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The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

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Driving the American dream
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Miles Inman
10/23/17
The Great Gatsby Essay

Bling, cars, mansions, money. This is what the American dream means to most people and it is what Gatsby wants too. The American dream is the feeling of making your own choices and choosing your own path. The book The Great Gatsby by Ernest Hemingway confirms the existence of the American dream because Gatsby starts from nothing to becoming a millionaire and using that money he persuades Daisy to give her love completely to him and not Tom Buchanan.
Gatsby begins his American dream from his poor life circumstances in the dirt fields of North Dakota. When he changes his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby he finally is ready for American capitalism. From the first time he sets foot on Dan Cody's boat he learns a “pattern of fancies”(99) where the “hint on unreality off reality” (99) was born and provided Gatsby the manners to be gentlemen. He learns how to be a proper businessman and wear proper clothes, talk clearly and use correct vocabulary, and even picks up the saying “old sport” from Dan Cody's teachings. After Dan Cody died, Gatsby became an officer and fought in the war. He learned the leadership and bravery that he needs to become an American capitalist. In the war he “led two machine gun detachments so far”(66) that when they reached the trench they “found the insignia of three German divisions”(66) Once he learns the ways of being a businessman, he begins to build up his empire of drug

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