Reoccurring Themes In The Great Gatsby And Movie Chicago

For generations many have immigrated to this great nation know, as the United states of America, all seeking for their share of the American dream. The American dream is the philosophy that anyone can become successful through hard work and perseverance. The 1920’s embodies this concept like no other decade in American history. It is also during this time frame that one sees the perversion of this dream. F. Scott Fitzgerald suggests in his novel, The Great Gatsby that there is a right and wrong way to obtain the American dream. Throughout the novel, Gatsby is symbolic for the materialistic nature of the American dream and its corruption in the 20th century.

Thesis Statement: Both Chicago and Gatsby show that, in the 1920s, society viewed women as a joke and they're better off being entertainers.

In the two texts, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the idea of the American Dream is portrayed differently between different characters. The American Dream is all about being successful, and the definition of success in this way is seen as having as much money and wealth as possible. The way of achieving this is by having money. Which, in turn, makes money important to attaining the American Dream. This is shown throughout both texts, but can be specifically focused on one character from both texts. One character is an example of someone who would agree that money is important to the American Dream, while the other character might agree that money is important, but in different ways than the other, as that their American Dream is not just to be wealthy.

Arguably some of the main characters of the works, Daisy Buchanan and Roxie Hart have some outlying similarities when comparing The Great Gatsby and Chicago. For example, both characters are incredibly conceited and are incapable of thinking of others or helping to better someone else, other than themselves. Both characters, in my opinion, are seen as disgraceful due to their consistent dishonesty. However, the two women do have an outlying difference in their motives of selfishness. While Daisy Buchanan desires acceptance, love, and to be taken care of, Roxie Hart solely desires fame, wealth, and notoriety. Pertaining to Daisy, her selfishness is evident throughout the novel with regards to her actions. By marrying Tom, yet having an affair with Gatsby, exemplifies her selfishness by solely wanting to please herself by marrying a stable man that can take care of her, while enjoying a past love that brings back exciting memories and emotions. Fitzgerald shows this selfishness through the commentary of Nick Carraway in response to one of Daisy’s actions with, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed things up and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness.” This narration shows the selfishness of Daisy through her equally horrid carelessness. Additionally, by the recollection or flashback provided by Nick in the novel, “I could only remember, without resentment, that Daisy hadn’t sent a message or a flower”, Fitzgerald

Society is full of people judging others by their decisions, but not for the reason. Meaning society likes to judge people for their decisions, but not look at the reasons that led the person commit that decision. In the book The Great Gatsby and film Chicago, the female characters have a hard time with the truth because people would regularly judge women based on their relationships, and they are seeking desires in their life in which lying seems to be the only way to fulfill those certain desires. The female main characters in both, Chicago and The Great Gatsby, both are similar when it comes to lying. Reasons that lead to lying is by society basically judging them. Human beings tend to lie to try to make society like them and not think

During the time in our country's history called the roaring twenties, society had a new obsession, money. Just shortly after the great depression, people's focus now fell on wealth and success in the economic realm. Many Americans would stop at nothing to become rich and money was the new factor in separation of classes within society. Wealth was a direct reflection of how successful a person really was and now became what many people strived to be, to be rich. Wealth became the new stable in the "American dream" that people yearned and chased after all their lives. In the novel entitled the great Gatsby, the ideals of the so called American dream became skewed, as a result

The American Dream coincides with wealth and status rather than happiness or family. In the novel, Gatsby is an example of “New Money.” Although he makes a lot of money in a brief period of time, he is still unaccepted by the upper class, which helps to prove that The American Dream is unachievable for him even though he has wealth and is successful (Fitzgerald 65). In contrast, Daisy is an example of “Old Money” since her safety and privileges are guaranteed by her wealth. This is shown as she marries Tom, regardless of her affection towards Gatsby, and ultimately chooses to stay with him at the end of the novel (75). This proves that upper class women in the 1920’s did not have much freedom to make their own choices as divorce was a controversial topic at the time. Similarly, Gatsby’s description of Daisy as being born wealthy demonstrates how he believes her voice is “full of money” (120). Such a metaphor enhances the

