The Great Gatsby Argumentative Quotes

However, to be part of the American dream, and the right social class it was almost impossible to create a perfect 'glittering surface ' that would make you a part of this materialistic society. Gatsby, constantly working on his 'glittering surface ' to become a part of this society, tries to perfect the elements of his American dream, which included financial success, material acquisitions, proper self-image, and social status. The most fashionable financial situation is "old money", meaning that you have been born into a large wealth and therefore do not need to work to support yourself. Tom and Daisy are in this classification, along with the rest of fashionable East Egg. Daisy was born into a life of wealth and privilege in Louisville and has no reason to trouble herself in anything involving the slightest bit of work. This almost makes it seem as her life is void of meaning, "What 'll we do with ourselves this afternoon?" cried Daisy, "and the day after that, and the next thirty years?" Gatsby, on the other hand is the complete contrast of this. He is in the less fashionable, but certainly tolerable "new money" situation of West Egg. He has worked to acquire his wealth , even if he has done it through illegal means, "A lot of these newly rich people are just big bootleggers, you know." He has built up a great wealth from nothing, as he was born into a common life, with nothing but a dream, or an

Americans carry the freedom of opportunity and social mobility, allowing any individual to prosper, depending on their tenacity to succeed. Explicitly, Gatsby’s character differentiates between the four types of people present in this world, “the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired” (79). An instrumental facet of Gatsby’s character is his aspirations to pursue his goals, with a tenacious attitude to overcome any challenges that he may face. The passion that Gatsby contains is indefinable, his constant motivation to achieve his perfect utopian world allows him to reach out for a single “green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock” (21). Peculiarly, the green light at the end of Daisy’s East Egg dock is barely visible from Gatsby’s West Egg lawn. Daisy resides along the East Egg depicting the moral decay and social cynicism of the old aristocracy, whereas Gatsby is settled along the West Egg, illustrating the newly rich of New York. The City of New York is a place for hope, a location often present in the quest to gain excessive wealth and a place full of pleasure. Moreover, the green light symbolizes Gatsby’s hope and misfortunate end with “his dream [seeming] so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him…” (180).

The American dream can mean many different things and can be interpreted in different ways. To some people, the American dream is the belief that if a person works hard enough, he or she can be successful in America no matter what race, gender, or nationality. In the 1920’s, the concept of the American dream was very much the same, that an individual can achieve success in life regardless of family history or social status if he or she works hard enough. By having money, a car, a big house, expensive clothes, and a loving family symbolizes the American dream. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the 1920’s is a time period in which the American dream becomes corrupt and dangerous. For Jay Gatsby, a main character in the novel, his American dream is about gaining wealth and material possessions in order to find happiness. Through his decision to symbolize wealth, superficiality, irresponsibility, and foreshadowing, Fitzgerald conveys the the theme that the American dream is a perfect concept and is something that can never be accomplished, but can always be reached for.

Jay Gatsby is a self-made man, he turned himself from a farm boy to one of the richest men in America at the time and bought himself a beautiful mansion on West Egg, Long Island with the other new millionaires. In contrast to the newly rich, there are those who have inherited their wealth from family before them such as Tom and Daisy Buchanan. These people were lucky to be born into their lives and reside on East Egg along with other family’s with “old money”. Readers come to easily

The American Dream, is an idea that all Americans are familiar with, no matter what age they are. It is the dream that everyone has an equal opportunity, to use hard work and integrity to achieve success. The American Dream is an integral aspect of Jay Gatsby’s life in the novel, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The novel follows Jay Gatsby, as told by Nick Carraway, through the trials and tribulations that correspond with newfound wealth and the quest to find true happiness in a cynical and testing environment. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald suggests that the American Dream has the power to corrupt individuals, through his depictions of wealth, materialism, and the consequences they inflict in the character’s lives.

Jay Gatsby is a self-made man, he turned himself from a farm boy to one of the richest men in America at the time and bought himself a beautiful mansion on West Egg, Long Island with the other new millionaires. In contrast to the newly rich, there is those who have inherited their wealth from family before them such as Tom and Daisy Buchanan. These people were lucky to be born into their lives and reside on East Egg along with other family’s with “old money”. Readers come to easily identify that despite their different

“The 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. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position,”(Adams OL). The American Dream is a dream where a person lives a better, richer, and a fuller life, the American Dreams is not a dream where a person is after material prosperity, such as wealth, fancier cars, lavish homes. There is much more to the American Dream than property, wealth, and a perfect spouse and Jay Gatsby, a character in Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald novel, The Great Gatsby learns about the American Dream the hard way. Jay Gatsby of West Egg, New York was notoriously known for being extremely wealthy. Mr. Gatsby was also recognized by his extravagant parties with more than hundreds of guests. Jay Gatsby was not always known as Jay Gatsby, he was previously known for being James Gatz. Mr. Gatz was not a wealthy person and Gatz left his parents because they were poor and unsuccessful farmers to pursue a dream. James Gatz changed his name

Gatsby, who acquired his wealth through organized crime (distributing illegal alcohol, trading in stolen securities, and bribing police officers), is part of this new element of society. As such, he can never participate in the arrogant, inherited “old wealth” of Tom and Daisy Buchanan, who live in East Egg (present day Manhasset and Port Washington), the playground of the upper-class, white Anglo-Saxon Protestant Americans (Tunc 69).

