Preview

The Great Gatsby And The American Dream

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
855 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Great Gatsby And The American Dream
Fitzgerald and the “American Dream”

To some the American Dream is freedom, to others the American Dream is wealth and popularity. According to F. Scott Fitzgerald the American Dream was unattainable. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald gives us a glimpse into the life of the high class during the twenties through the eyes of Nick Carraway, the narrator of the novel. The American Dream has become a superficial environment in which people do not understand what is reality and what is fiction. The life in New York City during the twenties also has an impact on the way the dream changed. The Dream would become corrupted because of society in the twenties. Lastly the American Dream was not all superficial, to some people the “American Dream” is …show more content…
It originated from the Declaration of Independence. Even though people are still worried about money and materialistic objects such as, jewelry, the newest cellphone, toys, TVs, etc. Superficial environment is one of the many reasons the American Dream ended. All people cared about were the parties, who knew who, and social status. Money also became an issue, whoever had the most money apparently had the American Dream or whomever owned the nicest car, house, hosted the best parties. Fitzgerald believed this was “the destruction of the American Dream” (Apasa Aici 1). The amount of artificial people during the twenties was outstonishing. The New Yorkers, no one was real with each other. Fake love, fake hate, no one knew who was friends with who, almost how it is now. “The cosmopolitan life in New York city” (Fitzgerald), by saying this Fitzgerald means that New York is a very advanced city, therefore people are not sure how to react to such drastic …show more content…
Although people might think differently about what their opinion on the American dream is, each individual is the only one who can make their own dream. The American dream was destroyed little by little. One of those destructions was due to materialistic means. People also played a big role in the ending of the American dream. The way they treated others. The corruption of the American dream. All these reasons added up to create the corruption of the American dream. Although there was much destruction, people still believe in the American dream as something good nowadays, like freedom. The American dream may still exist for some people out there. Although Fitzgerald believed it was over does not mean it is over in everyone else.

Work Cited Page

Aici, Apasa. “The Great Gatsby- The Death of the American Dream.” Http://www.e-scoala.ro. Scoala Online Romania, 12 Apr. 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2013

Bloom, Harold, ed. “The Great Gatsby: The Corruption of the American Dream through Materialism” http://www.unc.edu. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1985. Web. 12

Carson, Clayborne. “The American Dream” www.standford.edu. Ebenezar Baptist Church, 4 July 1965. Web. 10 Apr. 2013.

Fahey, William. F. Scott Fitzgerald and the American Dream. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1973.

Moyer, Bill. “Deeping the American Dream.” www.pbs.org. Public Affairs Television
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    What Are The Similarities Between The Great Gatsby And The American Dream
    • 571 Words
    • 3 Pages

    What Are The Similarities Between The Great Gatsby And The American Dream

    The most distinguishable ‘vision’ of America can be translated as the ‘American Dream’. Both Fitzgerald and Miller explored the ideas around this same vision at two different times in american history to examine the success of society and looking into detail of how valid the ‘American Dream’ is. The term itself was first used by James Truslow Adams in his 1931 book, The Epic of America. The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States, the set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers. Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ is the epitome of the hypocrisy behind the American Dream. Sarah Churchwell sees The Great Gatsby as a "cautionary tale of the decadent…

    • 571 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Ridge Scholarship Essay
    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Ridge Scholarship Essay

    Upon rereading Fitzgerald’s novel I was intrigued by the themes and motifs that kept cropping up throughout the story—the decline of the American dream and the spirit of the 1920’s, the role of symbols in the human conception of meaning, and the role of the past in dreams of the future. Strangely, many of these themes related to me and made me analyze and view myself, and the world, in ways I never imagined.…

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How Is The American Dream Unattainable In The Great Gatsby
    • 783 Words
    • 4 Pages

    How Is The American Dream Unattainable In The Great Gatsby

    Using literary devices Fitzgerald was able to portray the idea that the american dream is different for every person but unattainable regardless of your aspirations. An example of this would be when Fitzgerald wrote “As if his absence quickened something within her Daisy leaned forward again, her voice…

    • 783 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Theme Of Illusion In The Great Gatsby
    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Theme Of Illusion In The Great Gatsby

    What is the American dream? If you were to look up the definition, you would see it defined as “a life of personal happiness and material comfort as traditionally sought by individuals in the U.S.1” The question of whether or not the American dream is an illusory goal is explored throughout the novel, and with Fitzgerald’s markedly bleak conclusion on the achievement of the American dream, many readers are left skeptical. Can this life of personal happiness and comfort ever be truly achieved? Is there a certain element of illusion that goes into any supposed fulfillment of this dream? More importantly, what is the price that must be paid in our attempts at achieving this dream?…