In the past the American Dream was an inspiration to many, young and old. To live out the American Dream was what once was on the minds of many Americans. In The Great Gatsby, the American Dream was presented as a corrupted version of what used to be a pure and honest ideal way to live. The idea that the American Dream was about the wealth and the possessions one had been ingrained, somehow, into the minds of Americans during the 1920’s. As a result of the distortion of the American Dream, the characters of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby along with many others, lived life fully believing in the American Dream, becoming completely immersed in it and in the end suffered great tragedies.

Clare Boothe Luce once said, “Money can’t buy happiness, but it can make you awfully comfortable when you’re miserable.” Wealth is the American dream, a goal many strive for, but what are they willing to do for it and at what costs? In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the film Chicago directed by Rob Marshall, their yearning for wealth leads many to make demoralizing decisions in order to succeed. Jay Gatsby, one of the main characters in the novel, is a wealthy man who lives in a mansion on the rich side of the city. Gatsby was in love with a woman named Daisy who ,while he was at war, left him for a wealthy man. Hence the reason why Daisy became Gatsby’s American dream and so he worked his way up the social classes to win her back. In the film Chicago, Roxie, a married woman, had an affair with a man who had “connections” with those in the dancing/singing industry. He lied and, consequently, she ended up shooting him. In prison, Roxie’s case became the story of the century and aided her ‘fame’. Although these works demonstrate that the American dream is achievable, based on the character's success, after closer analysis it is clear that the American dream is only achievable through corruption.

The Great Gatsby is a novel that illustrates the society in the 1920's and the associated beliefs, values and dreams of the American population at that time. These beliefs, values and dreams can be summed up be what is termed the "American Dream", a dream of money, wealth, prosperity and the happiness that supposedly came with the booming economy and get-rich-quick schemes that formed the essential underworld of American upper-class society. This underworld infiltrated the upper echelons and created such a moral decay within general society that paved the way for the ruining of dreams and dashing of hopes as they were placed confidently in the chance for opportunities that could be seized by one and all. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates the

The Center for prevention and Counseling is requesting funding for our Recreational program for families to connect with each other.

Do you belong to any religion and adhere to the practices of the religion? People need to ask themselves whether they belong to any religion and whether they adhere to the practices of the particular religion in order to establish their spiritual ascription. There exist different religions in the world that follow different religious practices and beliefs. The difference occurs in the sense that what might appear to be correct or right in one religion might actually be wrong in another religion. Some of the major religions in the world include Christianity, Islam, Hindu, Jewish, and Judaism among other religions. Each member of these religions follows what the religion requires and people in each religion have a

The American Dream was the vision that brought many people to America to start a new life in a strange and foreign land. This vision or dream is a common discussion topic by modern writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby follows a cast of characters living in the fictional town of West Egg on Long Island in the summer of 1922. On the surface, it seems that the novel is a story of the thwarted love between a man and a woman, but the masterpiece major theme is about the American dream. The author writes about a man who takes the dream too far and becomes unable to distinguish his false life of riches from reality.

For much of its existence, the Human race’s goal has been to obtain the most money so that they may gloat about everything they have and make a place for themselves at the top of the social ladder. In 1920’s, wealth was the fundamental way of claiming your place in the world. This was shown by the characters of The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This book features the battles to create a happy life for yourself and all the mess in between. Undeterred by heritage, race, and class you can obtain the American Dream through perseverance and commitment to your work.

The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, embodies many themes as the story progresses. Some of these themes are social classes, wealth, and most importantly the American Dream. The American Dream is the idea that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. The Great Gatsby is a highly symbolic meditation on 1920s America as a whole, in particular the disintegration of the American Dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess. Through the use of characters and symbols, F. Scott Fitzgerald implies the American Dream may not really exist and that everyone in the U.S. aims for survival of the fittest, rather than equality.