure of
The Great Gatsby is a view into the society of the 1920's masterfully created my Fitzgerald. In this society the one and only Gatsby falls right into the middle. Gatsby is an exemplary example of one trying to live out the 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." (Wikipedia) So basically the American Dream is to have money, and a family. Gatsby got his money, but what he really wanted was Daisy Buchanan.
The American Dream is a powerful thing in the lives and hopes of its citizens, as shown in Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald’s book, The Great Gatsby. It is, and was, faith in individualism, expectation of progress, and mainly the belief in America as a land of opportunity. However, it also is differs from person to person. This plays a great part in Fitzgerald’s book, The Great Gatsby. His book took place in the 1920 's, which is also called the 'Roaring 20 's '. During this time, many Americans were freely spending. Moreover, the economy was doing extremely well and thus provided citizens with a sense of security and intense freedom. Many used that freedom and economic boom to become rich in business.
F. Scott Fitzgerald penned The Great Gatsby in the midst of the Roarin’ Twenties. It was a period of cultural explosion, rags-to-riches histories, and a significant shift in the ideals of the American Dream. Fitzgerald’s characters all aspired to fill an American Dream of sorts, though their dreams weren’t the conventional ones. In the novel, the American Dream did a sort of one-eighty. Instead of looking west, people went east to New York in hopes of achieving wealth. The original principals of the Dream faded away, in their place, amorality and corruption. The fulfillment of one’s own American Dream is often marked by corruption, dishonesty, and hope.
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.
Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald criticizes the American dream very elaborately and shows the idea of the American dream to be connected with the goal of achieving wealth. Fitzgerald does not praise wealth in the Great Gatsby but condemns it by drawing attention to the dreadful fall made by Gatsby. Fitzgerald finds the desire of wealth to be a corrupting impact on people. Throughout the novel, the characters with money contradict the idea of the American dream. They are portrayed to be very snobbish and unhappy people. The American dream in the novel is shown to be unachievable. For some time, the American dream has been focused upon material things that will gain people success.
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
Jay Gatsby is the embodiment of the American Dream. Gatsby is not the only character in the novel to proof that the American Dream does not exist, but Daisy and Tom too. Starting with Gatsby, he started out poor and then he became rich by the business of bootlegging. The only reason Gatsby threw all the glamourous parties was because of Daisy, he was very much in love with her. Eventually, Daisy and Gatsby were reunited and he wanted them to be together, but Daisy was holding back. In the end, Gatsby did live a luxurious life, but he never got the girl. Plus he was killed at the end of the book by Wilson. This is another example of the American Dream not existing. He almost reached it but never got the girl, therefore his dream fell apart. Gatsby was also “new money,” and Daisy was “old money.” Once again the American society is not really giving an opportunity to those that make themselves rich instead of being born rich. Tom always looked down on Gatsby because he made his fortune elsewhere while Tom was born into a rich family. One of the curious things about Gatsby is the green light. This green light can also be seen as his dream, that green light is on Daisy’s dock and he is always reaching for it but in the end he never truly grabbed it. Since the green light was so far away, it symbolizes that his dream is also out of reach. This shows that the American Dream has limits to it and that
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby depicts a class struggle between the poor, the rich, and the richer. It yields a very complex message about the Jazz Age while telling an amazing story about how the fabulous Jay Gatsby pursues the beautiful Daisy Buchanan. However, he fails. Ultimately, he has a deadly obsession with the past and how life used to be. However, this pursuit is highly unrealistic.