The Great Gatsby- American Dream

The Great Gatsby How does this novel portray the American Dream? In this novel, Fitzgerald exploits the tensions that occur with the American Dream. The Great Gatsby is a meditation on 1920's America and the disintegration of the American Dream during an era of prosperity and success. Many of the characters within this novel represent the disintegration of the American Dream. Gatsby has used the American Dream to achieve his wealth and prove that he is good enough for Daisy. Also, Tom and Daisy feel that they have achieved the American Dream and they don't have to do anything else to achieve. The people that went to Gatsby's parties showed that they only wanted to achieve pleasure from things that they wanted to do and would bring them prosperity. Gatsby is one of the main characters that displays self-deception in the novel 'The Great Gatsby.' Fitzgerald portrayed to us the 1920's as a period of decayed social and moral values. Gatsby changed himself so that he could achieve his ultimate dream of being with Daisy. Gatsby had a great longing for Daisy and this was shown to us as Gatsby leaned across to a 'green light' on Daisy's dock. Gatsby truly loved Daisy and he tried to do everything in his life that would impress her and he wanted Daisy to be invited to Nick's house so that they can meet once again. He wanted to make it look extravagant but this is all just

  • Word count: 1396
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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The Great Gatsby-The American Dream

The Great Gatsby The American Dream Like every pen has a writer, every novel has a theme. Arthur Miller, one of the most famous writer's of America once stated, "The American dream is the largely acknowledged screen in front of which all American writing plays itself out. Whoever is writing in the United States is using the American dream as an ironic pole of his history. People tend to accept, to a far greater degree that the conditions of life are a hostile man's pretension." This proves to be very true for F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, "The Great Gatsby". The novel is about Gatsby, but like any other novel, it also has themes. A theme is the main idea that a literature is based on. In this novel, the most important theme is based on dreams. In particular, the dream is the "American Dream." In "The Great Gatsby", not only is the main character, Gatsby, a great dreamer but so are the other characters. This is understandable because as quoted by Arthur Miller, the "American Dream" is the "unacknowledged screen in front of which all American writing plays itself out." According to the dream, everyone in American has the opportunity - if they work hard and are determined - to reach any goal they strive for. Gatsby rising from nothing to "greatness" embodies that dream. His dream and accomplishment of creating a new identity for himself and striving to make the world

  • Word count: 1393
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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The Great Gatsby and The American Dream

20th Century Literature Professor Sue Matheson Dawn Cote April 20 2011 The Great Gatsby and the American Dream The American Dream is a reoccurring theme in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. Briefly defined the “American Dream” “is the belief that every man, whatever his origins, may pursue and attain his chosen goals, be they political, monetary, or social” (Pearson 638). Throughout the novel Fitzgerald gives examples of various characters so called “American Dream”. Some characters are able to achieve their interpretation of the “American Dream”, others are not so lucky. The novel shows how the concept of the “American Dream” is interpreted as well as corrupted by many of the characters in the story. As Nick Carraway tells his story, we see the characters through Nick’s eyes, a young man looking for his own “American Dream”. As many people before him, Nick has moved away from the Middle-West to the East in search of something new and prosperous. What he finds is a group of individuals who have all the power, money, popularity and in some cases love, that a person would want. Do these people represent the “American Dream” that Nick is in search of? Tom Buchanan’s “American Dream” is to be wealthy and in control. He has achieved both of these, therefore in his opinion; he has achieved the “American Dream”. Tom’s

  • Word count: 1125
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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"The Great Gatsby" and the American Dream.

