The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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.

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.

Everyone has dreams of being successful in life. When the word American comes to mind one often thinks of the land of opportunity. This dream was apparent with the first settlers, and it is apparent in today’s society. In F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925), he illustrates the challenges and tragedies associated with the American dream. By examining Jay Gatsby, Tom Buchanan, and Myrtle Wilson through the narrator Nick Carraway, I understand the complex nature of the American dream. Jay Gatsby represents the cost complex of them all.

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.

The American Dream is the pursuit of success as a result of hard work and determination. In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway try to achieve The American Dream, Gatsby yearns to rekindle his relationship with Daisy Buchanan and Nick wants to become rich by working in bonds. Gatsby’s dream is represented by a green light at the end of Daisy’s deck which motivates him to pursue his dream. Though Gatsby tried to make his dream a reality, the novel ends with his tragic death. Gatsby’s pursuit highlights that The American Dream is unattainable and demonstrates the flaws that accompany the dream. Gatsby’s unsuccessful pursuit illustrates the illusions and reality should be separated to ensure that

Jordan Baker informs Nick Carraway that Jay Gatsby is still in love with Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby and Daisy were in a relationship before she was married to Tom Buchanan, which eventually had to end when Gatsby went off to war. Half a decade later, Gatsby has situated himself in West Egg to be close to Daisy. Jordan, acting as a messenger, tells Nick that Gatsby would like him to invite Daisy over for tea, where Gatsby would then surprise and join them. Nick is baffled that Gatsby would go to the trouble of throwing extraneous parties for the past five years, holding onto the sliver of hope that Daisy may one day attend one.

It is human nature to long for the past. This feeling of nostalgia gives one the illusion, or idea, that the past is a greater and happier time than the present. For some, such as Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, the yearning for the past filled with flourishing dreams and ideals is strong enough for them to strive to repeat it. Jay Gatsby’s idealism of the American dream lies in the past with Daisy. To have Daisy’s love is to have her wealth and the possibility of being able to achieve anything. However, in the end, Gatsby’s pursuit is impossible because it is the money he wishes to gain that corrupts the purity of his ideal. Similar to the flaw in Gatsby’s dream, the process of gaining wealth to achieve the American dream sets one away from the clarity of the dream and into the filthy exploitation of money.

The American people have been graced with the ability to dream, to hold onto hope for a better future for themselves. Even in the darkest times, people grasp to the belief that anyone, no matter where one starts, could become something bigger. However, sometimes those dreams slip away as one is challenged by society and the dreamer is left on the sidelines. F.Scott Fitzgerald addresses the challenges one faces when following the American dream in his novel, The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald parallels Gatsby’s struggles to break through societal classes with the American dream through his use of symbolism and setting.

For hundred years, the ‘American Dream’ was a positive spirit which motivates people to make progress and look forward for their new lives. Thus, the ‘American Dream’ was originally defined as people’s desire and pursuit for happiness, especially in their pursuing of success. The ideal is that each person has equal opportunity to achieve their success through hard-working. In the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald shows how does the ‘American Dream’ affects and represents the protagonist－Gatsby, and the runs through his whole life.

The Jazz Age, marking to be an era of great change. After World War I ended in 1919, the post-war seemed to make life so much better. People began to become wealthy, which was a tremendous financial change, at least for the upper class, from having a time of corruption. With all of the new wealth, people began buy more. When people begin to buy more, that means profits grew, more goods were manufactured, which makes people earn more money. With all of this money, they began to buy consumer goods- cars, radios, telephones, etc.

Handwork, equality, success, and happiness are all words that should come to a persons mind when reflecting on the american dream, yet in the novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author demonstrates that it may not be that simple. From the outside looking in, Gatsby’s riches are obvious. The man has every physical item any would dream of having. Some may say Gatsby has achieved the american dream, coming from a poor family and construction his own path for success. But in reality, Gatsby perpetual demands for his individual view of success, underlies the impracticalities of the American Dream.

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the pursuit of the American Dream is widely portrayed throughout the novel. The American Dream is the idea that all citizens have an equal opportunity to achieve their goals through hard work and determination. Readers witness the rise of Jay Gatsby’s legacy, which includes what and who motivated him to set his sights so strongly on the American Dream. Additionally, the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock as well as the Valley of Ashes and the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg portray the distorted image of the American Dream as well as how it can never be achieved. Finally, the disintegration of the American Dream becomes apparent as it demonstrates how being triumphant and wealthy can make or break an individual’s

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, the idea that people can change their social class and wealth by working hard, is what makes America so Great. Many people believed in this dream, but the Modernists had a different view and often wondered, Is the American Dream really possible? Does it even Exist? F. Scott Fitzgerald expresses these thoughts throughout the Novel, The Great Gatsby, written in a time where people had a very pessimistic view of life. Fitzgerald uses the role of Jay Gatsby to argue that the American Dream isn’t as achievable as people think and is quite impossible. The role of Gatsby depicts the idea that no matter how hard a person works the rich will always be dominant and social or economic mobility

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.