Preview

How Does Fitzgerald Present The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
970 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How Does Fitzgerald Present The American Dream In The Great Gatsby
The American Dream is the idea that each U.S. citizen should be able to have the opportunity to achieve success by hard working and determination. In the book, F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the American Dream in a different way. In 1920s, instead of heading towards a change for the better, they were thirsty for money. Which the immoralities and the downfall toward the American Dream. This shows how the people of the roaring 20s, cares more about how to earn money faster by corruption, then working hard and earing it themselves. In The Great Gatsby, it represents the loss and demise of the American Dream in 1920s.
In the novel, Myrtle Wilson is a lady marries a mechanic, George Wilson. The couple has because of the insignificant amount of money. She wants everything expensive from the clothes to the houses. This causes Myrtle to have an affair with Tom Buchanan, a rich man from East Egg. From this affair, Myrtle is regretting her marriage with George, saying, “I married him because I though he was a gentleman…the only crazy I was was when I married him. I knew right away I made a mistake. He borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in, and never told me about it…” (Fitzgerald, 34). Myrtle thinks she married a man with money, but in all reality she married a poor
…show more content…
But, it also means that Gatsby never felt complete, eve with the power and glory he earned. Nick describes the green light for Gatsby as, “ … the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… And one fine morning---So we beat on, against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” (Fitzgerald, 180). From this, Gatsby has a goal all set in mind. He keeps on going for his dream being with Daisy, before he dies. This quote explains how Gatsby never gave up on his dream, which show the American

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The American Dream is dead. This is one of the main themes, if not the main theme in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby. In the novel Fitzgerald gives us a glimpse into the life of the high class during the 1920’s through the eyes of the narrator, a moralistic young man named Nick Carraway. It is through his dealings with high society that readers are shown how modern values have transformed the American Dream's pure ideals into a scheme for materialistic power and self-betterment, how the new world of high society lacks any sense of morals or consequence. In order to support this message, Fitzgerald presents the original aspects of the American Dream along with its modern face to show that the once impervious dream is now lost forever to the American people.…

    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby is a book published in 1925 that revolves around the life of Nick Carraway and his experiences of moving to the east. The story, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is focused on showing the American Dream. Which is the notion that there is “a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone.” Though how do the characters in the book represent the notion of the American Dream? Fitzgerald uses Gatsby to represent the American Dream and that people will go to great lengths to achieve it.…

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the Book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there is a topic that always seems to come up, that topic is the American dream. This book makes you wonder whether this dream is actually realistic and achievable, or if it is just some made up thing that most are not able to achieve. It soon becomes clear that F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the American dream as something that is unreal and it is pretty much impossible to accomplish. Fitzgerald uses many things to represent the corruption of the American dream, these things include the green light, and the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleberg, and the geography in general.…

    • 883 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    If you have an American dream, according to F. Scott Fitzgerald, you’re wasting your time. In Fitzgerald's classic novel The Great Gatsby the roaring twenties are portrayed as a time period of greed, perishing social and moral values, and the endless pursuit of happiness. These themes show through characters such as Jay Gatsby a forsaken millionaire. Throughout the novel F. Scott Fitzgerald clearly endorsed the idea that the American dream is not attainable.…

    • 783 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    F.Scott.Fitzgerald shows readers how, “The American Dream” changes throughout time and uses symbolism to elaborate even further. The author subconsciously presents the social conflict theory “those who have it want to keep it, those who don’t want it”. In The Great Gatsby, the author uses motifs, “old money, new money” and the deaths of characters to reveal the power and capability of the “American Dream”.…

    • 65 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Page one hundred eight, book chapter seven through nine states;”Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. Throughout the book the appearance of the green light keeps coming up. During all this time, Gatsby decides only to make a move on Daisy when he thinks the green light is there. He lets the universe decide whether or not he should move forward in his pursuit to win Daisy’s heart. Yet again, another wrong way to approach where you want to get. Don’t just let everything come and go. Face all the challenges that lie ahead. That is apart of becoming successful, trial and error. That’s apart of the American dream. As Fitzgerald told MAS-Ultra School Edition; “Americans urge to do something about one’s condition, to take risks for a better self, a better life, and a better nation.” (6) (Callahan) He also told them that;”The American experience: success and failure, illusion and disillusion, dreams and nightmares.” (7)…

