The Great Gatsby And The American Dream

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The American Dream is something that is not feasible, but creates a never-ending search for something that is nearly an idea. Many critics of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s work noticed that his works were to criticize the falsity of the American Dream. Fitzgerald not only called on the American Dream being a disillusion, but had also found himself trying to pursue this goal throughout his lifetime. The idea of the American Dream is that as Americans, once you have found wealth and success you then have finally made something of yourself (Banach). The actual reality of this dream is a never ending search of happiness, like John Steinbeck said in “Paradox and Dream”, “generalities most often noted about Americans is that we are a restless, a dissatisfied, …show more content…

Americans believe the possibility of attaining the American Dream is something that makes it real. Most Americans' futures consist of time restraints, financial instability, remembering the past, and the fear of commitment. In F. Scott Fitzgeralds, The Great Gatsby, the narrator, Nick Carraway is a young man who has had the opportunity to be educated, fight in the war, and then come back to normal life. Mr. Carraway’s attempt of going back into this normal life results into him unintentionally working for the dream after meeting his neighbor Gatsby who seems to have it all. In Steinbeck's piece titled “Paradox and Dream” he refers to Americans as hunters, people with a never ending search, and the search being the American Dream. While in an excerpt from The English Journal titled “Gatsby: False Prophet of the American Dream” Roger L. Pearson calls out on Mr. Gatsby for being a “false prophet” of the American Dream. The portrayal of the American Dream in the texts The Great Gatsby, “Paradox and Dream”, and “Gatsby: False Prophet of the American Dream”, all show the falsity of the American Dream. Americans, those who constantly strive to achieve the dream find themselves in a never-ending search of something unfeasible and in the end are led to …show more content…

Throughout the novel, it is revealed that Gatsby’s true intentions behind the parties he throws is to meet, Daisy, a long lost lover of his who unlike him, has already achieved the so-called American Dream. Some true attributes show through Gatsby’s disguise as Nick describes as, “He was balancing himself on the dashboard of his car with that resourcefulness of movement that is so peculiarly American” (Fitzgerald 68). While Gatsby had spent his new life chasing his idea of the American Dream, Daisy, he found himself in this search for something he was not really sure of. Whether Gatsby thought if he could win Daisy back and that he’d be able to live happily ever after, the American Dream is something that is disappointing and unexpected in which the case why he is being called a ‘false prophet’. Gatsby had spent a majority of his life recreating himself so he could go back to the past, inevitably the past is something you cannot change and sets the precedent. Fitzgerald’s criticism and infatuation with the American Dream seemed to be sparked from his failures and success in love. Fitzgerald most likely while writing the novel saw parts of him reflected in his fictional character, Jay Gatsby (Banach). The novel helps show Gatsby’s uneventful journey from when Nick finally meets him and gets asked

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