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Essay About The American Dream In The Great Gatsby
    • 814 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Essay About The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

    The idea of the American dream brings tremendous promise and opportunity, however it also brings heartbreaking failure. A character like Jay Gatsby seems to have achieved the American dream with his wealth, power, and lifestyle; however, he is restless and is constantly searching for something more. One is never truly happy, when they are chasing after the unattainable. In this case, Gatsby has been living his life with the hope that one day, he and Daisy could return to the times that they had been together all those years ago. The failure of Gatsby in achieving the elusive American Dream is a symbol for the difficulties in obtaining true happiness.…

    • 814 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Examples Of Loss Of Faith In The Great Gatsby
    • 410 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Examples Of Loss Of Faith In The Great Gatsby

    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
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    p4ex
    • 8309 Words
    • 20 Pages

    p4ex

    First, Fitzgerald uses the characters in the novel to demonstrate how the American dream has become corrupted by the careless pursuit of money as an end in itself. Simply said, the American dream is the inherent right of all people to pursue happiness and prosperity free of oppression and persecution. In the novel, Fitzgerald demonstrates that the American dream has become corrupted, and thus destroyed, by an immoral, greedy, and selfish quest for wealth and material possessions. Fitzgerald relates the corruption of the American dream to several main characters, including Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, and Tom Buchanan, who have each consciously and deliberately forsaken traditional values of honor and virtue in favor of a profligate lifestyle of excess, immorality, and carelessness. Taken to the extreme, the greed and…

    • 8309 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Psychology and Author’s Purpose in the Great Gatsby
    • 2923 Words
    • 12 Pages

    Psychology and Author’s Purpose in the Great Gatsby

    It was 1931, six years after the publication of The Great Gatsby, when historian James Truslow Adams coined the term The American Dream (“The Epic of America”, 415). Yet, his was a new take on an old concept. F. Scott Fitzgerald did not have to wait for Adams to brilliantly propose that the ideal of social equality and the pursuit of Happiness is a dream like enterprise, which has little to do with reality (US 1776). In the 1920’s, reality was solid proof that the “pursuit of Happiness” remained complicated business. Deemed age of confusion, this is a time of upheaval. In the wake of massive industrialization and WWI, the old order crumbles, leaving a void. Rules and values are transgressed under the reign of relativism and existentialism. God is dead, life has no meaning, there is no absolute morality, and individuals are accountable only to themselves. Insecurity and disillusionment take over. With this background in mind, it is easy to understand why the 1920’s became a time of total excess. The Great Gatsby serves as its parable, while Fitzgerald, drawing heavily on his own life experience, is chronicler of his own time. And yet, the novel is not simply a satire of how ancestral American ideals came to be uprooted and replaced with a vulgar race for materialistic hedonism. In an effort to grasp its meaning and boundaries, Fitzgerald explores the quest for The American Dream, and subsequently, its decline (Adams, 415). This cautionary tale’s transcending significance, the fact of its enduring fascination, arise by virtue of its artistic achievement. Its meaning might be deciphered only through an analysis of the style that so poignantly encapsulates it. In Fitzgerald’s words, the story is “simple + intricately patterned” (Fitzgerald, 1922 letter). A clear structure, a condensed expression where every detail has a purpose, themes developed by method of juxtaposition, a figurative language…

    • 2923 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby - Past Grandeur of the American Dream
    • 826 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Great Gatsby - Past Grandeur of the American Dream

    The Great Gatsby is a book staged during the Jazz Age period. It was a time which was also known also as the 'roaring twenties', after World War I. America was going through a massive change and social reform. The poor and middle class had a chance to rise to be with the much higher class of the social system. It was known as the American Dream. In which where anyone could rise up to wealth. It was also romantic and innocent dream of living the morally perfect life. Unfortunately enough, although it seemingly was a wondrous thing it didn't always end positively. The rise of the middle to the upper class resulted in clashing of values, whether it was moral, ethical, social or economic. The American Dream was quickly lost and twisted under these changed corrupt values. What was known as a pure wish of happiness cascaded down into a twisted struggle of materialistic pride. However, the book, even when pointing out all of its faults, manages to continually show the past grandeur and brilliance of the showing off nature of the American Dream.…

    • 826 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    The Great Gatsby
    • 2061 Words
    • 9 Pages

