The Influence Of The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

The term “The American Dream” was coined in 1931 by American writer James Truslow Adams and described America as a place of opportunity based on one’s ability and hard work. Although the term originated in 1931, the fundamental ideas of the American Dream debuted in 1920’s society and contrasted greatly with previous notions of a stagnant class structure. This was due to the booming post-WWI economy, which provided an increase in accessibility to leisure items and activities, allowing luxuries typically reserved for the upper class to be enjoyed by the masses. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, reflects these social and economic changes. The novel follows the rise and fall of Jay Gatsby, who achieved prosperity in spite of being born the son of a poor, North Dakota farmer. Though many believed in an emergence of class mobility in the 1920’s, the novel The Great Gatsby demonstrates the ultimate inaccessibility of the American Dream - a holistic realization of social and economic equality.

The American Dream in the 1920’s revolved around the accumulation of wealth. Jay Gatsby believes he can buy happiness, which to him, consists of having Daisy to himself. He believes he can do this by achieving a level of respect in East Egg; known for new money. His goal was to make fortune to please Daisy.

The author Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby as a novel that talks about and covers American issues in the 1920s. He shows in the novel the carelessness and selfishness of everybody at the same time by portraying all of them in the location of west and east egg. Fitzgerald talks about a couple different topics throughout the novel. One of those is," the Attainment of a dream may be less satisfying than the pursuit of it" and the second one is"the American Dream is corrupted by the desire for wealth". He uses those themes to show how americans lived at a different time.

Gatsby and the American Dream Have you ever wondered who could ever live the American dream? In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby is the main character and in love with something he does not have, but lives a dream to others. He has all the money he needs to throw parties and have fancy things. Gatsby is considered to be living the American Dream. In the book by F. Scott Fitzgerald shows how Gatsby represents and lives the American dream. In the book The Great Gatsby, it shows how Gatsby lives the American Dream.

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 American Dream is defined as: the belief that through hard work and thrift, all Americans can improve their social status and achieve success. The Great Gatsby is full of the loss and hope of the American Dream. Jay Gatsby is living in his own dream while reality is right around the corner. In the book The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby is trying to live his “American Dream” but really he is not living for himself. Gatsby’s American Dream consists of; buying rich things, making people happy and making himself known to the world, and most of all getting the girl of his dreams which is Daisy.

The American Dream: Is is fact or fiction? In the United States’ Declaration of Independence, our founding fathers set forth the idea of an American Dream by providing us with the recognizable phrase “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”. The green light at the end of Daisy Buchanan’s dock symbolizes Jay Gatsby’s “Pursuit of Happiness” in the novel, The Great Gatsby, set in the 1920s on Long Island, New York. The American Dream can be defined as “the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society where upward mobility is possible for everyone. The American Dream is achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking, and hard work, not by chance” (Fontinelle, Amy). At the birth of our country in 1776, our founding fathers introduced the American Dream as a personal desire to pursue happiness; however, the pursuit of happiness was not intended to promote self-indulgence, rather to act as a catalyst to encourage an entrepreneurial spirit. As our country has changed, the idea of the American Dream, in some cases, has evolved into the pursuit of one’s own indulgences such as material gain regardless of the consequences.

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.

No matter who he or she is, everyone has the opportunity of living the American dream of success, freedom, and happiness if they work hard enough. However, the way to obtain such dream is different for every person. Each individual's social class, beliefs, and views in life determine the way they will achieve the American dream. Sometimes the way a person goes about obtaining their dream does more harm than good.

