Similarities Between Patron Saints Of Nothing And The Great Gatsby

Emmett Merschman Mr. Lajoie Honors American Literature Period 4 13 March 2024 The Unattainable American Dream Is the American Dream truly possible? The common version of it is that in America, citizens have the ability to rise up from having nothing to extreme wealth and happiness. People tend to look at it as a source of hope. It’s widely accepted that Americans have the ability to achieve this dream more than people in other countries do. However, Randy Ribay’s Patron Saints of Nothing and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby both show that it may not be any more possible to do this in America than it is in foreign countries, such as the Philippines. Patron Saints of Nothing is about a high school senior named Jay who takes a trip to the Philippines
He pays them enough money to live more comfortably than anyone else in the slums. However, these people have to give up their morals as well. Jun is an example of someone who refused to do unethical things to make money, but his story also shows how difficult it is to make money without doing those things. As Reyna tells Mia and Jay, he tried to make money for them and his child to get out of the slums, but was unable to do so. He eventually came to terms with the fact that he was never going to be able to make enough money to support his family, and he ran away from them, leaving them in the slums. This is a perfect example of an honest person who was unable to overcome the extreme poverty he was faced with. Illegal activities are the only way to realistically make it out of the Filipino slums. Many people already know how difficult it is to make it out of poverty in poorer countries like the Philippines. However, The Great Gatsby shows that it is just as hard to do so in America, despite what the world’s idealized version of the American Dream makes it seem