Analysis Of The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

Gatsby creates an identity for himself as a wealthy man, who lives a glamorous life by throwing huge parties, and is known by the most prestigious figures in New York. What the partygoers don’t realize is that the parties and his wealth is all in the hopes of rekindling with his love from the past, Daisy. In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald tells the story of a young man named Jay Gatsby, who came from nothing, and built up to be everything that he had hoped and dreamed of being. However, his one dream did not become a reality due to misfortunate events. All the money in the world couldn’t make Gatsby happy, as he died as his true self, not the identity he created for himself.

The idea of American Dream as presented by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the Great Gatsby novel involves rising from poverty or rags to richness and wealthy. The American Dream exemplifies that elements such as race, gender, and ethnicity are valueless as they do not influence the ability of an individual to rise to power and richness. This American Dream makes the assumption that concepts such as xenophobia are non-existent in America a concept that is not true and shows vagueness of the American Dream. In his novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the Great Gatsby to demonstrate the overall idea of living the American dream. Gatsby leaves his small village of farmers and manages to work his way up the ladder although some of the money he uses to climb the ladder is associated with crime “He was a son of God and he must be about His Father's Business, the service of a vast, vulgar and meretricious beauty” (Fitzgerald 6.7). This phrase shows that Gatsby wasn’t meant for a life similar to that of his father but rather destined for greatness. However, his dream his short-lived and he doesn’t make it to the top as Daisy who is a symbol of his wealthy rejects her and a series of events transpire that result in his death before he could live his American Dream alongside everyone else who was working up the ladder to live the American Dream.

As a child and young adult, Gatsby is poor and longs for financial success because of Dan Cody. Because Gatsby thinks Dan’s life of extravagance is the American Dream, he reinvents himself into a new person that is the embodiment of the American Dream. He changes his name from Jay Gatz, to Jay Gatsby to symbolize his rebirth. Then he attains money from selling illegal alcohol and other ways. After he becomes wealthy, he forgets about his past and never brings it forward to anyone, but Nick. He does this because he does not want Daisy to know about his background of poverty, since she is from a life of luxury and class. Gatsby knows he has to be wealthy to be with Daisy, and goes great lengths to do so.

As a boy, Jay Gatsby ventured on luxurious trips with friend and boss, Dan Cody, on his yacht. He later inherited twenty five thousand dollars after his death, but never received it because Cody’s girlfriend took it. From that moment on, he devoted his life to making money and earning the luxurious lifestyle he always wanted. Later on while serving the military, he met Daisy, and fell madly in love with her. After Gatsby left, Daisy married Tom. In hopes to recreate the passion he felt back in the day, he decides to make her fall for him once again. Jay Gatsby then sees wealth as the solution to this problem and ventures into

Gatsby’s American Dream was to become wealthy and marry the love of his life, Daisy. After meeting her as a dirt-poor farm boy, he changes his ambitions and aspirations to fit her expectations. Through years of illegal bootlegging, Gatsby finally accumulated enough money to buy the big mansion across the bay from Daisy. He told Jordan that, “He half expected [Daisy] to wander into one of his parties” (63). Gatsby expects that because he has all this money, he can get anything he desires, including the love of Daisy. Gatsby’s only reason for holding these sumptuous parties is in hope that Daisy would accidentally stumble into one of his parties; however, years of parties never brought Daisy to give a second thought about Gatsby. The blatant unrequited love between Gatsby and Daisy left Gatsby to be forever an outcast, with only half of his dream achieved. The reason that Gatsby did not fully achieve his American Dream was because he distanced himself from the support of his family. Gatsby tried to distance himself by changing his name and identity, “James Gatz - that was really, or at least legally, his name. He had changed it at the age of seventeen and at the specific moment witnessed the beginning of his career--when he saw Dan Cody’s yacht drop anchor over the most insidious flat on Lake Superior” (98). Gatsby despised his parents because they were poor farmers. He separated himself from his family in order to pursue what he thought

The American Dream is starting low on the economic or social level, and working hard towards wealth and fame. By having money, a car, a big house, nice clothes, and a happy family symbolizes the american dream. This dream also represents that no matter what, who or she is, can become successful in life by their work efforts. The desire to strive for what they want can be accomplished if they work hard enough. The Great Gatsby shows how the American Dream happened in the 1920s. The American Dream is the cause of the destruction of the two main character in the Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan.

The Dream that is the American Dream There is a quote by Norman Vincent Peale describing how one should "shoot for the moon. [For] even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.” But what if the only desirable outcome was to achieve the moon. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, we see Jay Gatsby attempting to reach this figurative moon, in his pursuit of a girl named Daisy.

