Comparing F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby And The American Dream

At the beginning of the book Nick sees Gatsby as a mysterious shady man. In the beginning of the chapter Nick somewhat resents Gatsby. In Nick’s opinion Gatsby was the representation of “…everything for

Many people believe the American Dream is just becoming rich or getting higher social status to a point where you will be financially set for life. People of the lower social class usually think that getting more money will solve all their problems.Gatsby first had the dream of becoming rich and successful but then his dream transforms to becoming centered around Daisy and then does some very immoral things and continually throws his money away weekly to try to gain her attention back. Even though

   Webster's dictionary describes the American dream as the widespread aspiration of Americans to live better than their parents did.  F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby is a literary masterpiece that takes a fascinating look at the nature of the American dream that made its fiery inception during the American War of Independence 1776-83 when it became the central theme of the American Declaration of Independence.   In short, it stated, "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by God, Creator, with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" (Dream 1).  Through the voice of the

The American dream is “an American social ideal that stresses egalitarianism and especially material prosperity; also: the prosperity or life that is the realization of this ideal”(Webster). Gatsby lives out a version of the American Dream, Gatsby has many expensive possessions and likes to flaunt them“He had just bought a hydroplane and was going to try it out in the morning”. Nick Carraway, his neighbor thought of Gatsby as, “a self-made millionaire who pursues a corrupted version of the American dream”(Sherwood). However, the America Dream of Gatsby’s life is not what it should be and creates problems.

Everyone has an ideal vision of what he or she wants out of life. In a perfect world, everyone would die happy having achieved every goal ever set. A perfect world does not exist. Fitzgerald knows this, and he chronicles the life of Gatsby. Gatsby deeply desires to live out the “American dream.” He wants fame, riches, parties, mansions, but most of all love. Gatsby succeeds in every area except the most important. Gatsby still feels a desire to fulfill his final dream of finding a true love. Not willing to settle for an arbitrary love, Gatsby sets his sights on a young woman named Daisy. The problem is that Gatsby can never have Daisy because she is already in a relationship with another man. Gatsby, still wanting Daisy’s love but

What does it mean to live the american dream? In the story The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, he explains throughout the beginning of the story Gatsbys fabulous lifestyle of partying and his riches that were said to be gained by his family's inheritance. The narrator of the story, Nick Carraway who is Daisy's cousin, is a banker in New York. He's from Chicago and went to Yale but came to New York to get in the bond business since the big boom in the economy he knew he could get work. He also fought in WWI and he is into literature. Gatsby is the mysterious man who lives next door to Nick in West Egg and has a hidden love for someone he had once lost. Who’s the one who is the living the American dream, is anyone actually living the dream?

Have you ever had a dream? Something that drives you to get up in the morning and fuels you throughout the day. Many characters in The Great Gatsby had dreams like this and they came in the form of the American dream. Some like Gatsby had dreams that they pursued their whole lives just to fall short in the end. Others like Nick Carraway were on a quest for wealth like the family that came before him. A rare few truly achieve the American dream because to achieve it you have to be born into it like Tom Buchanan. In F.Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the idea of the American dream is portrayed by the three characters: Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway and Tom Buchanan.

Happiness is overpriced. During the 1920s, wealth is the only concern that’s relevant or that’s worth achieving. though we seek prosperity and contentment, Americans confuse that utopian thought with what they sincerely desire. Desire is a recurring element that appears in The Great Gatsby, it’s a “need” that never ceases to be wanted. Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom confuse the obtainment of desire with wholeness . When these characters continually attain this aspiration that would make them happier, they are left with mistaken fulfilment. Through the depictions of Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom, Fitzgerald shows us that sometimes we corrupt the American Dream with a distorted vision of pure happiness.

An epitome of the American Dream is Jay Gatsby, who from his younger years hated poverty and worked hard to seek a higher place on the social ladder. With this hard work, he received wealth, status, and a reputation. Gatsby wanted to fit into a part of a society that unfortunately

What is your American Dream? The American Dream is the belief that anyone, in spite of where they were born or what class they were born into, can accomplish their own form of accomplishment in a society where upward success is imaginable for everyone. The 1920s was a time period of thrilling changes to America’s culture and way of life, but come the 1930’s American took punch and crashed into a great depression. The Author of The great Gastby, F. Scott Fitzgerald show what life is like during the 1920’s and the author of, Of mice and men, John Steinbeck's shows a whole different life when the Great Depression hits. The two authors both show how no matter how rich or how poor everyone has an American dream. In everyone’s eyes there’s a different dream, some dream big while others dream small, not one American dream is the same, but they all have a goal of becoming happy.

Gatsby himself is someone who has some bitterness toward his past.  He longs for something far more significant than what should have initially been his.  Gatsby tries to move forward and overcome his past; however, he is still shackled by what his past ultimately represents; his life, original wealth, image, and overall background.  This essentially keeps him from achieving his dream because in this world, trying to reach a goal, in this case, the American Dream, is only a fantasized world in which it does not indeed exist. F. Scott Fitzgerald's, The Great Gatsby, represents, through its primary character, Jay Gatsby, that people cannot escape their past even though the person tries so hard to rewrite their story. Therefore, making them unable to achieve their goal entirely through to the end because their very own past affects that possibility in some way.

The elements of distortion in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, shows how the American dream should be or what is actually expected. In the 1920’s the over exaggerations for having an amazing American Life were “in”. The life of lavish and being known was what everyone wanted. Many people though did not have nearly anything and were looked down upon. The distortion creates illusions of the life that a person should be able to bare, but no one is that lucky, nor works hard enough. The distorted views contribute to his works to show the miserable realities of how those people live and a possibility of how they can turn out.

The author remarked that “If it was true he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream” (161). By taking the blame for Daisy’s mistake, Gatsby was hoping Daisy would choose him. Gatsby gets killed for taking the blame and ends his hopes of the “American Dream.” The author noted, “I called up Daisy half an hour after we found him, called her instinctively and without hesitation” (164). Gatsby does not get to marry Daisy because Gatsby gets killed by Wilson. Not getting to marry Daisy kills Gatsby “American Dream” and it never comes true for Gatsby. Gatsby tried to get Daisy to marry him and in the end Gatsby dies and she never chooses to be with

The American Dream is originally thought to be about how hard work can lead one person from poorness to richness with the right amount of effort put in. The American Dream can have different meaning to different people but at the end they are all trying to achieve a goal. The American Dream usually requires hard work and dedication. But cheating your way to success can change a person. An example of a distorted American Dream would be F. Scott Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby.

One expression to describe the chaos of 1920’s would be the grand “American dream”. Everyone during this time period had an image of a grand life and everyone believed in it. The rich dreamed of being wealthier and gaining more superiority while the poor simply dreamed of having a better life for themselves and their families. To the people of the 20’s the American Dream was just another part of their day to day lives. The issue with this is that the so called dream was never actually attainable. The poor dreamt of becoming rich and being respected by the wealthy associations. The problem with this is if they were to become rich they would become “New money” scheme meaning you are newly added to the list of wealthy people the problem being that all of the “Old Money” people or the families that have gotten money passed down by generations never respected new money. Thus lacking part of the dream of being respected meaning that the American Dream was never really fully attainable . Fitzgerald shows this American dream through Old Money and New Money by using Tom Buchanan, Daisy Buchanan, and Jay Gatsby through Nick’s eyes to show the different realities between the three characters and the different but similar, their dreams may be.