The ‘American Dream’ in The Great Gatsby It has been said that “people are so busy dreaming the American Dream‚ fantasizing about what they could be or have a right to be‚ that they’re all asleep at the switch‚ [the American man has lost his focus]” <www.thinkexist.com>. What exists behind the vision of the American Dream is a paralleled unreality. Humans are dreamers‚ and desires often create beliefs in people’s minds that lead them to strongly believe in a successful outcome. Unfortunately
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Pursuit of Happiness." This sentiment can be considered the foundation of the American Dream‚ the dream that everyone has the ability to become what he or she desires to be. While many people work to attain their American dream‚ others believe that the dream is seemingly impossible to reach‚ like F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby examines the "Jazz-Age" generation’s search for the elusive American Dream of wealth and happiness and scrutinizes the consequences of that generation’s
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The Death of the American Dream in the Great Gatsby 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;
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The American Dream in The Great Gatsby The American dream in The Great Gatsby seems at first to be just about money and material things‚ but the meaning becomes deeper when the clear meaning is the love that Gatsby has for Daisy and his quest to get her back. Gatsby has the life that most people would dream of‚ but he doesn’t have the only true thing that he wants. He uses material things and wealth to hopefully win his way back into daisy’s heart as he did once before. Gatsby has a house in West
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In The Great Gatsby‚ F. Scott Fitzgerald presents all the characters and their individual American Dreams. The novel took place in the 1920s‚ post-World War I‚ where American pride‚ wealth‚ luxuries‚ and all other superficialities were glorified. During this time‚ the American people became ambitious‚ and economic success was made their main goal. The notion of “money can buy happiness” was prominent and people of all walks of life believed in it. While this may have seemed like a positive outlook
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The Great Gatsby and the American Dream There is really no set definition of what the American Dream is‚ everyone has different views on what they see it as. The main idea of the American Dream is pretty much making it big and being successful in life‚ having everything you need‚ wealth‚ prosperity‚ love and happiness. Jay Gatsby portrays the American Dream in some senses but not to its full potential. Throughout the novel The Great Gatsby the American Dream isn’t shown in its positive light but
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a children’s party taken over by the elders‚” said F. Scott Fitzgerald‚ the author of The Great Gatsby. After the World War I‚ abnormal economical success dominated over Americans‚ and caused amorality over the society. At that time‚ people pursued cheap pleasure and full of entertainments: parties‚ extravagance‚ and dissipation. The Great Gatsby describes that the Jazz Age through the protagonist‚ Jay Gatsby‚ who was in the lower class‚ struggles with Tom Buchanan and with George Wilson to gain power
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Robinson‚ “The American Dream‚ the idea of the happy ending‚ is an avoidance of responsibility and commitment” (http://www.brainyquote.com). What Robinson is saying is that a lot of people expect to achieve the American Dream‚ i.e. happiness‚ through the accumulation of external things‚ meanwhile avoiding the true origins of happiness‚ which are internal. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s‚ The Great Gatsby‚ Jay Gatsby’s character also faces this dilemma as he reaches for the American Dream‚ believing that
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The American Dream: The Great Gatsby The American Dream is ready to enjoy everything the world has to offer in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s‚ The Great Gatsby. However‚ enjoying these things comes at a high price. The American dream according to a few people in the novel is all about finding a life less ordinary and reaching the top. It’s about finding fortune or true love. The readers see this in the novel which shows what the people back in the day strived for. How empty their lives have become.
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“The American Dream” is an idea that fills the minds of individuals seeking the “orgastic future”- a struggle to transform dreams into reality (www.americansc.org.uk). As the American Dream becomes tangible‚ the aspirations and taste for possible wealth in a new world begins to corrupt minds; people have fallen into a fantasy‚ confusing idealism with realism. This “Pursuit of Happiness”‚ once a solid symbol of equality‚ freedom and possibilities‚ has mutated into a materialistic monster of distrust
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