Great Gatsby is a novel about the corruption of the American Dream.’ How far would you agree with this statement? The American Dream is fundamentally the idea that anyone in America can accomplish through hard work and can achieve success and happiness. It has been expanded on through the years and now incorporates ideas of attaining freedom‚ wealth and power. In the 1920s when ’The Great Gatsby’ was written the Jazz Age was taking hold and the American Dream became more about material possessions
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The American Dream James Truslow Adams coined the term "American Dream" in his 1931 book The Epic of America. His American Dream is "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone‚ with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. The term “American dream” is essentially is an idea that suggests that anyone in the US can succeed through hard work and has the potential to lead a happy‚ successful life. Many people have expanded upon to include
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achievement” which is easily connected to the idea of The American Dream. After all‚ isn’t America known as “The land of opportunity”? Most people came to America‚ and still come for that matter‚ in search of a better life through hard work and dedication to their cause. In “Chinaman’s Chance: Reflections on the American Dream” by Eric Liu‚ it is stated that “...it (the American Dream) does demand the opportunity to achieve progress-and values the opportunity
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relishing in "The American Dream" While capitalism promotes the belief that this dream is achievable‚ it is more often than not‚ a literal dream‚ and leaves its pursuers poor‚ and weak. This keeps the working class powerless‚ and pacified to propagate capitalistic values. Clean cut examples of this are cases in such societies where people do not have the chance to advance but have the chance to succeed. A strange position that seems to contradict a culture that’s "Dream" is to be powerful
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but we learned pretty damn quick." This quote was extracted from the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien‚ and exemplifies the power that the war had in exploiting one’s innocence. The Vietnam war drastically altered the soldier’s American Dreams due to the great abundance of evil which was celebrated throughout the war. The novel The Things they Carried‚ the movie "Platoon‚" as well as an actual story from a Vietnam Veteran each‚ in their own ways‚ allude to the powerful ability that
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The idea of the American dream—that this country is the land of opportunity and that anyone can achieve success through hard work—has given hope to people born without hope. This is one of the main reasons people come to the United States from other countries‚ but now the American dream is being questioned‚ does it still exist. The collection of stories‚ “Living it” and “From Ragged Dick”‚ are two examples of how the American dream does not exist in our generation. It is also shared in the articles
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The American Dream is often connected with people who have astonishing dreams and who managed to actually live out such dreams. For almost all Americans‚ this entails earning a college degree‚ gaining a good job‚ buying a house‚ and starting a family. Just like Americans born here‚ immigrants dream for a hope of a better life. Immigrants have different motives for coming to America. As Yuliya Sandler‚ an immigrant from Ukraine in the late ‘90s‚ said‚ “One of the main reasons [to come to this country]
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W. Robertson once proclaimed‚ “Instruction ends in the school-room‚ but education ends only with life”. Education has become a golden ticket to success in America’s society‚ challenging not only African Americans‚ but every racial class to obtain as much knowledge as achievable. The American Dream by Kenya Doyle depicts the economical success and the downs sides to achieving self assimilation one can gain from receiving a college education. It was evident to the “white man” during slavery how powerful
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meditation on 1920s America as a whole‚ in particular the disintegration of the American dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess. Although everyone’s idea of the American Dream varies a little bit‚ for Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby the American Dream is all about finding a life less ordinary and reaching the top. "Americans‚ while occasionally willing to be serfs‚ have always been obstinate about being peasantry."- page 89 Fitzgerald portrays the 1920s as an era of decayed
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The American Dream was once based on the same principles of The Declaration of Independence‚ like freedom and equality. That all men deserve “..life‚ liberty‚ and the pursuit of happiness..” (Revolution) Over time‚ the dream became more materialized and narcissistic. For some‚ it promised a journey of milestones and accomplishments. But for others‚ obstacles in the way were too much of a struggle. Azar Nafisi once said‚ “The negative side of The American Dream comes when people pursue success at
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