As America evolves throughout the twentieth century, so does what people view as important, which adds on to what the American Dream means. The culture of the 1920s encouraged spending and materialism so people sought money, power, and expensive items to make them happy. In the Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby, who is the epitome of the 1920s American Dream, saw that becoming rich and notable was the only way to get his Dream which was Daisy: “She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me.”(Fitzgerald, ch 7) Furthermore, despite the fact that Tom was born with a silver spoon, he still felt he didn’t have the American Dream because Gatsby was more popular than him: “I know I’m not very popular. I don’t have big parties. I suppose you’ve got to
Gatsby reveals that before he met Daisy, he was from the lower class. He realized that he didn’t have any money to provide for Daisy if they got married, which served him as motivation to gain affluence. Additionally, this scene is ironic in the sense that when Gatsby was first with Daisy he was poor. Yet, in this moment he is in the Plaza Hotel hanging out with some of the upper class men. Here, Gatsby proves that the self-made man is true because he was able to improve his lifestyle through hard-work compared to where he was before.
Evan Olmstead English II - 6th Mr. Davidson 2/16/18 AMDG The Great American Dream F. Scott Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby portrays many themes, however the most significant theme relates to man 's unsuccessful attempts at the American dream. The Great Gatsby shows how not one by many characters fail at achieving their American dream. The American Dream as defined by James Truslow Adams in 1921, "life should be better, richer, and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each regardless of social class or circumstances of birth”. The desire to strive for what one wants can be achieved if one is willing to work hard enough. The dream is represented by the ideas of a self sufficient man or woman, who is willing to do anything to achieve the goal of becoming successful.
Eventually, in his life, he becomes one of the richest and most famous people in America; it many ways it would appear that he had achieved the American Dream. However, if we analysed Gatsby’s life closer there is still things that were not accomplished in his life, specifically his love of his Daisy, marries someone else. Furthermore, while he is well known, he lacks many true friends, and finally, that even though he became rich, people still rejected him calling him a bootlegger. Fitzgerald uses The Great Gatsby to say that the American Dream is never truly attainable as there are always going to be unintended ups and downs, as seen through Gatsby’s failures and shortcomings. Throughout the book, many characters say that Gatsby was a
When Gatsby and Daisy first met, “he was a penniless young man” going to the war. It wasn’t his money that interested her, it was his charm. This time he wanted to impress her with money, because he knows that Daisy is wealthy. It was obvious that Gatsby was stressed out about how he was going to approach Daisy in this quote “An hour later the front door opened nervously, and Gatsby, in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-colored tie, hurried in. He was pale, and there were dark signs of sleeplessness beneath his eyes.”.
He has the nice house, cars, family, and money. Although he has everything he still decides that it is not enough for him and gets with Myrtle. This shows just how selfish Tom really is as he does not care about his wife’s feelings or his family dynamic. His version of the American dream is to make himself happy and anyone else’s feelings simply do not
Showing the inequality of poor and the rich because many families were not able to do the same thing the Carraway. The American Dream believes that anybody able to become successful if you work hard enough. But that 's not truly shown by the example above giving the poor a disadvantage. Daisy who is crazy rich and the lover of Gatsby and the wife of pro footballer Tom tells a story about one of her butlers as an extra job was polishing silver till it ruined his nose because of the strong odors showing that wealth consumes the poor. The butler was willing to destroy his health for money, which is ridiculous.
“An air of [his] dream clings to the place a dream rising out of reality.” This quote from the very first stage directions shows how he refuses to let go of this dream despite the contradictions. The writer also gives it a sense of importance by personifying it and bringing the dream itself to life to show how it has taken over Willy’s life. For Willy the America Dream is popularity. He lived his whole life believing that he will rise to the top, in business and in life, only by being likeable. Willy’s idea of the American Dream was influenced mainly through the life of a man named Dave Singleman.
When Jordan says “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay”(78) it shows that Gatsby had spent an immense amount of money on trying to just be near Daisy. He doesn’t even know if she remembers him at this point. This is also explained when Jordan says “I think he half expected her to wander into one of his parties, some night”(79). These quotes show how Gatsby thought that Daisy would come back to him just because of his money. Gatsby thought she would be impressed with his wealth, but Gatsby doesn’t come from “old money” like Tom does, and that status means a lot to Daisy because she also comes from “old money”.
The play Death of a salesman is set in late 1940s in America. This play’s main theme is ‘American Dream’ which Willy is trying hopelessly to grasp believing that if he is well liked and personally attractive he will succeed in business in American society. This le but it also has several different themes such as betrayal, abandon, reality and delusion. These themes appear every time Willy drifts back to the past throughout the play. Willy Loman, a 60-year-old salesman with two sons, lives in his dream believing that his sons would be successful like him and is certain that a good salesman has to have a well liked personality just like Willy himself.