    • 806 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    “But the country's disintegrating. What's happened to America? What's happened to the American dream?”-Alan Moore. This quote relates to the downfall of the American Dream in the novel, The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby, written by Francis Scott Fitzgerald, takes place in 1920s America. In the story, a man named Jay Gatsby finds out that the woman he loves, Daisy, had married another man, Tom Buchanan. He then decides to dedicate his life to become wealthy and get her back. Gatsby sees getting Daisy back as part of getting his American Dream and spends his entire life in his pursuit of happiness. He eventually becomes corrupt in his ways to achieve what he sees as the American Dream. This also ties into…

    • 1437 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Almost five years! Even if he is sure that afternoon sometimes think Daisy is not as beautiful as his fantasy - this is not a fault of Daisy, but his exact staggering, beyond Daisy, beyond everything. He wrote with a passion to daydream, also unceasingly to try to adorn and rendering, with each wafts of gorgeous feathers to decorate their dreams”. The root of Gatsby dreams is the longing for five years ago Daisy, Daisy is a coveted wealth of the reality, there is no moral belief worship money the female, her voice full of money. Gatsby took all his dreams are pinned on an already does not exist, the image of nothingness, the dream of displacement and distortion, caused the gates than opportunistic in dreams, eventually shattered dreams.…

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The American dream was the belief that you could achieve anything through hard work and perseverance no matter where you came from. The 1920s was a time of rebellion against tradition and what seemed to be morally correct. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald exemplifies a loss of faith, a confused sense of identity and place in the world, and a collapse of morality and values in order to express the aspects of the American dream.…

    • 410 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The idea that Gatsby is the embodiment of the American Dream is the dominant portrayal of his character in the novel because his desire of procuring Daisy is the main goal in his life and he has the ability the distort the truth of his identity.…

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rafael Cruz once said, “Only in America can someone start with nothing and achieve the American Dream. That's the greatness of this country.” The American Dream was and still is a goal of many people today. It was originally created in 1931 by James Truslow Adams, who said that the dream was to live in a place where life was more fulfilling for not only yourself, but everyone else. Though many people follow this dream, others describe and create it to make it their own dream.…

    • 893 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There is no more American Dream. What is it you may ask? It’s said to be the belief that anyone, regardless of your race, gender, class, or nationality, can become successful in America if they work hard. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book The Great Gatsby, there are a lot of dreamers that believe in this American Dream. They’re all stuck in this loop of a non-reality and can’t seem to understand that it’s not real. The American Dream is named due to the opportunity, which apparently exists only here in America, for a determined person to be able to be a success through his or her own hard work and determination.…

    • 699 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald published a book called The Great Gatsby. The period in which the book was published was a very important time in American history. Not only people born in America but also people from around the world had one goal in life at the time and that goal was the American Dream. The early 1900’s was a time where people thought they could achieve anything, at least they thought most things were possible. In F.S. Fitzgerald’s book he doesn’t directly address what an American Dream is but through the use of the characters in his novel, he directly gives the motives and reasons the characters have for achieving their goals. All…

    • 1008 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “There are those, I know, who will reply that the liberation of humanity, the freedom of man and. mind, is nothing but a dream. They are right. It is. It is the American Dream.” (Archibald MacLeish). This quote talks about how the American Dream is only a dream. The American is a life of personal happiness and material comfort, and is traditionally sought by the individuals in the U.S. It is only a fantasy. Author F. Scott Fitzgerald shows a great example of the causes and affects the American Dream has on people during the 1920s in his novel, The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald explains that the American Dream is unattainable through the characters and their actions and the symbolism throughout the novel.…

    • 1372 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    World War I brought out the deepest, darkest, most malignant tendencies of human nature. Young men died in the thousands on the battlefield, martyrs of a wanton cause. 1920’s American society mirrored the Great War’s atmosphere of excess. The newly wealthy class, in onslaught, threw lavish parties and indulged in sexual promiscuity as exorbitance became the new state religion. Traditional values, including that of the American Dream, seemed to crumble; no longer did hard work, ambition, and hope guarantee success, whether wealth or happiness. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald explores the zeitgeist of this era, characterized by wealth and meaningless. In the novel, Midwesterner Nick…

    • 1378 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays