The Reality Of The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

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.

As Nick reflects, "Gatsby believed in the green light... So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past" (Fitzgerald, Chapter 9), encapsulating Gatsby's relentless pursuit of an unattainable dream. Fitzgerald's portrayal of Gatsby's pursuit serves as a reminder of the allure and ultimate emptiness of chasing dreams in a world marked by financial scams and fleeting prosperity. In exploring F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and its reflection on the 1920s, the themes of wealth, social class divisions, and the pursuit of the American Dream are made abundantly clear. Through characters like Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, Fitzgerald shows the difference between the lifestyles of the elite and the struggles of the working class.

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.

What is the American dream and what does the pursuit of happiness require? America, a country built on the foundation of freedom has established an image that millions from around the world idealize and travel to accomplish their dreams. Nowadays American’s view themselves as individuals with the right and freedom to explore ones identity, rise to riches, or even fall in love and have a family. However, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, depicts the reality of the American dream by illustrating characteristics of life in West Egg and East Egg, love affairs between characters, and the tragedy of Jay Gatsby.

Titular character Jay Gatsby proves that America’s lower class in the Roaring Twenties was able to attain only the appearance of wealth. James Gatz, Gatsby’s birth name, was born to poor and shiftless farmers in Nebraska, but “The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his own platonic conception of himself” and amassed a large fortune for himself in an attempt to win over his long-time love interest (Fitzgerald 98). This would support the possibility of the American Dream and the ability to rise through class ranks, as Gatsby was able to

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.

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.

The Great Gatsby is often considered to be the great American novel. However, this notion must be challenged because the ideas that F. Scott Fitzgerald presents in his classic masterpiece clash with the distinctly “American” ideologies that citizens of this great country have been spoon-fed since birth. Ideas such as capitalism, the American Dream, and self-actualization are presented in one form or another and then systematically dismantled to show just how fragile they really are. In his famous novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald emphasizes the despondency of class struggle and other Marxist ideologies through literary devices such as setting, imagery, and character development. Ultimately, Fitzgerald offers a negative critique on how social

The American dream in The Great Gatsby “There is nothing more depressing than having it all and still feeling sad,” anonymous. Thousands of people believe in the American dream, but unaware of what it actually takes. In The Great Gatsby the characters live this dream, but all of them feel miserable. Money, family, and emotional well being plays into the American dream. Money plays a big role in everyone's lives in some ways more than others.

Jay Gatsby is not a lazy person, he cannot stop working until his dreams have been realized, he knows that he is destined for greatness, and to not seek out greatness would be a waste, as Nick says,“So he made the most of his time, he took what he could get, ravenously and unscrupulously”(Fitzgerald 149). Gatsby’s drive is everything to him since before he met Daisy, he has strived to become more than just some kid from nowhere. As a self-made millionaire, he can only afford to rely on himself and himself alone, as there may be no one else in this world who may believe in him. Opportunities to succeed present themselves to people every day, but only a few have the gifts needed to utilize these opportunities, one of whom, is Jay Gatsby, as Nick says, “he was only a young man, but he had a lot brain power here”(Fitzgerald 168). In life, humans are blessed with many things, arms, legs, a heart, one’s very soul, is a blessing. Although the one thing that holds weight over all else, the one thing that can never be taken away, is one’s mind. Knowledge is power, especially as one climbs higher into the social rankings of society. James Gatz did not just become Jay Gatsby overnight, he was built up over the course of many years of experiences, as Nick says,“My first impression, that he was a person of some undefined consequence,

Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, strongly reflected the attitudes of people during the twentieth century by their disillusioned idea of the American Dream. In this novel, Fitzgerald creates situations and characteristics similar to his life while presenting the skewed moralities of society in the twentieth century. For example, Fitzgerald displays the desire for money during this era through the character Jay Gatsby who throughout the novel obtains money through dishonesty of his occupation. This change in America was the turning point for how the would continue to be influenced by the desire for wealth and materialism. F. Scott Fitzgerald reflects this idea of the modernistic lifestyle and has educated society on his view of this change of morals in the twentieth

Then he, Jay Gatsby, then was eventually recruited to fight in the first world war. During this time, he met the love of his life Daisy Fay while stationed at Camp Taylor in Louisville Kentucky. He lied to convince her he was a wealthy young man from a similar back ground as the wealthy debutante. But Jay knew this was untrue, so after losing her heart to Tom Buchanan he set out to make himself a wealthy individual. Winning back Daisy’s heart was Jay’s motivation. In the 21-century society we live in today, there are many stereotypes that surround our youth around the age of the young Jay Gatsby. For the majority of youth today, there families have been established and there isn’t any real drive to strive to succeed because people are content with where they are in life, and due to this contentment “The American Dream” is dying. Our country is stagnating, with very little industrial growth in the last twenty-five years, we have become a consumer based economy which means very little money coming into the country for goods produced in America. This can be linked back to how the newer generations don’t want to work hard to earn a better

People have been traveling to the United States of America for years on end now. The biggest reason why foreigners leave their home country is because they would like to pursue their personal dreams in a land where anything is possible. Although the american dream seems like a well oiled machine, there are a few kinks that could use some fixing. In the novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, some of those pros and cons of the american dream could be recognized within each character.

The Great Gatsby is a tragic story about the lives and values of a few middle and upper class Americans a few years after WWI. This article describes exactly that because of the values and stereotypes it enforces within society. The article dives in into the values and attitudes that are commonplace in the people of the 1920’s and the ways in which it affects society. For example, like Marx prosed, this movie/book dives into the exaggeration of the American dream; how the only was to be successful is to work hard for what you have, and that was portrayed though Jay Gatsby. Lastly, the article dives into all sorts of ideals that support socioeconomic pitfalls of capitalism just as Marx proposed.

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.