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The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

Decent Essays

History, rather than one’s financial status, is the deciding factor in determining one’s acceptance into the highest social classes. This idea is expressed in the song “All Falls Down” by Kanye West, “Even if you in a Benz, you still a n----- in a coupe” (“All Falls Down”). If a wealthy man has no impressive or notable background and is not considered “old money,” his achievement of the American dream, an ideal that every American has an equal opportunity to achieve prosperity, would be limited. Throughout American history, the “American dream” has been critiqued. While some authors support this idea by following the paths leading up to impressive successes of impoverished characters, others, such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, negate it. In his novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald argues against the concept of the American dream by contrasting the financial successes of Jay Gatsby with the lack of achievement of Gatsby’s own aspirations of acceptance into the upper class. Despite being extremely wealthy, Gatsby lives in the shadow of his insignificant youth. Although throughout The Great Gatsby, wealth appears to be a mechanism in elevating Jay Gatsby’s social status, Gatsby’s unimpressive past disables him from fully achieving the American dream. The concept of the American dream originated from the “rags-to-riches” success story of founding father, Benjamin Franklin. Franklin, although coming from a modest background, successfully jump-started the American printing business when he invented all-purpose paper out of old, cheap rags, becoming the first and leading distributor of printed goods. The founding father spent the majority of his life in the printing business, and thus was pretty well known throughout the colonies. In his autobiography, Franklin described that through hard work and determination, anyone could progress through the social classes. However, according to Raj Chetty’s research as presented in the podcast “Busted: America's Poverty Myths,” there is quite a large gap between those who can and cannot progress. For example, the neighborhood in which one grows up is responsible for 25% of the wage gap between workers of different socioeconomic statuses. If someone did not have the monetary capability

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