In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there is a clear development of emotions and symbols. The American dream is showed through a different perspective, one that shows the true nature of the wealthy and shows their own selfish fantasies. Jay Gatsby is depicted as a man who becomes incapable to differentiate his fake life of wealth from reality. This American novel is unique in the fact that it describes how humanity’s unquenchable desires for money and power can destroy human principles of the American vision. Nick Carraway describes Jay Gatsby as there being “something glorious about him…”

F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the American Dream in the character of Jay Gatsby throughout the novel The Great Gatsby. Gatsby succeeds in changing his life as he goes from having nothing to being very wealthy. His success, however, comes during a corrupt time. How Gatsby made his fortune is not clear but it is clear that he was involved in illegal business transactions. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald shows that the American Dream is achievable, but only by adding the illegal aspect to Gatsby’s success he also problematizes the American Dream throughout the plot. Throughout The Great Gatsby the character of Jay Gatsby depicts the American dream.

The American Dream is merely the idea that people are desiring something, however the deprivation of it is what makes us want it more than anything. This “something” can be defined as love, happiness, hope, wealth, fame, and the list goes on. Typically, a person is afraid to be uncomfortable in order to pursue their dreams. The human mind is a complex structure that forces us to be afraid of chasing things that could potentially make or break us. When a person receives the thing they once craved, a new goal, or desire, sparks up in their minds. As a human, our minds will never allow us to be completely satisfied.

The American Dream can be defined as a person's ability to attain success regardless of their cultural background, gender, nationality, or social class. The American Dream creates a narrow mindset in society that ignores the effects of racism and income inequality. The fact that all the upper-class people possess a lot of wealth does not mean that they are the same. People have got different behaviors and it depends upon upbringing in the society. Morality is essential in life and no one should be underrated in life. The 1920s was a tumultuous time in America because of increased immigration, changes in the roles of the women in the society such as voting rights for women, and eventually greater income inequality. America was also in an economic boom which bolstered the belief that anyone could be rich. The Great Gatsby was written in 1925, but it tries to describe the fantasies experienced in 1920. Novels written during that time tended to emphasis the American dream. Fitzgerald tries to criticize the idea that America is a true meritocracy, where any individual can get rich by working hard. This conceptual paper explores the flawed nature of the American Dream as evidenced by two characters that are Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby.

The Great Gatsby has always been a great book, but have you ever wondered what the meaning of “The American Dream” is..? To me the american dream… is anyone and everyone can come here to american and achieve their goals, they can have better lives here in the US, they can be more successful when they put their minds to it. Fitzgerald's was making it seem that the rich or more money you have the happier you'll be, the better off you are in life. He paints a picture making it seem money will buy their happiness forever. The american dream is about success and dreams, not about money or wealth.

The ‘American Dream,’ is clearly defined by the Merriam-Webster as, “a happy way of living… that can be achieved by anyone in the U.S… by working hard and becoming successful.” In addition, they also specify the ideals of “living the American dream” as “ [people] with good jobs, a nice house, two children, and plenty of money.” The roaring twenties were what one would call ‘the life of the party,’ for authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and even some characters in their novels, exhibited fairly wealthy lifestyles, whilst attending social affairs, and heavily drinking. However, this ‘golden age’ of sorts suddenly came crumbling apart, partly due to the stock market crash in 1929. “Babylon Revisited,” by Fitzgerald, alludes to this sudden time of loss and despair through an alcoholic man, Charlie Wales, who practically

Dan Cody, who leaves Gatsby an inheritance that he somehow fails to obtain, is his first step towards the wealth that he desires. Without this inheritance, Gatsby must scratch and push his way to greatness by working illegally, achieving his dreams and – fundamentally – by being “innocent.” Gatsby’s parents “were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people,” meaning that Gatsby had no status or wealth. Over the years, Gatsby manages to gain status by making a lot of money and creating for himself and Daisy the image he wants to convey to others based on his dream; this is the first part of his dream that he manages to realize.

The American Dream is frequently overlooked; it is generally defined as the rise to wealth and prosperity. In that premise, a fancy car, colossal home, and nice clothes would be the rewards following a successful American Dream. However, the American Dream is more than just achieving affluence and acquiring the desired materialistic riches. A forgotten aspect of the “dream” is contentment. In the novel The Great Gatsby, the narrator Nick Carraway initially views his next door neighbor, Jay Gatsby, as the embodiment of a wealthy, successful man. However, as Nick goes under the surface and becomes aware of Gatsby’s background, he comes to the realization that Gatsby does not live up to his facade. Moreover, the author F. Scott Fitzgerald conveys a message to the audience that American Dream is unattainable. Nonetheless, Jay Gatsby has risen from the poverty he experienced as a child; however, he has ultimately failed to obtain happiness. Indeed, as displayed in Fitzgerald’s disheartening novel, the American Dream is presented as rather just a corrupt illusion that is not capable of being achieved.