Great Gatsby: The American Dream

How does Fitzgerald relate Gatsby’s dream to the American Dream? What seems to be his message about the American Dream as expressed in the last two paragraphs of the novel?

“... it is a story about failure and death, an idealistic quest for unworthy goals, and the almost total collapse of the aspirations of nearly all of the principal characters” (Nagel 113). The Great Gatsby is a story that represents people’s unachieved aspirations that lead to a sad existence and ultimately death. They are all trying to attain one thing, the American Dream. The American Dream is almost impossible to attain and that is why a lot of people failed when it came to living out the American Dream. In Fitzgerald’s, “The Great Gatsby”, Gatsby tries to attain the American Dream through Daisy throughout the whole novel but fails and is left heartbroken.

The author Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby as a novel that talks about and covers American issues in the 1920s. He shows in the novel the carelessness and selfishness of everybody at the same time by portraying all of them in the location of west and east egg. Fitzgerald talks about a couple different topics throughout the novel. One of those is," the Attainment of a dream may be less satisfying than the pursuit of it" and the second one is"the American Dream is corrupted by the desire for wealth". He uses those themes to show how americans lived at a different time.

There are many aspects that contribute to the american dream. The most recognizable are wealth and love, but ultimately, the american dream is having everything you could want and more. A lot of the time the american dream is associated with an underdog type of perspective, or a ‘rags-to-riches’ type story. This is to show that the dream can be achieved by anyone, even those starting out with little to nothing to their name. The idea of the american dream is explored in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. In this story, Jay Gatsby is one of the few who are close to achieving the american dream, but falls just short of actually doing so. What stops Gatsby from achieving the american dream is his inability to see the negative aspects to

The American Dream and Gatsby’s Dream in the gigantic city of New York during the roaring 20’s have many similarities. Gatsby becomes lost in his journey to his dream through life when getting re-acquainted with a young “golden” girl by the name of Daisy. He falls in love with her at such a young age it seems that this is the only girl for him. His only dream is to get Daisy. It’s sad to say due to Gatsby's tunnel vision and isolation, he struggles to create or maintain close relationships in the present because he is trapped in the past.

In The Great Gatsby, the American Dream, is, in fact, unattainable. For Gatsby, his dream is to erase the past five years of his life and to love Daisy again and to have her love him. But, this is impossible for one cannot simply go back in time and change what might have been. Gatsby finds himself working to reach his goal by indulging in ludicrous material goods and contriving a way to make Daisy fall for him. In Tom Buchanan’s case, his dream is to control. He wants for both Daisy and his mistress, Myrtle, to love him and to be fine with an affair. This dream is also unattainable because everyone loses in this situation. In the end, Myrtle is killed, and so is Tom’s destination. For Nick Carraway, he wants to start over. He wants to find himself, run away from rumors and from his family and commence a new life. He gets caught up in the childish antics of Gatsby and Daisy and Tom and loses who he is instead of discovering his true meaning. When all is said and done, Nick packs up and moves back West. It’s clear that F. Scott Fitzgerald is cynical towards the idea of the American Dream and uses The Great Gatsby as his way of expressing his views.

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.

The American dream is a concept that has been wielded into American literature throughout history. Projecting the contrast between the American dream and reality, F. Scott Fitzgerald incorporates his opinions, primarily based off of his experiences and tribulations in World War I, throughout his literary works.Many people believe that deplorable moral and social values have evolved from the materialistic pursuit of the American dream especially throughout the roaring twenties. His novel, The Great Gatsby, which is set in this time period, shows a castigation of love caused by these specific ideals and lack of morale. It depicts the general

     Perception and reality do not always align. Is true love really true love, or is it a farce, a self-created mythical re-interpretation of the thing we hold so dear? In The Great Gatsby, is Gatsby really in love with Daisy, or his vision of her? Does she feel the same way for him, or does she truly love him? And what does the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock mean to Gatsby?

The first way Fitzgerald proves his belief of the American Dream is how he shapes the outcome of the stories he writes. This quote from The Great Gatsby shows the failure of Gatsby’s dream at the end of the novel. “I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to his blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know it was already behind him …” (Fitzgerald 180). The main character, Nick, explains how Gatsby was so close to his dream but didn’t achieve it. All Gatsby wanted was to be Daisy but couldn’t achieve his goal. This quote from “Winter Dreams” also depicts Fitzgerald’s views on the American Dream. “‘Long ago,’ he said, ‘long ago there was something in me, but now that thing is gone. Now that thing is gone, that thing is gone. I cannot cry. I cannot care. That thing will come back no more.’” (Fitzgerald 639). Dexter had a dream to be with Judy but now that dream is no longer with him and he can’t get it back. These endings to some of Fitzgerald’s stories show that he believes the American Dream is something that cannot be obtained and will always fail.

In the United States' Declaration of Independence, our founding fathers "…held certain truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." This sentiment can be considered the foundation of the American Dream, the dream that everyone has the ability to become what he or she desires to be. While many people work to attain their American dream, others believe that the dream is seemingly impossible to reach, like F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby examines the "Jazz-Age" generation's search for the elusive American Dream of wealth and happiness and scrutinizes the consequences of that

Symbolism is a big part in how people express certain feelings or represent important items. The American Dream is a huge achievement that everyone wants to reach. Whether people want to admit it or not, it is a symbol all it’s self. It can be anything really, a great job, a family, white picket fence, even music or attending concerts of your favorite band. The American Dream is something that makes you so happy and what you can achieve or want achieve in your lifetime. The main AMerican Dream is money, a family, and happiness. In The Great Gatsby the american dream is a green light.There are several different colors for the different symbols in the book which are portrayed throughout the book often, and in the right context. Each character is put with that color and in different scenes for different reasons. Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, and Nick Carraway all portrayed the same color symbol; yellow which stands for death and or/ corruption.

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.

Her promiscuous ways give her a fraudulent character. Jordan, “...was incurably dishonest. She wasn’t able to endure being at a disadvantage…” (58). Her dishonesty and refusal to be lower than others shows what can result from having everything one may want. When Jordan cheated in golf, she cheated in life; her constant privilege stemming from her wealth causes her to deceive others to get her way. While a professional golfer like herself should be a role model, she conveys the impression that unfair behavior will result in a positive outcome. Jordan’s dishonest ways plague her character with the idea that lying is the only pathway to success, even if one may already have everything.

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