Driving the American dream
A block
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
The idea of American Dream as presented by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the Great Gatsby novel involves rising from poverty or rags to richness and wealthy. The American Dream exemplifies that elements such as race, gender, and ethnicity are valueless as they do not influence the ability of an individual to rise to power and richness. This American Dream makes the assumption that concepts such as xenophobia are non-existent in America a concept that is not true and shows vagueness of the American Dream. In his novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the Great Gatsby to demonstrate the overall idea of living the American dream. Gatsby leaves his small village of farmers and manages to work his way up the ladder although some of the money he uses to climb the ladder is associated with crime “He was a son of God and he must be about His Father's Business, the service of a vast, vulgar and meretricious beauty” (Fitzgerald 6.7). This phrase shows that Gatsby wasn’t meant for a life similar to that of his father but rather destined for greatness. However, his dream his short-lived and he doesn’t make it to the top as Daisy who is a symbol of his wealthy rejects her and a series of events transpire that result in his death before he could live his American Dream alongside everyone else who was working up the ladder to live the American Dream.
The author Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby as a novel that talks about and covers American issues in the 1920s. He shows in the novel the carelessness and selfishness of everybody at the same time by portraying all of them in the location of west and east egg. Fitzgerald talks about a couple different topics throughout the novel. One of those is," the Attainment of a dream may be less satisfying than the pursuit of it" and the second one is"the American Dream is corrupted by the desire for wealth". He uses those themes to show how americans lived at a different time.
Gatsby came from a very poor background with lack of education. As he started to build his own dreams forgetting about what happened in the past and he tried to build his own dream from scratch. Which after in the novel showed he became very successful man. He showed a true example of living the life of the American dream that by hard work, motivation and with no support we can live a lavish life like an American man. Gatsby was a self made man with no background. As one of the article about Gatsby life better illustrate that “The American dream consisted of the belief (sometimes thought of as a promise) that people of talent in this land of opportunity and plenty could reasonably aspire to material success” ( Trask, David F, WG). The novel illustrates the life of the people in early 1920’s as a life easy money selling alcohol and
It’s called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it” (George Carlin). George Carlin, criticizes the dream of prosperity, a promise to any individual for happiness and material success, if they try hard enough, Carlin realizes the reality of the unobtainable dream. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald offers an insight to the lavish life of the 1920’s, or as he coined, The Jazz Age. The novel follows the character of Nick Carraway as he learns the tragedy of an excessive lifestyle that is lived by Jay Gatsby, Tom and Daisy Buchanan. Fitzgerald is able to see past all the luxury and grandeur to expose the unhappiness and misery that tells the reader that money does not bring true joy. The novel describes
The 1920’s was a decade of striving for prosperity and the American dream. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s historical fiction novel, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby builds his way up to wealth and does everything he can to attain his goal, but is ultimately unable to attain it. Through his decision to set up The Great Gatsby as a frame story, Fitzgerald conveys the theme that the American dream is not necessary attainable, no matter how much one sacrifices or works towards it.
Gatsby grew up in North Dakota and did have no connections, money or education. He spent his youth training for his “Big Break”. Highly motivated, he had a plan to escape his life as a poor man. Gatsby was resentful of his parents and their poverty. “His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all.”(Fitzgerald 9.) Gatsby’s desire to escape the poverty and limits of his upbringing was so powerful that he created a new person he wanted to be in order to achieve what he desired rejecting his original name, parents, and goals for personal improvement as he invented a new person and attitude that would better support him in his quest. “So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.” (Fitzgerald 9). Gatsby’s opportunity to get away from his family and into wealth occurs when he encounters a man by the name of Dan Cody. Dan Cody teaches Gatsby the skills and everything he needs to know about the bootlegging business. With this new job, Gatsby is suddenly given the opportunity to meet his goal in the quickest and easiest way (even though it was illegal). Gatsby’s decision not only to participate in this illegal trade but shows how strong of a desire he has to reach his dream.
According to Lily Rothman from TIME, “People whose annual income is between $50,000 and $74,999 are happier than people who earn between $75,000 and $99,999.” This startling statistic relates to how Gatsby, a very rich man, felt. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it is revealed that even if you are successful and rich, you may not be able to find happiness. This reveals the idea of the “American Dream” is a complete myth, because even if you succeed in life, it doesn’t mean you will be happy. Fitzpatrick shows this theme by making Jay Gatsby unable to get Daisy Buchanan, the girl he wants, when he is a poor, young man.
One of the most influential writers of the early 20th century was a man named F. Scott Fitzgerald. The biggest topic that he wrote about was the American Dream. Fitzgerald uses many different aspects of writing to get his opinion across, such as the outcome of stories like The Great Gatsby and “Winter Dreams”. He also uses the setting and to explain his beliefs. Based of his work, Fitzgerald believes the American dream is not only unrealistic, but also unattainable.
Ever wonder what it is like being one of the most rich socialites living The American Dream? We learn through Jay Gatsby’s life that it does not guarantee happiness, as happiness cannot be bought. In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Jay Gatsby learns through many events that occur in his life that money cannot buy you happiness, a relationship that is based off materialistic things is never going to work, and The American Dream is a fallacy. Throughout the novel, Jay Gatsby pursues the appearance of having achieved the American Dream with him plenty of money, but Jay Gatsby’s life proves this dream is a fallacy. It cannot bring him the one thing that gives him true happiness, his love Daisy.
In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the American dream was shown and presented to be attainable. Both current times and back then in the early 1920’s the American dream was and still is represented as living happily and stress free with their current job, house, and or loved one. The cost for living in such conditions to whoever is working for it is the choice of going through the worst situations to completely achieve their goals. Whether it’s working 10 hours a day every day or throwing all your money on a mansion and parties just to get close to the love of your life.In The Great Gatsby the American dream is most definitely attainable but at the cost of the high chance of losing the opportunity.
The American dream is an ideology, a vision that’s form varies from individual to individual, based upon one’s own experiences. Although the one thing that remains constant in every single definition is that this ideology, just as the name states, is only a dream. It is meant to merely drive people to unlock their hidden potential and become their best self, for the sole purpose of living one’s out one’s own definition of success. In “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the American Dream is Jay Gatsby’s inspiration and his opportunity, however, as the book progresses it becomes more evident that not all people share the same opportunity.
America was built on the idea of the “American dream”. The American dream is the idea that we are here on this earth for a higher purpose. The dream does not exist, it is all in our head, set by immigrants who made this country what it is today. However, it is what pushes people, it gives them the drive to move forward in their lives, well that is what people like to believe. In F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, he uses the American dream to show how it doesn’t fulfill everyone's needs.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, which took place during the summer of 1922 in New York, the narrator Nick Carroway travels east in hopes of becoming an independent individual, however, while he is there he enters the world of the elite where he gradually uncovers the truth about the lacking morals of the rich and famous. At the beginning point of Nick’s time in New York, he purchases a petite house in the core of an exceedingly rich neighborhood, West Egg, as a start of pursuing The American Dream of becoming financially successful. There Nick befriends a group of highly wealthy people where their persistent immoral behaviors expose that the success, the people, and the ideal that The American Dream represents is ironically
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.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, is a one of the best stories written during the early 20th century. The novel takes place during the economic boom in the 1920s, which was a time of prosperity, self-indulgence, and the growth of cities. The most elaborate and symbolic character Fitzgerald presents to his readers is Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald uses Gatsby as a vehicle to explore the idea of The American Dream, which played a major role in shaping American society. Fitzgerald does not sugar-coat his definition of the…Thesis