Ethan Turney Turney 1 Mrs. Retherford Ivy Tech Eng 111 30 August 2024 The Great Gatsby and Slaughterhouse Five. In 1931, James Truslow Adams coined The American Dream in his book, The Epic of America. In it, James describes The American Dream as, “that 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.” Over the years, this has been boiled down to, “If someone works hard enough, anyone can become successful.” Although hard work can help someone get closer to their American Dream, it can not be the sole reason why someone achieves it. The main characters from Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five and Scott F. Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, achieve …show more content…
This is shown through him saying, “So it goes.” when someone or something dies in the story. Although this helped him survive the war, it did more harm to him afterward, causing him to drift apart from the family and friends he had left. The same can be said about how Gatsby lost his soul through bootlegging alcohol, along with other illegal activities, in The Great Gatsby. Jay Gatsby is an immensely wealthy person in the story, and a major way he got this rich is through many illegal activities (quote here). Gatsby lost his soul by doing this and, in turn, lost his moral compass, and made poor decisions throughout the book. One of Gatsby’s many poor decisions eventually led to him losing his life. The Great Gatsby and Slaughterhouse Five both disprove and prove how The American Dream is attainable at the cost of life. The Great Gatsby disproves The American Dream is attainable through sacrificing lives, having Jay Gatsby, someone who attains The American Dream, Myrtle, and George, people who did not gain The American Dream, by having them get killed. Daisy accidentally hits Myrtle with Gatsby’s car, killing her, in turn, George seeks revenge for Myrtle’s death and kills Gatsby and then himself. Myrtle’s death was the final straw that destroyed Gatsby and his American Dream,