The Great Gatsby Illusion Of The American Dream

Gatsby’s dream of loving Daisy is ruined by the difference in their social statuses. Gatsby ends up resorting to crime to make enough money to impress her, and materialism to match his lifestyle with hers. Yet the division between the two different classes causes major conflict. The aristocrats, such as Daisy, are born with an advantage; they have had money all their life. They know how to bribe their way out of trouble, while the people without the same privileges are left to suffer.

For Gatsby, the American Dream is obtaining materialistic things and flaunting it. There is no other reason why Gatsby is described by his parties and his clothes. "They're such beautiful shirts," she sobbed, her voice muffled in the think folds. "It makes me sad

Cody takes Gatsby in as his assistant, where Gatsby gets a taste and liking of the rich life. However, Dan Cody’s wife kills her own husband to steal his money; more proof that desperation of money leads to moral decay. Gatsby learns that money would not be earned through honest hands. Thus, Gatsby enters the bootlegging business where his morals deteriorate. All of this money is solely for Daisy.

(Baker. Katie) In other words, Baker believes that Daisy was just using Gatsby all along. She doesn’t get any attention from Tom so she goes after the weak link her previous lover Jay Gatsby who is now wealthy.

However, these people did not know how to control their power and wealth. It was evident that throughout the story, prosperity controlled people into becoming demanding and cruel, lazy and feeble, or involved in illegal and immoral activities. The negative effects of becoming wealthy can make some people become cold-blooded and demanding. Tom Buchanan

At last, Baron Danglars, the last of Dantes’ enemies. Danglers are extremely greedy and conscientious in the area of his finances, to the point where he chooses money over his family. One of the more pronounced examples in when he is talking to his wife about her affair, he states, “I allow you to make me hateful, but I will prevent you from making me ridiculous; and above all, I forbid you to ruin my fortune.” (273). This clearly displays his wealth is more important than his marriage, someone with this mindset is destined to fall.

Clearly, Lawrence has a negative tone towards women because he is denouncing women and labeling them as being corrupt and provocative. Lawrence ridicules Hester Prynne through this quote because he is saying that her glory was gained through adultery. He mocks the book because it invokes the idea that women will only be successful through corruption. Next, Lawrence says “Hester Prynne is the great nemesis of women,” (Lawrence). In this statement, Lawrence reveals that his target of mockery was solely Prynne in the previous quote; he does not think all women are on a promiscuous agenda.

Moreso, as the dream is pure potential in their hands (land), the dream would not be ended by anything so simple as achieving

He starts the book off with being envious of Cassio about the promotion he got over Iago, and then he changes to being envious of Othello because he believes Othello is sleeping with his wife. “he hath twisted my sheets”(51/355) Iago believes that Othello slept with his wife, which is a case of jealousy, but he seems to be more envious of what Othello has at the start, and creates a plan to get rid of Cassio. The envy he feels is the primary motivation for everything he does in the book, including manipulating Othello “Foul disproportion thoughts unnatural” Iago plays on Othello’s feelings of jealousy towards Desdemona and Cassio, thus changing his views to be more misogynistic like his own.

The Modern age works reveal that love is an artificial, unrealistic desire as seen through money, status, and women. In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald characterizes a love as senseless false wish. In the end when everything was falling apart and they would have had to pay for the mess they created they ran away. “They were careless people Tom and Daisy-

Jean –Jacques Rousseau believed that technology, knowledge and science corrupts human beings, and that human nature is good. The more knowledge a person have, many take greed into their hand or the more money a person has they believe they are better than another person. Some also believe the more money they have, the more problems they will have in their life. There is a saying that goes “it’s better to be poor and happy than being rich and miserable.” In the case of technology, it is something that corrupts human beings.

Buying and selling companies was more profitable than running them. Foner argues that “making deals, not making products, became the way to get rich” (Foner 837). This left a large portion of Americans economically stagnant. King claims that “the richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually” (King 191). King is saying that some people have developed a greed for success and wealth, and have misplaced all ethical thought for others in society.

At the same time view rich people as, “high on competence, and prompting envy” (Hoffmire). Although some view the rich as greedy. Those who agree with Hoffmire believe that the upper class work harder then the average american. Many americans express there admiration to people who get rich by working hard (Hoffmire)

In order to achieve her materialistic American Dream, she cheats on her husband to work her way up to the upper class, disregarding her morals in the process. Her love for materialism urges her to commit adultery and leads to her death when a car hits her after running away from her husband. The Original American Dream is dead due to the increasing desire of materialism, causing many to resort to distasteful behaviour to have a remote chance of achieving the American Dream. Similarly, Daisy and Tom Buchanan’s vast fortune and love for materialism show how the Original American Dream is dead. After Gatsby dies, which is a result of Tom’s lies, Nick Carraway explains, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made…”

As time goes on, dreams and virtues begin to decline. This is a truth that happens everyday in the world. It especially happens in F. Scott Fitzgeralds’ “The Great Gatsby”. In the novel, the characters are good-natured but at the same time have low morals. The way that Gatsby and the other characters in "The Great Gatsby" act helps demonstrates the theme of the American dream declining.