Similarities Between The Great Gatsby And The American Dream

The term “The American Dream” was coined in 1931 by American writer James Truslow Adams and described America as a place of opportunity based on one’s ability and hard work. Although the term originated in 1931, the fundamental ideas of the American Dream debuted in 1920’s society and contrasted greatly with previous notions of a stagnant class structure. This was due to the booming post-WWI economy, which provided an increase in accessibility to leisure items and activities, allowing luxuries typically reserved for the upper class to be enjoyed by the masses. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, reflects these social and economic changes. The novel follows the rise and fall of Jay Gatsby, who achieved prosperity in spite of being born the son of a poor, North Dakota farmer. Though many believed in an emergence of class mobility in the 1920’s, the novel The Great Gatsby demonstrates the ultimate inaccessibility of the American Dream - a holistic realization of social and economic equality.

Fitzgerald’s novel, the Great Gatsby is one of the most meticulously written story of all time. This book incorporates different themes, yet the shadiness of the American Dream is the most significant one. The American Dream designates that one starting very low on their economic or social status and getting success and wealth trough their arduous work. Having a big house, a nice car and a happy family show the success of the American Dream. This dream is also shown by the concept of a self-made man, who struggles through life to get successful and wealthy. This dream does not only cause corruption but also destruction.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby contains a vast array of colorful characters who are in different situations in their life. Many of them, however, have achieved wealth, luxury, and seemingly everything they ever dreamed of; however, they all live a rather shallow life. The American Dream proclaims that anybody should be able to achieve wealth and prosperity, and Gatsby in particular appears to be a living personification of the American Dream. He went from being poor to incredibly affluent, yet everything he yearns for, and achieves, fails to meet his expectations. In many instances, despite the actualization of their dreams, the characters in the story often appear unsatisfied and unfulfilled; Fitzgerald uses these moments of dissatisfaction

The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald effectively portrays 1920’s America and its twisted, unsavory values. The novel has been called “the American masterwork,” by Jonathan Yardley of The Washington Post, because of the novel’s characterization of the Jazz Age and all of it’s unsatisfactory glory. One critic has written, “The theme of Gatsby is the withering of the American dream.” Fitzgerald’s work validates this statement. The Great Gatsby wonderfully depicts the death of the American Dream through the loss of humility and rectitude. The American Dream is the ideal that anyone, regardless of race, class, or gender should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. The death of this dream is demonstrated in the novel through rich symbolism as Fitzgerald uses extended metaphors and personification to portray the corruption of the Jazz Age. The American Dream is demonstrated through the color yellow, which symbolizes not only wealth but death. The American Dream is also demonstrated through characters Myrtle Wilson, George Wilson, and Jay Gatsby, as well as their tragic endings while trying to achieve the dream. Tom and Daisy Buchanan achieve money without having to work and the carelessness that results from it.

In the 1920’s, American citizens were pursuing their dreams. Between desires of wealth and fame, many of these aspirations are outlandish. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald shows us the consequences of chasing these unique American dreams. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald clearly communicates to the reader that people are failing to accomplish their dreams. The characters of Nick, Gatsby, Tom and Daisy all have ideas for a perfect life; however, none of them are able to obtain it. Fitzgerald shows the pursuit of the American dream as deceitful because it leads to poverty, depression, moral and social decay through highly unrealistic standards.

The American Dream: Is is fact or fiction? In the United States’ Declaration of Independence, our founding fathers set forth the idea of an American Dream by providing us with the recognizable phrase “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”. The green light at the end of Daisy Buchanan’s dock symbolizes Jay Gatsby’s “Pursuit of Happiness” in the novel, The Great Gatsby, set in the 1920s on Long Island, New York. The American Dream can be defined as “the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society where upward mobility is possible for everyone. The American Dream is achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking, and hard work, not by chance” (Fontinelle, Amy). At the birth of our country in 1776, our founding fathers introduced the American Dream as a personal desire to pursue happiness; however, the pursuit of happiness was not intended to promote self-indulgence, rather to act as a catalyst to encourage an entrepreneurial spirit. As our country has changed, the idea of the American Dream, in some cases, has evolved into the pursuit of one’s own indulgences such as material gain regardless of the consequences.

