The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald Essay

The American Dream is what we all aspire to achieve. The idea of starting off with nothing and to become something has caused millions of people from all corners of the world to immigrate to this country for over 300 years. However, what exactly is the American Dream? F Scott Fitzgerald answers this question within his novel The Great Gatsby. Through the eyes of Nick Carraway, Fitzgerald analyses the high class of the 1920s and reveals that the American Dream has been distorted from a pure ideal of security into a convoluted scheme of materialistic power. Fitzgerald incorporates the aspects of both the Òold dreamÓ & the Ònew dreamÓ in his tragic story to depicts how the inflexible dream has been corrupted and lost forever.

As the phenomenal politician Bernie Sanders once said, “For many, the American dream has become a nightmare.” In the novel The Great Gatsby, written by Scott Fitzgerald, the “American Dream” plays a crucial role in the plot. Gatsby devotes his life to accomplish his American Dream which consists of wealth and Daisy’s love. But is the American Dream actually what it seems to be? Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald utilizes the symbolic value of the Valley of Ashes, East Egg, and the significance of the color yellow to constantly establish that opulence and the American Dream is deceiving as it leads to moral and societal corruption.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s in his novel The Great Gatsby commentates on the American Dream during the time in which he lived; central character Jay Gatsby was not born into the great wealth he is shown to have (Source A). The American Dream, to Fitzgerald, to the character he creates, and to every little boy or girl who dreams of a way up, is not having a wife, a dog, a child, and a sum of money; it is having the ability to acquire these things despite what you were born into. Those with little status and money living in the United States have always known they are free to pursue any venture, take any financial risk, work hard, and dream even harder. Just as Jay Gatsby was steadfast in his certainty that he would be prosperous in The Great Gatsby, Americans today know that with dedication and a good work ethic, there is nothing that can stop them from going after what they want. Hope and optimism is a reality of the American mindset because the path upwards is not covered and is not reserved for the wealthy; the American Dream is a reality in a sense that this path is in clear view, readily available for all those who wish to delight in what they can accomplish. Despite the

The idea of American Dream as presented by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the Great Gatsby novel involves rising from poverty or rags to richness and wealthy. The American Dream exemplifies that elements such as race, gender, and ethnicity are valueless as they do not influence the ability of an individual to rise to power and richness. This American Dream makes the assumption that concepts such as xenophobia are non-existent in America a concept that is not true and shows vagueness of the American Dream. In his novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the Great Gatsby to demonstrate the overall idea of living the American dream. Gatsby leaves his small village of farmers and manages to work his way up the ladder although some of the money he uses to climb the ladder is associated with crime “He was a son of God and he must be about His Father's Business, the service of a vast, vulgar and meretricious beauty” (Fitzgerald 6.7). This phrase shows that Gatsby wasn’t meant for a life similar to that of his father but rather destined for greatness. However, his dream his short-lived and he doesn’t make it to the top as Daisy who is a symbol of his wealthy rejects her and a series of events transpire that result in his death before he could live his American Dream alongside everyone else who was working up the ladder to live the American Dream.

The 1920s is the decade in American history known as the “roaring twenties.” Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is a reflection of life in the 1920s. Booming parties, prominence, fresh fashion trends, and the excess of alcohol are all aspects of life in the “roaring twenties.”

In the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, many of the characters live in an illusory world and only some can see past this. In the novel, West Egg and its residents represent the newly rich, while East Egg represents the old aristocracy. Gatsby seeking the past, Daisy is obsessed with material things, Myrtle wanting Tom to escape her poverty, George believing that T.J. Eckleburg is God, and Tom believing he is untouchable because of his power and wealth are all examples of the illusion v. reality struggle in the novel and Nick, the only character aware of reality, witnesses the fall of all the characters around him to their delusions.

In the article, The Gatsby Delusion, Sarah Churchwell discusses the “American Dream” and it relates to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby. Churchwell says that the term, “American Dream” is used to represent our failures in life rather than the successes. During the 1920’s, the nation’s wealth was not evenly spread because the richest owned forty percent of the nation’s wealth while more than half lived in poverty. James Truslow Adams wrote a novel about the American Dream and stated that “the belief in the common man and the insistence upon his having, as far as possible, equal opportunity in every way with the rich one.” However, his ideas were misinterpreted.

In the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, about half of the main characters present themselves as something they are not. Throughout the novel, the theme of passing is apparent in Nick, Jay Gatsby, Daisy, and Myrtle Wilson, although they are all passing, each does it for a very different reason. Many scholars have touched on the idea that these characters are not who they appear to be and that their passing is associated with social class issues of the 1920s. Fitzgerald’s characters are built around the idea of passing and social class restrictions.

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.

This American dream was coined in the early years of the American settlement with the mostly poor immigrants searching for opportunities (The American Dream, n.d). Since the story is set in the 1920’s, the rules to attaining the American dream has slowly faded, the values have changed and instead of individuals striving for equality, they are instead concerned with trying to get rich as soon as they can. The author uses the main character Jay Gatsby to portray the American dream. In the novel Gatsby returned as a soldier from the war, was intent on winning back the love of his life Daisy and as such made an attempt to change his life and in doing so immediately went from having nothing to being very wealthy. “Gatsby appears to have risen from being a poor farm boy with no prospects to being rich, having a big house, servants, and a large social circle attending his numerous functions. He has achieved all this in only a few short years, having returned from the war penniless,” (Three Themes, 2016).

Was Gatsby truly great? In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald a storyline unfolds throughout the book describing different characters, events, and gives us a glimpse through the window of the author 's life. The story takes place in the hot summer of 1922 where a charming young man named Gatsby tries to do everything he can in order to be reunited with a girl he has always loved. From being poor to becoming wealthy, Gatsby hosts many parties in hopes that the girl he has always loved will show up to one. Nick Carraway a neighbor of Gatsby, is the cousin of a girl named Daisy who Gatsby has always loved. Nick moved to West Egg, Long Island to seek his future as a salesman. Gatsby uses Nick to get Daisy and tries to arrange meetings with Daisy.

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.

Within the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the theme of the American Dream is a repeatedly addressed topic. Fitzgerald however, does not support this ideal, and in fact he refutes it by illustrating through his characters just how impossible the American Dream is to achieve. In the novel, Fitzgerald develops the theme of the American Dream into a completely different ideal than what it was in the country’s earlier years. Instead of valuing the freedom to make something of oneself and living in happiness through the money earned with one’s own hands, the characters in The Great Gatsby merely wish to possess more and more money.

In the book The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the American Dream is portrayed in many different ways. The 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 or achievement. Fitzgerald represents the American Dream by representing the East and West Egg, and the green light. Fitzgerald's main character, Gatsby, reaches for the American Dream but doesn’t succeed. Fitzgerald attacks the American Dream by creating characters from new money, old money, and working class, who all fail in happiness.

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