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.

The American dream is often described as the desire for social mobility and the opportunity for wealth and success for all. According to Laura Goldblatt, author of Can’t Repeat the Past: Great Gatsby and the American Dream, “The term ‘American Dream’ provides a shorthand for aspirations that include the desire for social mobility, the ideals of freedom, and a non-hierarchical society,” (1) Of course, while there is an overall definition of the American dream, its interpretation varies from person to person. For some, it is the white picket fence and upper-middle class ideology. For others, it’s the dream of being able to support their families with their hardwork and dedication. However, for Jay Gatsby, it is only to gain wealth and success that will lead him to earn the love of Daisy Buchanan. To him, Daisy was his American dream and he would do anything, buy anything and give anything to have her, as shown throughout F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Gatsby’s interpretation of the American dream is best encapsulated through his relentless pursuit to obtain Daisy’s love and attention. Although he used a showy appearance of wealth and prosperity to fulfill his desire for Daisy’s attention, the readers realize that money could not buy her affection in the long term, that Gatsby only committed to a life of extravagance for the sole purpose of wooing Daisy Buchanan, and he died sad and alone with his version of the American Dream never being fully realized.

It’s called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it” (George Carlin). George Carlin, criticizes the dream of prosperity, a promise to any individual for happiness and material success, if they try hard enough, Carlin realizes the reality of the unobtainable dream. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald offers an insight to the lavish life of the 1920’s, or as he coined, The Jazz Age. The novel follows the character of Nick Carraway as he learns the tragedy of an excessive lifestyle that is lived by Jay Gatsby, Tom and Daisy Buchanan. Fitzgerald is able to see past all the luxury and grandeur to expose the unhappiness and misery that tells the reader that money does not bring true joy. The novel describes

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.

Jay Gatsby was formerly known as James Gatz, a poor 17 year old who fell in love with money and the life that came with it. He had changed his name to Jay Gatsby and was “a penniless young man without a past,” even though he told people he was rich(156). Gatsby met Daisy who had a “voice that was full of money”(127). She fell in love with Gatsby, who lied about how much money he had in order to prove worthy of her. Shortly he had to go to war, where Daisy grew impatient waiting for Gatsby to come home. So she made the decision “by some force of love, of money” to get married to Tom, a man born into money. Even though Gatsby told Daisy he was rich, she just couldn't wait and wanted her life to be together and she wanted it now. She would rather have money than a real love. Gatsby had developed the wealth he had dreamed of, and used his money to prove a point to Daisy. Doing so he would throw lavish parties, lived in an enormous house, and

What is F. Scott Fitzgerald’s view of the American Dream? Did The American Dream destroy people happiness? How?

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.

Within his acclaimed novel, The Great Gatsby, author F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the backdrop of the uninhibited, wealthy New York society of the Jazz Age to display his views using a cast of doomed characters. While it is a significant issue to the story, Fitzgerald does not directly address the concepts of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby. In fact, you will not find the words "American Dream" in this novel. However, Fitzgerald subtly weaves into his telling of the tragic tale the severe consequences of the 1920's manipulation of the American Dream. Fitzgerald concludes his novel by killing or injuring all his characters who took short-cuts toward an American Dream dominated by materialism. From his writing, I believe that Fitzgerald embraces the old-fashioned or conventional American Dream that hard work and sacrifice yields success.

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.

Throughout the contemporary history of America, people have outwardly exuded their own confidences that a better life was within their reach. The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald explores dreams and how they affect and ultimately corrupt dreamers. Fitzgerald tells the story of a poor, midwestern man who goes to seemingly endless lengths to achieve the goal of a richer life in New York. This man, Jay Gatsby, reinvents himself, amasses a fortune through illegal activity, and funnels his wealth into a single goal: win back his lost love, Daisy. Gatsby’s dream for his new life with Daisy consumes him, similar to the dreams and ultimate fates of other characters in this novel. The characters all harbor their own version of the American dream in their minds. The American dream is the idea that “[E]very man, whatever his origins, may pursue and attain his chosen goals, be they political, monetary, or social” (Pearson 638). There is a common belief that America guarantees the means to achieve a better life and a hopeful future, but people fail to realize that the American dream is an unfulfilled promise. Each character in the Great Gatsby is corrupted in some ways by a dream, or conversely corrupted by the lacking of one. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the characters’ vulnerabilities and flaws to show the corruption of their interpretation of the American dream.

In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses Jay Gatsby to demonstrate the decline of the American Dream. Gatsby's life is tested as he attempts to live in a society that is designed for people with old money. The American Dream is "the belief in America as a land of opportunity, expectation of progress, and faith in individualism" (Beers 747). Gatsby pursues his American Dream, in trying to get the woman of his dreams, Daisy Buchanan. The novel is an example of the decline in the American Dream and its effects on Gatsby and other characters.