The Great Gatsby Is The American Dream Relevant Today

As people, we tend to have our own goals and aspirations. However, after World War I, as a nation, the nation had an overall goal. The American Dream was viewed as a perfect, and realistic lifestyle to many. People wanted to live their lives in a stress free and wealthy way from the day they were born until death. Very few people were actually able to live the American Dream, simply because it is unrealistic. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, shows how the American Dream is nearly impossible to fulfill and that no one can really achieve it without changing his ways of living. The idea of the American Dream surfaced around the time the war had ended. Not to mention, racism and discrimination was not uncommon during this era. The past had an affect on the American Dream, and will always influence the future. Jay Gatsby wanted to transform himself. He grew up poor with farmers as parents and was exposed to the more luxurious ways of life through Dan Cody; a wealthy man who would buy clothes and riches for him during his younger years. Gatsby seeing

The book really shows how the idea is flawed and is something that can never be reached. During a scene, Gatsby is reaching out across the water. He is “stretching his arm toward the dark water in a curious way” which we then discover he was trying to grab a light “minute and far away” (Fitzgerald, 20-21). The light is showing Daisy and the body of water is showing all the troubles and work he must go through in order to get to her. The water shows the American Dream in other terms, because he has to be a model of it to impress Daisy. However, we now understand that the American Dream was simply a scapegoat to “address the crisis of the Great Depression” (Decker) and to distract people from everything they had lost. Although it was good to keep the people distracted, many were set back by it while trying to achieve