Examples Of American Dream In The Great Gatsby

The 1920s were years of economic prosperity and radical change both socially and politically. During the decade, the American Dream was sought-after by numerous people throughout America, which is reflected in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The novel is a highly symbolic meditation of America in the 1920s, focusing particularly on the disintegration of the American Dream in a time of unprecedented prosperity and material excess. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses Jay Gatsby, George and Myrtle Wilson, and Nick Carraway to illustrate that the American Dream is unnatainable, and striving for it only creates an disasterous ending.

The American Dream was the vision that brought many people to America to start a new life in a strange and foreign land. This vision or dream is a common discussion topic by modern writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby follows a cast of characters living in the fictional town of West Egg on Long Island in the summer of 1922. On the surface, it seems that the novel is a story of the thwarted love between a man and a woman, but the masterpiece major theme is about the American dream. The author writes about a man who takes the dream too far and becomes unable to distinguish his false life of riches from reality.

The American Dream, is an idea that all Americans are familiar with, no matter what age they are. It is the dream that everyone has an equal opportunity, to use hard work and integrity to achieve success. The American Dream is an integral aspect of Jay Gatsby’s life in the novel, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The novel follows Jay Gatsby, as told by Nick Carraway, through the trials and tribulations that correspond with newfound wealth and the quest to find true happiness in a cynical and testing environment. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald suggests that the American Dream has the power to corrupt individuals, through his depictions of wealth, materialism, and the consequences they inflict in the character’s lives.

The American Dream is thought to be the ultimate goal to achieve in life. According to Michael Moran, it is the firmly held belief that everyone has the opportunity to achieve their goals and become rich and prosperous if they only work hard enough. It seems as though this would be included in the ending of any happy story, but certain novels rightfully portray the American Dream as unrealistic and unattainable. This is seen in many well known stories, including The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Although for some, life may come easy and the ultimate goal may seem to be achieved, that certainly isn’t the case for everyone. Just like Jay Gatsby, many modern Americans see the dream as poor children, pursue it at any cost into adulthood, and put it at risk by trying to hold onto it.

The first example of the failure of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby is the fact that Jay Gatsby could not buy Daisy’s true love despite his efforts to show off his wealth. Most people interpret the American Dream as the ability to “...rise by their own efforts,” (Cathbury 70). This ethos is prominent through The Great Gatsby and essential to the novel’s plot. Gatsby puts on a show for all to see, but most especially Daisy. In one scene, he orders a “greenhouse of flowers” for his home the day before Daisy arrives. Gatsby built an extravagant house just across the lake from her house in an effort to catch Daisy’s eye.

In the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses many different literary devices to portray the American Dream. One example is the valley of ashes, which represents america's unhealthy obsession with wealth. Another example is the green light, which symbolises Gatsby's longing to live a happy life with Daisy. According to Fitzgerald, he needs love, money and society in order to be happy.

In the The Great Gatsby and by F. Scott Fitzgerald and A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry the idea of the American Dream is portrayed evidently within both timeless classics. An overarching dream between both novels is the desire of both the characters to be wealthy and to attain a respectable social standing. Both characters experience conflict in the pursuance of their dream. The American Dream is the idea that if you work hard enough and long enough, anything is possible. Although both characters chase the American Dream of upward social mobility Fitzgerald’s Gatsby does not achieve the American Dream in contrast to Hansberry’s Walter, who does achieve the American Dream due to the differences in the two character's acceptance by society or loved ones.

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.

While everyone has dreams, some being far greater and more ambitious than others, these dreams aren't always within the grasp of reality. The Great Gatsby was focused around a man whose own dreams were so close to being obtainable, it seemed almost impossible for him to not achieve them. The “American Dream” centralises around the idea that everyone has the opportunity to be successful through hard work, determination, and by having the right mindset. Triumphing over life's obstacles during the “Roaring 20’s”, Gatsby was able to achieve success in the heart of the country; New York. ​F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, is a novel about the American dream. ​Through the use of symbolism and characterization,

The American Dream is like a beautiful yet poisonous mushroom. Its colorful appearance lures humans and animals to consume it, but the outcome results in death if left untreated. The American Dream lures people into thinking that their dream and their social class can be changed with hard work and determination. However, the results are deadly in The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald with all that tried. Through the use of imagery, Fitzgerald characterizes Jay Gatsby as ambitious, naive, and selfish, demonstrating how time and a corrupt, rigid and selfish society contributes to the non-existence of the American Dream.

Gatsby came from a very poor background with lack of education. As he started to build his own dreams forgetting about what happened in the past and he tried to build his own dream from scratch. Which after in the novel showed he became very successful man. He showed a true example of living the life of the American dream that by hard work, motivation and with no support we can live a lavish life like an American man. Gatsby was a self made man with no background. As one of the article about Gatsby life better illustrate that “The American dream consisted of the belief (sometimes thought of as a promise) that people of talent in this land of opportunity and plenty could reasonably aspire to material success” ( Trask, David F, WG). The novel illustrates the life of the people in early 1920’s as a life easy money selling alcohol and

In the past the American Dream was an inspiration to many, young and old. To live out the American Dream was what once was on the minds of many Americans. In The Great Gatsby, the American Dream was presented as a corrupted version of what used to be a pure and honest ideal way to live. The idea that the American Dream was about the wealth and the possessions one had been ingrained, somehow, into the minds of Americans during the 1920’s. As a result of the distortion of the American Dream, the characters of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby along with many others, lived life fully believing in the American Dream, becoming completely immersed in it and in the end suffered great tragedies.

One of the most influential writers of the early 20th century was a man named F. Scott Fitzgerald. The biggest topic that he wrote about was the American Dream. Fitzgerald uses many different aspects of writing to get his opinion across, such as the outcome of stories like The Great Gatsby and “Winter Dreams”. He also uses the setting and to explain his beliefs. Based of his work, Fitzgerald believes the American dream is not only unrealistic, but also unattainable.

The American dream is an ideology, a vision that’s form varies from individual to individual, based upon one’s own experiences. Although the one thing that remains constant in every single definition is that this ideology, just as the name states, is only a dream. It is meant to merely drive people to unlock their hidden potential and become their best self, for the sole purpose of living one’s out one’s own definition of success. In “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the American Dream is Jay Gatsby’s inspiration and his opportunity, however, as the book progresses it becomes more evident that not all people share the same opportunity.

For generations many have immigrated to this great nation know, as the United states of America, all seeking for their share of the American dream. The American dream is the philosophy that anyone can become successful through hard work and perseverance. The 1920’s embodies this concept like no other decade in American history. It is also during this time frame that one sees the perversion of this dream. F. Scott Fitzgerald suggests in his novel, The Great Gatsby that there is a right and wrong way to obtain the American dream. Throughout the novel, Gatsby is symbolic for the materialistic nature of the American dream and its corruption in the 20th century.