The Damnation of the American Dream

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What does the American Dream mean to you? If fancy cars, mountains of cash, and grand villas come to mind, then it is not hard to see the materialistic contamination embodied in the New American Dream, founded in the 1920s. F. Scott Fitzgerald subtly illustrates this contamination in his exemplary novel, “The Great Gatsby.” “The Great Gatsby” is about Jay Gatsby, a man of great wealth who is determined to recapture the love of Daisy Buchanan. Chaos envelops Long Island as Gatsby becomes more open about his goal. As the events unfold, the collapse of the American Dream becomes ever more apparent as wealth and pleasure take hold of the entire 1920s generation.
Hope and ambition are vital aspects of the American Dream. Gatsby is a man of infinite hope and ambition. Gatsby’s father 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? He’s always great for that.”(Fitzgerald, 173) Gatsby waited 5 years, hoping that he would obtain Daisy’s love once more. Nick acknowledges these qualities of Gatsby: “It was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again.”(2) These two qualities in Gatsby’s character represent the uncontaminated American Dream.
Materialism, prestige, and dishonesty infect Gatsby’s noble pursuit of happiness; these are the three pollutants found in the New American Dream. Gatsby’s extravagant parties, his deluxe Rolls-Royce, and his majestic home are all demonstrations of his immense wealth and materialistic abundance. Gatsby earns his money dishonestly through his connections to the mafia in the bootlegging industry. Thi...

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...life disintegrates rapidly until George Wilson terminates him, signaling the death of the American Dream. George Wilson’s suicide demonstrates that there is no hope for the future of the American Dream. Despite the tragedy, Tom and Daisy survive, signaling that corruption and materialism will live on in the American Dream. “It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw Wilson’s body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete.”(162)
On the surface, “The Great Gatsby” tells of an ambitious man full of hope, who won’t rest until he possesses Daisy. In reality it is about the damnation of the American Dream; a furious avalanche where money and greed cover the slope rather than snow and ice, burying the American Dream forever.

Works Cited

Fitzgerald, F. Scott The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Scribner, 1925. Print

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