The American Dream In The Great Gatsby Analysis

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the ideals of wealth and dreams are exhibited through the lives and experiences of Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby. Specifically, Gatsby tends to waste his wealth rather than investing for the future. He uses the “green light” to serve as a constant reminder of his dreams and life goals he wishes to pursue. Nick Carraway’s friendship with Gatsby enables him to partake in the wealth and luxuries of Gatsby's lifestyle. The American Dream is brought to fruition through Gatsby’s lavish lifestyle and extravagant parties. Furthermore, the motifs of wealth and dreams are perpetually shaping and influencing the characters’ decisions, experiences and outcomes over the course of the story.

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.

The American dream is the idea of the perfect family and a house with a white picket fence; some people strive their whole life to achieve the dream, but the dream is unachievable—there is no such thing as perfect. The Balance’s article What Is the American Dream? The History That Made It Possible by Kimberly Amadeo says:

The American dream can mean many different things and can be interpreted in different ways. To some people, the American dream is the belief that if a person works hard enough, he or she can be successful in America no matter what race, gender, or nationality. In the 1920’s, the concept of the American dream was very much the same, that an individual can achieve success in life regardless of family history or social status if he or she works hard enough. By having money, a car, a big house, expensive clothes, and a loving family symbolizes the American dream. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the 1920’s is a time period in which the American dream becomes corrupt and dangerous. For Jay Gatsby, a main character in the novel, his American dream is about gaining wealth and material possessions in order to find happiness. Through his decision to symbolize wealth, superficiality, irresponsibility, and foreshadowing, Fitzgerald conveys the the theme that the American dream is a perfect concept and is something that can never be accomplished, but can always be reached for.

There's always a start and an end to a dream. From the start line to the finish line of living out the dream. Gatsby represents the American Dream, he had started near the start line. The start line represents that there's both an advantage & disadvantages, the certain kind that not everyone has the same opportunities for and they’re not in the same social status.

Through the decades, individuals have created a representation of how the American Dream should be. This dream as historian James Adams referred to as “That dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement.” However, during the time of Fitzgerald, the writer of The Great Gatsby, the American Dream was about discovery, individualism, and the pursuit of happiness. Furthermore, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses a variety of literary devices to portray the American Dream. He introduces Gatsby, a poor man who hopes and dreams to spend a life together with Daisy, extending arms to reach the green light.

The American dream is a idea that anyone can reach prosperity and success by determination and hard work. Everyone has equal opportunity to achieve this dream. This may not be the case in this tragic love story, The novel The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald. By corruption, unfaithfulness, and entitlement we see a different view of the American Dream. Through the characters and plot in the novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald suggests the pessimistic view that the American Dream of social mobility is a modern fallacy.

The American dream is defined as “an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative” (Google). There were many conflicts that interfered with trying to reach each individual's dreams. Each character had their own meaning of their dream, Jay Gatsby especially. He had a big impact in his life, Daisy, which led to failure in his own American dream. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby almost lived out his American dream, by finding the love of his life, and almost fulfilled the dream to be with her forever.

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 easily its core values can be transferred to modern American life. One of the most obvious motifs of the Great Gatsby is the American Dream; it could even be argued that Gatsby exists as a personification of the American Dream. 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 goals of the American Dream*.

“Winter Dreams” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a story about a young man named Dexter Green who is the son of a father who is the owner of the second best owned grocery store in the town of Dillard. In the winter he skis across the golf course where he caddies at in the summer to make some spending money. The “winter dreams” idea of the story is the American Dream that Dexter comes to embody but, he finds out success comes at a high cost and social mobility restricts Dexter’s capacity for happiness. The point that Fitzgerald is trying to get across to the reader is that the American Dream may not be what most perceive it to be and that there is a dark side to the American Dream with the idea of money cannot buy happiness. The American Dream is used

In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald utilized symbolism to express a deeper meaning. Throughout the novel, an overall theme is apparent: the American Dream is virtually unattainable. Gatsby’s dream is for Daisy to realize she loves him and not Tom. As the book goes on, the reader can see through symbolism that Gatsby’s American Dream is becoming unattainable because Gatsby is reaching for something greater than he can achieve.

The Dream that is the American Dream There is a quote by Norman Vincent Peale describing how one should "shoot for the moon. [For] even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.” But what if the only desirable outcome was to achieve the moon. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, we see Jay Gatsby attempting to reach this figurative moon, in his pursuit of a girl named Daisy.

The American Dream is the idea of having an equal opportunity of achieving prosperity and happiness through hard work and determination. The idea of the American dream is the main focus of novel The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby is about the narrator Nick Carraway who tells the story of Jay Gatsby, a wealthy self-made man who is in love with Daisy Buchanan. However, Daisy is married to Tom Buchanan who is also a rich man but from inheritance. The colors red white and blue appear often in the book, each color has its own meaning in relationship to the “American Dream”. Red signifies passion, violence, and power. Blue represents hope, and White represents class and high stature. F.Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby uses extensive description of the colors red, white and, blue to illustrate certain parts of the American Dream are fake.

What is more important, wealth or the pursuit of happiness? Because they both cannot be obtained. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald suggest that the American Dream is an illusory, the people who pursue it are Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, and Myrtle, and this pursuit is ultimately unattainable.

F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the American Dream in the character of Jay Gatsby throughout the novel The Great Gatsby. Gatsby succeeds in changing his life as he goes from having nothing to being very wealthy. His success, however, comes during a corrupt time. How Gatsby made his fortune is not clear but it is clear that he was involved in illegal business transactions. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald shows that the American Dream is achievable, but only by adding the illegal aspect to Gatsby’s success he also problematizes the American Dream throughout the plot. Throughout The Great Gatsby the character of Jay Gatsby depicts the American dream.