The American Dream In The Great Gatsby Essay

The American Dream is something that everyone spends their life trying to achieve. According to James Truslow Adams, the American Dream is "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement" (The Epic of America). In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, his characters do anything it takes to try and reach their American Dream. In Jay Gatsby's case however, his American Dream is incomplete.

Illusion of the American Dream One’s hedonistic customs is more appealing in today’s money-grubbing society. This mercenary culture is seen through the characters in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the 1920s the book highlights the theme of the American dream in relation to people’s lucrative lifestyle during the decade. Initially, the American dream was the belief that success was achievable to anyone who worked hard with determination. However, Fitzgerald challenges that perspective with a bleaker outlook of the American dream.

Con does not care about getting better for himself but he wants to get better for everyone around him. However Con also shows he is anxious to get better when

Though Gatsby achieved his dream this way, he still couldn't win over Daisy even with his extravagant and lively parties and his large amount of money. What is money worth if your happiness is at stake? Overall Gatsby’s story shows that not every aspect of the American Dream can be achieved such as the perfect wife and perfect

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary describes the American Dream as “an American social ideal that stresses egalitarianism and especially material prosperity; also: the prosperity or life that is the realization of this ideal.” This, however, is false. The new American Dream is about superiority. The only reason people want to prosper in life is so they can show off their success. All the American Dream represents is power.

The American dream should be restored to its former glory. Politicians are using the American dream as a ploy to get votes by promising us they’re something to believe in, and that they can make America great again. Donald

In The Great Gatsby, the American dream was accomplished by a man named Jay Gatsby. He achieved being wealthy in order to accomplish another dream, the love of a woman with a very dramatic life, Daisy Buchanan. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald presents the idea that the American dream changes peoples’ lives, takes over your life, and how you do things once you have accomplished the dream. The people that have already achieved the American dream live a life differently from others that have not accomplished it.

Jennifer L. Hochschild describes the American dream as “the soul of the nation.” She clearly illustrates the importance of the dream to American culture. So, what is the American dream according to Hochschild? She was referring to John Locke and his fantasy, then said “But the sentence evokes the unsullied newness, infinite possibility, limitless resources that are commonly understood to be the essences of the “American dream.” She also pointed out the flaws in the American dream and how at times the pursuit of it can lead to counterproductive outcomes not just for the individual but society as a whole.

During the “fast living of the twenties”, both men and women were changing their past lifestyles and moving forward to a more grandeur lifestyle, taking on a way of living that was considered the “American Dream”. In relation to how the 1920s was known to be like, the central theme of the book, “The Great Gatsby”, was focused around this time period. The author of this book, F. Scott Fitzgerald, reveals his real feelings of “The American Dream” and uses the main character, Jay Gatsby, to show that this idea is indeed superficial. Throughout the novel, the author interprets Gatsby's way of thinking to reflect on the ideas of the time period to show superficiality. The personality of his character has “something about him that suggested dreams, romance and a kind of sense or love of splendor and grandeur”, which is used to help indicate relative values of fictional achievements (Solomon 187).

It has caused many to fall into poverty and debt yet these dreams are romanticized and celebrated. This leads to more effort pouring into worthless endeavors as people like Gatsby try to reach their “orgastic future” (189). “Orgastic” is a combination of the words ‘orgasmic’ and ‘orgiastic’, two words associated with immense pleasure. Fitzgerald combines the two, amplifying the effects of both words, creating an image of the optimistic dreams that many wish to reach. Fitzgerald brilliantly fabricates the word “orgastic” to parallel the ephemeral nature of the American Dream: a fake word for a fake reality.

Jay Gatsby grew up as a child in poverty in North Dakota. After being taken under Dan Cody’s wing, as his personal assistant, Jay realized that he wanted to achieve the american dream, Just like Mr. Cody. Gatsby wanted to become wealthy and successful. When Daisy appears in Gatsby’s life, she reflects perfection and the american dream. Gatsby had planned to marry Daisy but when he returned from the war she had gone and married Tom.

The American Dream is the ideal that if one works hard, he or she will gain success and prosper in life. Based on many outcomes of the American Dream, one 's dream is often very personal and subjective. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 American novel, The Great Gatsby, he utilizes the green light, the Valley of Ashes, and the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg to portray the central theme of the hope and hopelessness of the American Dream. In his novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald shows how the American Dream can be achievable and personal through utilizing the green light.

There are an abundance of different nuances and differences to what can be collectively called the American identity, but what about the American spirit? The American spirit values the hard working and industrial attitude that constitutes the foundation of the American Dream; so long as you are willing and able to put all your energy and focus into tackling the day’s challenges, then you will be able to claw your way to the top: being able to live a better life than your parents. Teresa embodies these aspects to the letter. Her family consisted poor immigrants who had escaped from the violence of the Balkans (make clear only majority of life was spent here). Even though she lacked a material advantage, she constantly studied to achieve top

Set in Long Island and New York City in the early 1920 's, F. Scott Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby, tells the story of a man, Gatsby, who devotes his entire adult life with the sole purpose of pursuing his unrealistic dream of recapturing the past. Through Gatsby, Fitzgerald warns the readers about the adversities brought by the ideas of the American dream [wealth], obsession, blind pursuit of love. Fitzgerald illustrates to the readers the calamities that accompany the pursuance of the American dream through Jay Gatsby. Gatsby 's success story of rags to riches makes him the embodiment of the American dream having started life in poverty, as the son of unsuccessful farmers. By the time he was an adolescent, he had even less, after

The Decay of the American Dream In the 1920s, Fitzgerald writes a novel name “The Great Gatsby”. This novel impacts the lives of many people and the author shows us how the decay of the American dream is present throughout the whole book. He uses this book to show how the people from the 1920s were acting back then and how the corruption intervened into persuading a perfect lifestyle that everybody want it back then. The Great Gatsby emphasizes the decay of the American dream throughout novel by the way Gatsby fails to realize that he had the American Dream, how the valley of ashes is a very significant place, and how society react towards the new generation of corruption and happiness.