The American Dream By F. Scott Fitzgerald

In book, “The Great Gatsby,” F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts how the American was corrupted through wealth. Fitzgerald provides many examples. The most common example shown was Jay Gatsby. Gatsby’s idea that to achieve his American Dream must be to acquire wealth. In order to show this, Fitzgerald uses various literary elements. Two of those being imagery and foreshadowing, these played a critical role in describing the theme, and specific moods to show what was to come and as well as describe the story as a whole. These play a vital role in representing Gatsby’s life and journey to acquiring Daisy, his version of the American Dream.

The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, embodies many themes as the story progresses. Some of these themes are social classes, wealth, and most importantly the American Dream. The American Dream is the idea that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. The Great Gatsby is a highly symbolic meditation on 1920s America as a whole, in particular the disintegration of the American Dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess. Through the use of characters and symbols, F. Scott Fitzgerald implies the American Dream may not really exist and that everyone in the U.S. aims for survival of the fittest, rather than equality.

Since American literature’s emergence, the American dream has become a conceptual ideal for many people throughout history. Although the dream has its own distinct aspects throughout different time periods, it predominantly focuses on the foundations of wealth, success and a desire for something greater. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s fiction novel, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby, the protagonist, is primarily known for the numerous lavish parties he throws each weekend at his ostentatious mansion in West Egg in an attempt to reunite with Daisy Buchanan, a woman he falls in love with prior to entering the war before the Roaring Twenties. However, he is seized with an impotent realization on the fact that his wealth cannot afford him the same privileges as others that are born into the upper echelon. Gatsby is completely blinded from his opulent possessions until he becomes oblivious of the fact that money cannot buy love or happiness. Throughout the story, the predilection for materialistic features causes many characters to lose sight of their aspirations, demonstrating how a dream can become easily corrupt by one’s focus on acquiring wealth and power.

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.

In The Great Gatsby, the author, F Scott Fitzgerald depicts the post - war roaring 20’s, a time of overwhelming prosperity and a new found sense of hope for the future. While this novel is often perceived as a romance, it is also a criticism on the devastating nature of the elusive american dream. The story of Jay Gatsby is a representation of what had become the values of the individual at the time. With the progression of the early 1920’s the vision of the perfect life, or the american dream, had been skewed. It was replaced with greed, and an abundance of reckless spending in which the wealthier individuals placed their misguided ideas of happiness. In the Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald chooses to expose the hidden truth behind the illustrious concept of the American dream. Through his use of literary devices such as, symbolism, metaphor, and, irony the central idea of the truly unattainable American dream is supported throughout the novel.

The Great Gatsby, a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a story of misguided love between a man and a woman. Fitzgerald takes his reader through the turbulence and trials of Jay Gatsby’s life and of his pining for the girl he met five years prior. The main theme of the novel, however, is not solely about the love shared between Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. The main purpose is to show the decline and decay of the American Dream in the 1920’s. The American Dream is the goal or idea which suggests that all people can succeed through hard work, and that all have the potential to live happy, successful lives. While on the surface, Gatsby

The American Dream is defined as the “idea that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative” (Adams). This idea has been relevant to Americans ever since the creation of the United States of America. Everyone has their own interpretation of it and embody it in their own way. Over time, the American Dream has been altered and changed in regards to how our society has evolved. During the 1920s, the American Dream became corrupt and America’s main focus was on materialism and wealth. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, he depicts the corruption of the American Dream based on greed and false prosperity which strayed from the true version of it which valued hard-work, and initiative.

The greatest power in the world lies within those who posses the ability to immortalize their ideas and to defend their values against the test of time and watch them succeed. Such is the case in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, which focuses on the corruption of the American Dream. High society throughout the 1920s is expressed through the eyes of narrator Nick Carraway, who exposes the transformation of the American Dream, from a pure ideal of security into a convoluted scheme of materialistic possession. Exposing the faults within the American Dream, Fitzgerald illustrates in his tragic story that a once impervious dream is now lost forever, drowned by the decadence of a materialistic society.