"The Great Gatsby" and the American Dream. "The Great Gatsby", as with a number of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novels, has a central concern with the American Dream. It is a dream of "self-betterment, wealth, and success through hard work and perseverance"1. In its simplest form it is the belief that everybody has the opportunity to accomplish their heart's desire. It is this desire that helps form our opinions on a character in the novel and can ultimately lead to their downfall. The question then is, does the demise of Fitzgerald's characters, most notably James Gatz mean that "The Great Gatsby" is a novel showing the failures of the American dream; that it is a dream no longer relevant to modern life and the simple men can't hope to better themselves. We see this exemplified in a line from Klipspringer's song; "The rich get richer and the poor get - children". The answer to that question is a resounding yes, but I believe that Fitzgerald redeems some aspects of the America Dream, a man who at the time of writing was enjoying the short lived, material, positive aspects of this dream. While Nick admires Jay unequivocally, the first time we hear of Gatsby our narrator writes, "Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn". These opposing emotions can live together in Nick because Gatsby can be seen to represent two differing versions of the

  • Word count: 2255
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Corruption of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby.

Corruption of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald embodies may themes, however the most salient one relates to the corruption of the American Dream. The American Dream is that each person no matter who he or she is can become successful in life by his or her own hard work. The dream also embodies the idea of a self-sufficient man, an entrepreneur making it successful for himself. The Great Gatsby is about what happened to the American dream in the 1920s, a time period when the dream had been corrupted by the avaricious pursuit of wealth. The American dream is sublime motivation for accomplishing ones goals and producing achievements, however when tainted with wealth the dream becomes devoid and hollow. When the American dream was pure, motivation and ambition were some key aspects of the pure American dream. "He stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way...and distinguished nothing except a single green light"(page.26). It shows how Gatsby was striving for the his goal and trying to accomplish it. When the dream was pure, motivation and self-discipline were present. This quote talks about Gatsby's daily agenda and how in the earlier days he upheld the pure American Dream "No wasting time at Shafters, No more smoking or chewing, Read one improving book or magazine per week, Save $3.00 per week,

  • Word count: 4262
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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The Dissolution of the American dream in The Great Gatsby

The American dream, as described by Martin Luther King Jr., "...is a dream yet unfulfilled. A dream of equality of opportunity, of privilege and property widely distributed; a dream of a land where men will not take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few." However, the American Dream may not be as it is glorified to be. In The Great Gatsby, Scott Fitzgerald shows that the American Dream is slowly falling to pieces as greed, selfishness, and a false sense of opportunity are becoming more and more prevalent within members of our society. The first characteristic in many Americans that leads to the dissolution of the American Dream is greed. Fitzgerald makes this extremely evident with the greed associated with the relationship of Daisy to both Gatsby and Tom. When Daisy was young, she met and fell in love with Lieutenant Jay Gatsby, as Gatsby fell too into love. Although Gatsby was commissioned to go off to war, the couple swore their devotion to each other, as they would continue their relationship when he returned. However, soon after Gatsby left, Daisy married Tom, breaking her promise with Gatsby. How could Daisy break such a strong relationship so quickly, when they truly loved each other? The answer is that overwhelming greed overcame her. The day before Daisy and Tom's wedding, "he gave her a string of pearls valued at three hundred and fifty

  • Word count: 827
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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The Great Gatsby and the American Dream. Throughout the novel of The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald depicts the character of Gatsby as someone who continuously pursues his American Dream.

Throughout the novel of "The Great Gatsby", Fitzgerald depicts the character of Gatsby as someone who continuously pursues his American Dream. Gatsby's tenacity to chase after Daisy is a parallel to the newly-arrived Americans chasing after their dream of becoming rich. In Chapter 4, it is shown that Gatsby indeed tries his best to "catch a glimpse of Daisy's name" by reading "a Chicago paper for years". This shows that Gatsby is willing to sacrifice his all to get closer to Daisy. He also "waited five years and bought a mansion". Fitzgerald has intended to portray Gatsby as someone who possesses romanticism, the zeal to chase after one's dreams, unlike the people of the Old World, a society full of prejudice, people who are not as caring or loyal. Ironically, it can be inferred throughout the play that the people from the Old World are evidently the more successful ones. Perhaps the author is trying to tell the audience that this omnipresent callousness is what was required in order to be successful in the world of the 1920's. Fitzgerald's liberal and often exaggerated loyalty that is present in the character of Gatsby, was initially intended to illustrate Gatsby as someone who does not initially belong in the Old World. Indeed, in Chapter 3, at Gatsby's party, Nick realizes that Gatsby "had an elegant young rough-neck". The oxymoron between the words "elegant" and "rough",

