Why Is The American Dream Important In The Great Gatsby

The roaring 1920s were a pivotal time in American history. Everyone was aspiring something worked hard to achieve the perfect “American Dream”. The stocks were rising and never seemed like they’d fall, underground nightclubs during prohibition made people feel invincible, and cars were the newest innovation that everyone had to have. However, this golden age came to a sudden crash after stocks dramatically fell in 1929. Many people lost everything they owned as the unemployment rate reached 25%. Desperately, people spent hours trying to find one person that might hire them or give them a short working contract and a place to stay. This was the dark reality of the American dream; everything could seem perfect one minute, and crash and burn the
Disillusioned by growing up in a post-war world, they showed contempt for the society they were living in. The 20s brought new authors, such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, that put on display the problems of society and people left behind not shown by the glamorous lifestyle many people had. During the Great Depression, authors including John Steinbeck, who wrote Of Mice and Men, specifically addressed the American dream and how many people put false hope in it that they would make it out okay. Although these time periods appear different; one of huge prosperity and one of deep sorrow, the authors’ purposes remained the same. They all tried to show through their works that faith and ambition would never work out. While the American dream gave a sense of hope for people in dark times, it could never be obtained, regardless of how hard one worked or how achievable it
Their American dream was to escape the dreadful life of the depression and make their own successful farm filled with rabbits and animals and all things bright and beautiful. At first, George would say this to Lennie to calm him down if he had a meltdown or was overreacting. Eventually, he started to believe it too, and even convinced some people where they were working. After killing a woman, a mob came to lynch Lennie. George knew that this was the end of their dream, and reminded Lennie one last time before shooting him in the back of the head, killing him instantly. He wanted Lennie to die happy, thinking about what could be someday. George was destroyed after what he did, but it had to be done. He was well aware that the dream would never be reached, but tricked himself into believing it brought happiness in times of