Money, wealth and prestige were constantly on the minds of people during the Roaring Twenties. Not everyone during this time was able to achieve the wealth and status that they aspired to, including Jay Gatsby. Many people of the upper class inherited their wealth, and oftentimes lived on the rich peninsula of East Egg. On the other hand, those who had to make their own way in the world lived on the less wealthy peninsula of West Egg. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses Jay Gatsby to portray the corrupt mindset of the 1920’s. Starting off as a poor boy, Gatsby aspires to become as wealthy as the aristocracy, and becomes obsessed with this aspiration; his American Dream. Through illicit means, Jay Gatsby makes his way up the social ladder, but stalls prior to reaching the peak. Gatsby, although known for his extravagant parties and expensive belongings, lives in West Egg, showing that he is not part of the aristocracy. Throughout The Great Gatsby, a classic novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby attempts to capture the American Dream, but his corrupt view of it only leads him to become materialistic, ending his life with few personal relationships, thus proving that during the Roaring Twenties people were more concerned with superfluous objects, as opposed to their own well being.

One of the major topics explored in The Great Gatsby is the sociology of wealth, specifically, how the newly minted millionaires of the 1920s differ from and relate to the old aristocracy of the country’s richest families. In the novel, West Egg and its denizens represent the newly rich, while East Egg and its denizens, especially Daisy and Tom, represent the old aristocracy. Fitzgerald portrays the newly rich as being vulgar, gaudy, ostentatious, and lacking in social graces and taste. Gatsby, for example, lives in a monstrously ornate mansion, wears a pink suit, drives a Rolls-Royce,

Although the citizens in the West Egg is also wealthy and consider as upper classes too, the old money is considered as the aristocracy whereas the new money is just some millionaires. The West egg citizens are described to be ostentation, garishness and flashy manner. Jay Gatsby is a representative of the new money in the novel. Gatsby was grown up on a poor farm in North Dakota. At age of 17 he left North Dakota, Gatsby left his home and met his first employer, Dan Cody. During the abandon of alcohol, Gatsby earned huge amount of money through bootlegging and committed other crimes. This made him becomes a millionaire and enters the society of the upper classes. Similar to any new money, Gatsby had personalities of extravagant and ostentation. ‘THERE was music from my neighbor's house through the summer nights.’ Every Saturday nights, Gatsby holds enormous parties until midnight and anyone able to freely to attends. ‘Every Friday five crates of orange lemons arrived…… every Monday these same oranges and lemons left his back door.’ The night before the party starts, Gatsby will buy lots of fresh fruits to produce fresh juice for his guest. In that time fresh fruits were extremely expensive. This shows Gatsby is rich and generous. On every party nights, the servants will decorate Gatsby’s garden with light ‘....enough colored lights to make a Christmas tree of Gatsby’s enormous garden. This shows Gatsby’s personality is extravagant because he was showing off his wealth through holding enormous and luxury parties for free. In Gatsby’s mansion, Gatsby never read his collection of books, he never worn his clothes from England and he never used the pool in his garden. Although Gatsby is rich as the Tom Buchanan and he had learned their manners, he could not fit himself into the lifestyle of aristocracy and learn their

Fitzgerald presents West Egg as the “less fashionable of the two”. The West Eggers are the working class. Their money is their own, and they have not had the benefits of old money. Outside of Gatsby, most East Eggers live humbly, as illustrated by Nick Carraway’s small summer cottage. Upon further evaluation, the reader can see that Fitzgerald also applies his statement to the manner in which the wealth is acquired. West Eggers, represented by Gatsby, obtain their money through unrespectable and even illegal means. These people are looked down upon by the East Eggers, as they obtained their wealth on their own, making them the

A commonly held tenet among people from all generations is that hard work will ultimately lead to wealth and prosperity. This concept, illustrated in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, is known as the American Dream. Although many have this dream today, it is a one in a million chance to attain it, regardless of whether or not a person is tremendously deserving of such success. James Gatz, later known as Jay Gatsby, is a character who experiences this minute probability of the American Dream coming true. Through the character of Gatsby, Fitzgerald suggests that the American Dream is so difficult to achieve that it is unattainable.

Early on in his work, Fitzgerald makes a comparison between East Egg, a lavish town crowded with mansions, and West Egg, the less fashionable town with squalid homes. Consequently, living in East Egg is a symbol of wealth and status, and readers understand that Tom and Daisy Buchanan living in this area is representative of their inherited fortune. Meanwhile, both Nick Carraway and Gatsby live in West Egg, and characters living in this area often work hard to achieve their own financial success, in contrast to the lazy inheritors of East Egg. As a result, the residents of West Egg are less wealthy than those in East Egg. Furthermore, a drastic difference in financial success is presented with the comparison of Nick’s bungalow to Gatsby’s Georgian mansion.

To many people, The Great Gatsby is a perfect example of the American Dream because of its positive portrayal of it. James Gatz was the product of unsuccessful farm people (Fitzgerald 98). From the text, one can also find out that in the year before James Gatz became Jay Gatsby, Jay had been beating his way along the south