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.

In the past the American Dream was an inspiration to many, young and old. To live out the American Dream was what once was on the minds of many Americans. In The Great Gatsby, the American Dream was presented as a corrupted version of what used to be a pure and honest ideal way to live. The idea that the American Dream was about the wealth and the possessions one had been ingrained, somehow, into the minds of Americans during the 1920’s. As a result of the distortion of the American Dream, the characters of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby along with many others, lived life fully believing in the American Dream, becoming completely immersed in it and in the end suffered great tragedies.

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, he demonstrates the actions of society and by doing, so he ridicules the high class and lower class, which ended up critiquing the American Dream. The American dream is an idea to give people hope that through hard work one will achieve wealth, fame, and prosperity. This dream symbolizes the desire to attain a luxurious house, car and even a perfect marriage if one is diligent enough. It is represented by the idea of a self-sufficient man or woman who is determined to achieve a goal to become more successful. However, the American Dream is an illusion that only leads to corruption in the pursuit of social mobility.

The idea of the “American Dream” seems to change from generation to generation. Our grandparents believed in working hard to make money to support your family. Our parents believed going to college and getting a good education so you can succeed in the world. Today’s generation- Well they believe in traveling and being free and seeing everything there is to see before you truly begin your life at around 30 years old.

The "American Dream" is a frequently used term to reference to the opportunity to move up in social status, create a family, and live a comfortable life. Somewhere in the 1920s the “American Dream” got a new meaning, and that meaning for a lot of people was greed. The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald shows the corrupt nature of the American Dream through some of its main characters. F Scott Fitzgerald shows the frailty of the American Dream with Jay Gatsby the protagonist of the story. Gatsby had a huge desire to succeed in everything, the root of this desire was to impress the love of his life, Daisy .

The American dream is an illusion, and one can never achieve true happiness when one is searching for it. This is what F. Scott Fitzgerald was thinking when, amongst his failing marriage and panicking country, he wrote one of America’s most beloved classics. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby, a self-made, overly optimistic millionaire who throws lavish parties in search of his long-lost love, is eventually found to be not only a liar, but a failure as well. This failure portrays a different ideal for Fitzgerald: the American dream. In fact, within his novel, Fitzgerald metaphorically depicted the American dream as unachievable and impractical, using the very title itself.

In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is used as an example of individuals who are disillusioned with the idea of wealth and material possessions associated with the American Dream. Gatsby’s version of the American Dream is to be wealthy and be treated like those of “old money” as a way to win the love of Daisy. Gatsby views money and success as a way to solve his problems. Instead of working hard to make an honest living, Gatsby resorts to the crime of bootlegging in order to easily become wealthy. Gatsby distances himself from his meager past and becomes a man known for his luxurious parties, all the while being lonely despite hundreds of people around him.

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 defined as the idea that all citizens of the United States of America are able to have an equal chance to gain success, and to prosper through hard work and determination. The American Dream is the driving force of evolution in humanity. It allows the aspiration of being able to do astonishing things, and proffers them prosperity in life. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald delves into the American Dream and it’s demise. Fitzgerald focuses on the character of Jay Gatsby to materialize the false image that the American Dream created in the 1920’s. Gatsby is the protagonist of the novel, and is famous for throwing massive parties regardless of the secret life that he lives. The narrator, Nick Carraway, dives into

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.

The American Dream. A dream for an innumerable number of Americans who so desperately wants to achieve. The dream of being able to accomplish anything in life through hard work and to have a perfect family. “The Great Gatsby”, by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a satirical story of the American Dream during the Gilded Age, representing the economic and political turmoil and corruption that was all covered up by a glitzy and glamorous society and culture that appeared on the outside to be a prosperous nation. The characters that are described in this novel are shown to be corrupted by the pursuit of fame and wealth, they have never worked a single minute of their lives to earn anything on their own.

For generations many have immigrated to this great nation know, as the United states of America, all seeking for their share of the American dream. The American dream is the philosophy that anyone can become successful through hard work and perseverance. The 1920’s embodies this concept like no other decade in American history. It is also during this time frame that one sees the perversion of this dream. F. Scott Fitzgerald suggests in his novel, The Great Gatsby that there is a right and wrong way to obtain the American dream. Throughout the novel, Gatsby is symbolic for the materialistic nature of the American dream and its corruption in the 20th century.