Jay Gatsby is not a lazy person, he cannot stop working until his dreams have been realized, he knows that he is destined for greatness, and to not seek out greatness would be a waste, as Nick says,“So he made the most of his time, he took what he could get, ravenously and unscrupulously”(Fitzgerald 149). Gatsby’s drive is everything to him since before he met Daisy, he has strived to become more than just some kid from nowhere. As a self-made millionaire, he can only afford to rely on himself and himself alone, as there may be no one else in this world who may believe in him. Opportunities to succeed present themselves to people every day, but only a few have the gifts needed to utilize these opportunities, one of whom, is Jay Gatsby, as Nick says, “he was only a young man, but he had a lot brain power here”(Fitzgerald 168). In life, humans are blessed with many things, arms, legs, a heart, one’s very soul, is a blessing. Although the one thing that holds weight over all else, the one thing that can never be taken away, is one’s mind. Knowledge is power, especially as one climbs higher into the social rankings of society. James Gatz did not just become Jay Gatsby overnight, he was built up over the course of many years of experiences, as Nick says,“My first impression, that he was a person of some undefined consequence,

I believe the American Dream is the idea that everyone should have an equal opportunity to achieve the success that they want as long as they put in the effort and work hard to reach their goals. It is my understanding that the American Dream is the opposite of being handed things and not having to work for them, which within the book The Great Gatsby, refers to mostly all of the people that live in East Egg such as Tom and Daisy. These are all the people that inherited their money and therefore didn’t have to work for any of it. F Scott Fitzgerald touches on the idea of the American Dream quite subtly throughout the novel and in this essay I will give you some examples of where he does, while it in my opinion is most directly related to both Gatsby’s and Daisy’s lives.

The American Dream is the belief that anyone can be successful if they just work hard enough. It is about pursuing happiness through independence and integrity. Many individuals rely on the American Dream to give them a meaningful life, when in actuality it destroys one’s happiness. In reality, those who give no significance to the American Dream are the ones who are actually satisfied with their lives. Fitzgerald’s novel, ‘The Great Gatsby,’ shows that finding purpose in one’s life does not revolve around the American Dream. As a matter of fact, individuals are most content without trying to achieve that utmost success. The American Dream is a false prospect that people attempt to achieve, and as a result,

American Dream, the dream that everyone once aspired to obtain. It came with wealth, power and love. To successfully obtain it would mean that you started off with nothing and you worked your way to the top. The dream was first a very innocent one, it was perceived as you would use the money to buy the necessities such as a house and needs for your family, but later on it slowly transformed into having a mentality of buying luxuries to feel good and show off. The American Dream is a major theme in the book The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Gatsby did not realize the American Dream could not buy happiness, wealth, power or love which further lead himself to be corrupted by his own dream.

The 1920s was a time of opulence and wealth. Modern technology ameliorated day to day lives, the economy prospered, and the American Dream seemed accessible. Urban life was reaching heights America had never seen before. However, beneath the extravagance, unbridled speculation and disparity corroded the foundation of the country. F. Scott Fitzgerald shines light upon this social and moral decay, emphasizing the greed and exorbitance of the time. Just as Americans have defined the American Dream through their own values, Jay Gatsby idolizes the Daisy Buchanan that he created for himself. The American Dream was debased through the prevalence of corruption and avarice, and Gatsby’s idealized version of Daisy is ruined by her intrinsic humanity.

Throughout the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts the idea of the American dream in the 1920’s. The all American Dream is belief that no matter who you are, or what your background is, with enough hard work you can be successful. “The roaring twenties was a decade of optimism, a time when most Americans thought that tomorrow would be better than today” (Roaring Twenties).There were many key factors that affected the American dream such as, prohibition, gender roles, and of course the stock market crash. The stock market crash was the main element that damaged the American dream. Whenever the crash hit in 1929, everyone lost everything, all the things men and women worked hard for soon faded away. The 1920’s was an important time period for women and gender roles in society, because women finally got to experience some freedom. On the other hand there were still many women who had to stay at home cooking and cleaning for the family while the man goes out and makes the money. The final component that troubled the American dream was the prohibition. The prohibition was the prevention of the manufacture and sale of alcohol. The rich needed their alcohol, so many opened underground bars called, “speakeasies”. This event got some of the local governments and police involved with the producers and dealers of alcohol. They worked together as a team, the police “did not see” their crime as long as they got what they wanted.