The Disillusionment of American Dream in Great Gatsby and Tender Is the Night

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.

Jay Gatsby demonstrates the progression of 1920’s society, from the stagnant class structure of the past to the upwardly mobile class fluidity of the Roaring Twenties. Gatsby, a newly-rich socialite of “Long Island, sprang from a platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God” (Fitzgerald 104). Gatsby’s self-perceived identity as “a son of God” is the manifestation of the optimism for the emerging class mobility in the 1920’s. The idea that a poor man, such as Gatsby, could become wealthy and prominent in society was considered by many to be impossible before the 1920’s; this change was one of the many social norms that were shattered by society’s explosive adoption of the American Dream. The recent success and wealth of the Vanderbilt family was celebrated by 1920’s society as a prime example of the American Dream’s attainability. The article “The Instinct That Makes People Rich” described the Vanderbilt family’s rise to success and stated that “we can follow [the Vanderbilt’s] general methods [of achieving success]; we can seize these opportunities that are given to us, and give ourselves a very fair chance of obtaining riches” (Instinct). The Vanderbilt family’s sudden attainment of vast

The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts the degradation of the American dream through the loss of humility and rectitude.

The American Dream is a worldwide known idiom and it emphasizes an ideal of a successful and happy lifestyle which is oftentimes symbolized by the phrase “from rags-to-riches”. It originated out of the ideal of equality, freedom and opportunity that is held to every American. In the last couple of decades the main idea of the American Dream has shifted to becoming a dream in which materialistic values are of a higher importance and status. The Great Gatsby is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925 during the “Jazz Age”. Jay Gatsby is a parvenu who worked himself his way up. He is the main character and he has a quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan and he has a need for

Throughout two of F Scott Fitzgerald's books, ‘The Great Gatsby' and ‘Tender is the Night', comparisons can be made between the themes that are dealt with in each book.

The American Dream, something we all dream to prosper, however differs from each one of us. Whether it be to obtain riches or love, or simply live happy, we all aspire to cross that finish line at the end of day. The universal theme of the American Dream is presented throughout The Great Gatsby, and is shown throughout many of the characters in which many are emptied, because of their lust for money. For instance, in the novel The Great Gatsby the main character Gatsby shows downfall for the American Dream, because of his ambition, and corruption. The character expresses his downfall through his traits of ambition, and resilience in obtaining his materialistic riches, and most important living happy ever after with his “nice” girl Daisy, the one who got away.

The American Dream is like a beautiful yet poisonous mushroom. Its colorful appearance lures humans and animals to consume it, but the outcome results in death if left untreated. The American Dream lures people into thinking that their dream and their social class can be changed with hard work and determination. However, the results are deadly in The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald with all that tried. Through the use of imagery, Fitzgerald characterizes Jay Gatsby as ambitious, naive, and selfish, demonstrating how time and a corrupt, rigid and selfish society contributes to the non-existence of the American Dream.

What is the American Dream? Is it wealth and power? Or is it liberty and freedom? The American Dream is different for every individual. In Gatsby’s case, his dream revolves around the pursuit of Daisy. The Declaration of Independence states, “All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and pursuit of Happiness.” This statement compresses the wide array of American Dreams into one statement. The pursuit of happiness is different for every human being. Gatsby’s dream was to rise out of a low economic level and into high wealth, winning Daisy over along the way. “The dream of finding fortune, fame, and true love is something that almost all Americans strive for” (Galley). Gatsby was too ambitious in the pursuit of his dream. During his struggle for Daisy, he failed to recognize that his vision was not attainable. The American Dream causes corruption in the world.

“That locality is always vaguely disquieting, even in the broad glare of afternoon, and now I turned my head as though I had been warned of something behind. Over the ashheaps the giant eyes of Doctor T.J Eckleberg kept their vigil, but I perceived, after a moment, that someone’s eyes were regarding us with peculiar intensity from less than twenty feet away”(Fitzgerald 124). The eyes of Doctor T.J Eckleberg watches over all the characters while they live in what they consider the “American dream”. The Great Gatsby, a historical fiction novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, speaks to the readers about the illusion of the American dream. Gatsby’s life and death is a product of an illusion because of Gatsby’s determination for wealth in his youth, the unlawful money he receives, and Gatsby’s love for “old money”.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, acclaimed as one of the greatest classics of the twentieth-centre literature, expresses the erosion of the great American dream. Established around 1920s America, Fitzgerald focuses on the emptiness of excessive wealth and the extinction of morals. Told from the perspective of Nick Caraway, a man who inherited his wealth, as he settles into life in the West Egg district of Long Island, known as the home of the newly rich. He becomes acquainted with Jay Gatsby, his next-door neighbor, who throws tremendously flamboyant parties every Saturday night. Gatsby first appears aloof and driven by an exorbitant lifestyle with little purpose, but as the story progresses Fitzgerald reveals more about Gatsby’s ambition and objective. In his youth he fell in love with Daisy Buchanan, but due to his low status and poverty Daisy became out of reach and she married Tom Buchanan, and extremely wealthy man. Because Gatsby lost Daisy, he decided to center his whole life around winning her back, so he turned to a life of organized crime where he made his millions and began

After World War I ended, America appeared to be a promise land of opportunities for people who are willing to work for it. However, for some, it corrupted them as they set to reach the American dream by acquiring wealth for the only purpose to pursue pleasure. The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald showing that no one is unaffected by the corruption. This novel is seen through the eyes of Nick Carraway, who moves from the mid-west to west-egg to chase his American dream. He observes the people and events around him as he follows the attempts of his neighbor Jay Gatsby, to gain back Daisy Buchanan’s love. Through the novel, characters appear to enjoy the freedom of the 1920s, but it comes to an end as characters are

The Great Gatsby, a novel set in the city of New York during the 1920’s, regards the novel’s pivotal character, Jay Gatsby, trying to win back the love of his dreams, Daisy Buchanan, back while wrestling unattainable social status, distorted societal values, and all of this amid a hopeful heart. This time period, called The Roaring Twenties, encompasses all of what Gatsby goes through in his journey of trying to live “The American Dream”. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the false values of society are brought out through underlying life lessons throughout the novel’s main character, Jay Gatsby’s, life.

Jay Gatsby’s sole purpose in life is to achieve the American Dream: to become a land owner, married to the love of his life, who live in comfort and abundance. However, he never gets everything he wants as his love for Daisy is not as fully reciprocated as he wishes it to be. His dream, and the one Nick pursues as well, are only dreams in the end. The culture of the time only gives empty fulfillment with no real substance. The people, like their dreams, are only illusions of what they want to be.

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.

In the definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams in 1931, "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement" regardless of social class or circumstances of birth. If you have a dream in America, you can achieve it with old fashioned hard work. Whether it’s going from rags to riches or finding love, the American Dream can offer it. But the ever-popular American dream is easily corrupted. This is greatly shown in the novel The Great Gatsby as it explores both the beauty and the corruption of the American Dream in the 1920’s. In the Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald includes many aspects in the story which show how the pursuit for the American Dream affected