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

For centuries in this country people have believed that through hard work, talent and ambition anyone can acquire great wealth and success regardless of their social class and background, a concept later named “The American Dream” in 1931. However, people have been questioning whether this idea of rags to riches really is attainable to all who work for it, or if it is merely a fantasy and a myth. In his novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses symbolism to illustrate the death of the American Dream.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is an exploration of the American dream in modern society, in which money and prosperity are significant factors and it may not be as simple as you think; and the movie Citizen Kane is another example of the complex issues relating to the American dream. First, we will explore the American dream, in which it is to make a great deal of money because it provides for a comfortable living, and characters in the novel reflect upon this very ideal. Second, achieving the American dream of wealth is perceived to bring happiness, but that is not always the case as will examine the dream relating to the characters in the novel. Third, we will explore the

The Great Gatsby is a tragic love story on the surface, but its most commonly understood as a suspicious critic of the American Dream. In the novel Jay Gatsby overcomes his poor past to gain an incredible amount of money and a limited amount of social cache of in the 1920s NYC, only to be rejected by the “old money” crowd. The focus of my paper would be the pathway towards the American Dream and how it affects the person and others around. The American dream affects not only one person, but also those who linger around them (near or far). This dream is represented by the ideas of a self-sufficient man or woman, who works hard to achieve a goal to become successful. By having money, a car, a big house mice clothes with a big loving family symbolizes the American Dream. This dream can also represent that people, can become successful in life by their own work. The aspiration to strive for what one wants can be accomplished if they work hard enough. This text written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, depicts the American dream as an un-wealthy individual who works effortlessly towards wealth and fame. The Great Gatsby is a novel that displays the events that took place in the American Dream in the 1920s, where in the timeframe dreams became corrupted for many unforeseen reasoning. Fitzgerald uses symbolism to amplify the story’s themes and characters, as well as a specific purpose and

Living the American Dream can be very risky and can cause you to lose everything around you. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, we see from Nick’s eyes a horrific tragedy of Jay Gatsby achieving The American Dream then having it all fall down on him by his choices in life. Jay Gatsby comes to New York in search of his lost love, Daisy. Gatsby becomes wealthy to get Daisy’s love, but trying to create the past doesn’t always work. Gatsby lost his life trying to find something that wasn’t there. The Great Gatsby showed how the American Dream can be corrupted by the power of being wealthy, the power of society, and the power of love.

The illusion and the reality of the American Dream entails hard work and perseverance for goals that can never be attained. Although The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald is filled with multiple themes such as society and class, love and the superficial achievement of the American Dream, the primary focus is on the American Dream and the desire to achieve the dream is illusive and possibly can not be obtained. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses symbolism, imagery and pathetic fallacy in the classic text, The Great Gatsby, to illustrate that the American Dream no longer exists; this absence shows how the characters’ idealistic and illusionary goal to achieve wealth and status precipitates failure.

Throughout all of time, white men have seen themselves as superior to other races, genders, sexualities and cultures. One way that this statement is supported is through the American Dream. The American Dream is set out to be the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” per the Declaration of Independence. This idea is completely achievable for white, rich men, on the other hand, it is not as easily achievable for a few other groups. The American Dream is a complex set up to try to keep minorities from becoming truly happy and equal.

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.

An excellent example of the American dream and its rags-to-riches concept is that of Jay Gatsby. Jay Gatsby, legally known as James Gatz, grew up on a farm in North Dakota, rather than into wealth in San Francisco, as he claims in the novel. Gatsby’s dream of being wealthy flourishes when he meets Dan Cody, a wealthy copper mongul. Gatsby starts out as a poor farm boy and transforms into a wealthy sophisticated man. Gatsby’s rags-to-riches success story makes him the embodiment of the American dream (Murphy 1). He has risen from being a poor farm boy and having nothing to having a huge luxurious house, servants, and a large social circle and he achieves this goal in a matter of a few short years, having returned from the war penniless (1). Gatsby works very hard