The “Roaring 20’s” was a time period where material and wealth mattered even more to people. Greed consumed people and the thrill of the time devoured people as well. Parties occurred daily and wealthy members of society appeared out of nowhere. The American Dream, of what once was a dream of self, became corrupted. The opportunity to be oneself became the opportunity to become rich and powerful. The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald exemplifies the corruption of the American Dream. Jay Gatsby, an upper-class member of society, allows the thrill of the American Dream to take over his life and determine his actions, in his extravagant plan of winning back his old love, Daisy. This corruption of the American Dream destroys not only his ideals and inevitably, his life but also sabotages Daisy as well. Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby’s versions of the American Dream are a true example of the hold and destruction that the American Dream had on people. Fitzgerald’s way of incorporating the American Dream reflects the truth behind the dream and shows the damage that it did to millions of people during the Jazz Age. The Great Gatsby is a criticism of the American Dream and how monetary greed and excess destroy the characters’ attempts to find true happiness.

The early 1920’s were a time when the economy began to soar, and the notion of the American dream began to take effect. The American Dream is the idea that anyone can come from any background and no matter who they are, if they work hard and stay true to themselves, they can achieve their dreams. The Great Gatsby, set in the early twenties, displays that socio-economic power is obtained through inheritance, forming an aristocracy of power and wealth. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, demonstrates how geography and location dictate where the social-class level of an individual exists permanently in society. Furthermore, illusion and affectation portrayed in the novel to conceive the image of power and wealth in a way for

The Great Gatsby is the most famous of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novels. The main reason for its fame is the accurate portrayal of the zeitgeist of the United States in the 20s and how applicable its core values and themes are to modern American life. One of the most obvious motifs of the Great Gatsby is the American Dream; it is even arguable that Gatsby exists as a personification of the American Dream. Consequently The Great Gatsby is at once a romantic view and criticism of the American Dream and its effect on society. Gatsby’s progression throughout the story represents the image, results, issues with, and heart of the American Dream .

While the current generation may not truly understand the decadent and rebellious energy of Gatsby’s era, major themes such as the decline of the American Dream, and the shallowness of human relationships still remain relevant to the modern society. In a way, characters in The Great Gatsby are representative of “the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired” in regards to The American Dream. Despite the optimistic belief in the possibilities of upward mobility in social status and financial stability, the attempts of “dreamers” in the novel were left unfulfilled. Jay Gatsby, a man of humble upbringings, longed after a life of wealth and status. His dream of being accepted by Daisy and the elite society of the East Egg not only ended in failure, but also his own downfall.

The 1920s was a time when parties and prosperity were abundant. This created the view that everything was possible and eventually led to the idea of the American Dream. The American Dream was the thought that if one lives in America, then they are living in a land of opportunity. The perception was that an individual, through hard work, can be successful when in America regardless of their situation. However, an inevitable truth that is often untold is the fact that the American Dream is only a dream that few can achieve. As shown in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s books, The Great Gatsby and This Side of Paradise, the pursuit of the American Dream proves to result in one’s demise. Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby and Amory Blaine in This Side of Paradise are unsuccessful in their attempt to attain the attention of the person they like, lose connections with people, and their wealth did not get them as far in life as they thought it would.

The word American Dream was first coined by an American writer and historian James Truslow Adams (1878 – 1949), in his book The Epic of America, written in 1931. His definition of American Dream is “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability and achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position”.

After World War I, America offered the potential for boundless financial and social opportunities for those willing to work hard—an American Dream. The American Dream is defined as someone starting low on the economic or social level, and working hard towards prosperity and or wealth and fame. Establishing fame, becoming wealthy, having lavish luxuries, and a happy family would come to symbolize this dream. For some, however, striving for and realizing that dream ruined them, as many acquired wealth only to pursue pleasure. Even though the characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby appear to relish the freedom of the 1920s, their lives demonstrate the emptiness that results when wealth and pleasure become ends in themselves. Specifically, the empty lives of three characters from this novel— George Wilson, Jay Gatsby, and Daisy Buchanan—show that chasing hollow dreams results only in misery.