    The Great Gatsby

    Many people claim that The Great Gatsby is the quintessential American novel. This is due to the reoccurring theme of the book of the rise and fall of the American dream. The book is very significant because of its relation to the time period in which it was written and the actual events that were taking place in the world in and around the 1920's. This period was called the "Roaring 20's" because of the economy at the time was through the roof and people were taking advantage of the overall wealth, both independently and as a whole. (Gevaert, 2) New York City was a symbol of what America has become in the 1920's: a place where anything goes, where money is made and bootleggers flourish. In the 1920's money was very abundant, also known as the "Golden Age." (Taylor) People were very materialistic at this time and this is evident in the book for the Gatsby's and the Buchanans were always trying to impress people rather than being themselves. Gatsby's use of the wealth and the way he sees it as being…

    • 2061 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Great Gatsby Thesis
    • 1844 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Great Gatsby Thesis

    Fitzgerald's dominant theme in The Great Gatsby focuses on the corruption of the American Dream. By analyzing high society during the1920s through the eyes of narrator Nick Carraway, the author reveals that the American Dream has transformed from a pure ideal of security into a convoluted scheme of materialistic power. In support of this message, Fitzgerald highlights the original aspects as well as the new aspects of the American Dream in his tragic story to illustrate that a once impervious dream is now lost forever to the American people.…

    • 1844 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    What Is The American Dream In The Great Gatsby Prompts
    • 1180 Words
    • 5 Pages

    What Is The American Dream In The Great Gatsby Prompts

    The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald is a tragic love story on the surface, but it is commonly known for it’s pessimistic critique of the American Dream. In the novel, Jay Gatsby overcomes his poor past to gain an incredible amount of money and a very limited social reputation to be closer to his American Dream (Daisy). He did all that only to be turned down by the “old money” crowd, he then gets killed after being tangled up with them. No amount of hard work could change where Gatsby came from. Merit and hard work aren’t enough, so the American Dream collapses just like the ballooning dresses of Jordan and Daisy when Nike first sees them. Fitzgerald uses the American Dream to show that the independence and the ability to make something of one’s self with hard work sometime ends up being more about materialism and selfish pursuit of pleasure.…

    • 1180 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    The Great Gatsby
    • 1184 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Great Gatsby

    In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the theme can be separated into two major aspects. First, love versus money- criticizing the corruption of the American dream, and second, “sight and insight”-the perception that there is no all seeing presence (higher accountability) in the modern world. The American Dream is not dead it is, however, very corrupted.…

    • 1184 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    The Great Gatsby and Jazz Age Values Essay Example
    • 2694 Words
    • 11 Pages

    The Great Gatsby and Jazz Age Values Essay Example

    The Great Gatsby has been acclaimed as one of the most important novels of the 20th century, and has become an American, and even world, classic. Fitzgerald has not only been heralded for his literary genius in the writing of this novel, but also for his impeccably accurate portrayal of the Jazz Age within The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald has furthermore been accredited with coining the term “Jazz Age.” It has come to mean “[a] new era of ‘relaxation’.” This age further takes its name from “popular music, which saw a tremendous surge in popularity” (Boland). Among the prominent concerns and trends of the period were “the public embrace of technological developments typically seen as progress—cars, air travel, and the telephone—as well as new modernist trends in social behavior, the arts, and culture” (Boland). The Great Gatsby fulfills its role of portraying the Jazz Age accurately, illustrating many of the values of this time period, key among them revolution, innocence, excess, and disillusionment. These values have in turn played a very detrimental role upon the idea of the American Dream, leading to the definitive failure of this idealized world.…

    • 2694 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Illusion of American Dream
    • 959 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Illusion of American Dream

    People, in one way or another, are continually and invariably trying to improve the quality of their lives. Some believe their happiness lies within materialistic goods and the freedom to buy them; while others believe their happiness lies within the bonds and relationships they have. The American Dream is a combination of both. Stereotypically, the American Dream is to marry the perfect someone, move to a suburban house with a white picketed fence, have kids that attend private school, both parents work and do not have to worry about financial issues. Although in the 1920’s the idea of the American Dream was exaggerated to match the glamour and luxury of the era also known as the Roaring Twenties. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby exposes and emphasizes the American Dream as a failure and an illusion. The failure and illusion of the American Dream is seen through the corruption of morals, purposeless lives of the aristocrats and the out-of-reach dreams fueled by the idea that anything was possible.…

    • 959 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics