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What Is The American Dream In The 1920s

650 Words3 Pages

The American dream is an illusion that is deeply implanted in the minds of the people, it sets a bar for life achievement and offers hope to work hard to achieve their dreams. As for Americans, they are raised in a society to where they are expected to make lots money and to have a healthy family. After all in our society success is largely based off positions of power and financial stability. For example, in The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there were multiple interpretations of the ideal American dream in the 1920s. In the 1920s, due to the growth of materialism, people advertised and fancied the power of money to fulfilling their dreams. The growing economy was slowly becoming satisfied by the large consuming behavior, creating …show more content…

For example, Myrtle Wilson, Tom’s mistress, is married to a hard working husband, when she initially meets Tom on the train, she doesn’t falls in love with him, she falls in love with the way he wears like a gentleman, “He had on a dress suit and patent leather shoes, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off him” (Fitzgerald 36). Regardless of being physically abused by Tom Buchanan, she still tolerated his violent behaviors to be closer to her ideal American dream: receiving the power of money.
Even though wealthy people have the power of their riches to purchase their materialistic commodities, money fails to provide enough power to successfully complete their American dream as well as pursue their felicity. To illustrate, Jay Gatsby invited Daisy over to his mansion to demonstrate his fortune and success to her, he was convinced that his large fortune would be enough to urge her to divorce her husband, Tom Buchanan, and return back to him. However, Gatsby’s dreams were crushed when he doesn’t successfully persuade Daisy to divorce Tom and get married with

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