  • Word count: 1080
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Failure of American Dream: Tom, Daisy and Jordan (the Great Gatsby)

Failure of American Dream: Tom, Daisy and Jordan I. INTRODUCTION The novel, The great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is about American dream that it represents illusionary goals and short way to achieve wealth and status. It shows the corruption of human nature and moral values while characters are following their illusionary dreams. Fitzgerald uses all characters in the novel to show merciless of wealth bring to the corruptions and he wants to show that American Dream was just a "Dream". In this paper, I am going to discuss how the three major characters, Tom and Daisy Buchannan and Jordan Baker represent the failure of American Dream. (Fitzgerald xi-xviii) First of all, I am going to give short information about the three characters then I am going to discuss deeply about them. * Thomas "Tom" Buchanan: He is an arrogant "old money" millionaire who lives on East Egg, and he is husband of Daisy. * Daisy Buchanan: She is an attractive young woman; Nick's second cousin and she is wife of Tom Buchanan. * Jordan Baker: She is Daisy's log-time friend; She is a professional golf player with a shady reputation. (http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gatsby/characters.html) II. BODY A. Analysis of the 'Jazz age' Before starting my essay, I am going to talk about the time period that the story passed. Novel represents the 1920s; this date is referred to as 'Jazz age' because of

  • Word count: 858
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Miscellaneous
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The American Dream is what drives the characters in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.

The Never-Satiated American Dream The American Dream is what drives the characters in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. The American Dream is the firmly held belief that everyone has the opportunity to achieve their goals and become rich and prosperous if they only work hard enough. What is it about The American Dream that never seems to satisfy? The ideal American Dream is not so realistic. The characters of The Great Gatsby cannot grasp the concept that The American Dream is an illusion because not everyone can get what they want if they work hard. Jordan Baker seems to have everything going for her. She is a famous golf-player who is wealthy and thin, but she is not happy with what she has. She will do anything in order to win. She will do anything to be right all the time. Nick describes Jordan as "incurably dishonest. She wasn't able to endure being at a disadvantage, and given this unwillingness I suppose she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was very young in order to keep that cool insolent smile turned to the world and yet satisfy the demands of her hard jaunty body" (63). Jordan is not satisfied with her life because she is not honest. She knows that her success is fickle and that it can leave at any moment because it was not built on hard work towards The American Dream. In contrast, Myrtle Wilson does not have many material items. She has a loyal husband,

  • Word count: 4492
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Assess the Importance of the American Dream in relation to The Great Gatsby

Assess the Importance of the American Dream in relation to The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby is, ostensibly, a romantic novel of thwarted love. For this reason, the structure and development of the novel does not hinge on the American Dream. Many critics would dispute this, such as William Fahey, who argued that Gatsby has a 'naïve dream based on the fallacious assumption that material possessions are synonymous with happiness, harmony, and beauty'. Harold Bloom also shared Fahey's view, citing the lavish parties held by Gatsby and his acquisition of a large mansion as being indicative of a materialist. However, these viewpoints seem unfounded. It is written that 'his bedroom was the simplest of all' - clearly, then he is not a materialist. Gatsby is also totally disengaged in his parties, steadfastly maintaining sobriety, even amongst the drunken animation around him. His mansion is simply for Daisy, and his parties are held in the hope that she will endeavour to turn up to one. The reader may doubt that Gatsby would go to such excessive lengths to try and attain the affections of one lady; however, it was Gatsby's paucity that led to Daisy rejecting him 5 years earlier. When he asks Nick, 'my house looks well, doesn't it?' he's not boasting about his wealth, he is trying to get reassurance that Daisy will like it. To this extent, Gatsby's acquisition of wealth is not to do

  • Word count: 1210
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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