What Is The American Dream Materialism

Rodrigo Cochran
World Lit 5
Arriada
14 March, 2017
The American Nightmare
Throughout history, the American Dream has developed immensely; ranging from religious freedom to becoming the wealthiest person in America and everything in between. While these goals seem attainable to an extent, there has always been the possibility of failure, and that of which increased exponentially over time. For example, the American Revolution and Civil War were fights against higher powers to attain a freedom to choose; to have the opportunity to have self-interests, whereas the the American Dream has developed into a goal for substance, for money: materialism. So instead of pursuing something to help themselves, the Americans began to try to do things to impress
The first example comes within the character, Tom, when he says, “I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife. Well, if that’s the idea you can count me out. . . . Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions, and next they’ll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white”(130). The reasoning behind choosing to include this quote is that it shows a realization of the society through Tom, a very wealthy but also not very happy person. Despite this not being directly related to materialism, it does show the attitude of the common person during this time. For example, Tom says, “Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife” to indicate that people really only seek objects, whether it be a person or assorted luxuries. And the point is that during this time, even people who had everything could realize that their things that they had attained through their wealth are literally just objects, that can be passed from person to person; and have no metaphysical connection to the owner. This ties into the next example which comes at a time when Nick says very few words to Gatsby, but carry a lot of weight: “‘They're a rotten crowd,’ I shouted across the lawn. ‘You're worth the whole damn bunch put together’”(154). This is a direct address of the central issue of the novel that touches on the subject of superficiality in people. By stating that Gatsby is worth more than the others shows that Nick recognizes how the quality of Gatsby’s character is above the rest, even though those people push him down the social standings. This shows how the American Dream is completely based on materialistic views, that have derived entitlement that these people feel from the wealth that