...The Failed American Dreams of The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby invokes the American Dream and how important it is not only the titular character but to the many other’s who strive to achieve it. The American Dream originated in the early days of the American Settlement, which consisted of mostly poor people looking for bigger opportunities. Fitzgerald uses characterization in his novel The Great Gatsby to convey how the American Dream is not only unattainable for many, but also the idea that the pursuit the American Dream can lead to corruption. George Wilson is a man who desires the American Dream but he ultimately fails in the end. His pursuit is ( one of good intentions) a modest one in which he does not crave loads...
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...The American Dream Most people think that The Great Gatsby is the epitome of the “American Dream”. This is because they were all rich and young, living their lives to the fullest. But what about all of the depressing aspects of the book? The Great Gatsby is a good example of a failed “American Dream” because Gatsby had all of the money and had tons of parties but never got Daisy, Daisy was not truly happy with all of the money, and Myrtle and Tom were cheating on their spouses with each other. Moreover, Gatsby had great opulence and many parties but never got what he truly wanted. Gatsby had the money portion of the “American Dream” but wanted Daisy so he could complete it. His “American Dream” failed because he never got the girl. Everyone admired Gatsby because he had a big house and lots of money. People thought he was amazing and would always come over to marvel at his wealth. However, Gatsby himself knew that he wasn’t really happy without Daisy. His “American Dream”...
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...The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel that takes a different spin on the stereotypical American dream. To say “through the novel, Fitzgerald puts across the idea that the American dream has been corrupted by the desire for materialism” would be accurate. Because “we see that Gatsby had a pure dream, but became corrupt in his quest towards that dream,” this is how the American dream was viewed as corrupt. Throughout the novel Gatsby displays many examples of how his quest towards the dream that was once pure, slowly becomes more and more corrupt. The first showing of corruptness in Gatsby’s dream, which is to marry Daisy, is his unethical means of obtaining a fortune. The stereotypical American dream is working hard for honest money. However, this is not the case for Gatsby. Gatsby attains his fortune through the illegal means of bootlegging. In the novel, the narrator Nick describes Gatsby, “The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a Son of God—a phrase that, if it means anything, means just that—and he must be about His Father’s business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. 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” (The Great Gatsby Chapter 6 pg). This quotation shows how Nick saw Gatsby as trying to transform himself into the ideal person. He even goes as far as to...
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...The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a story surrounding the decay of the American Dream in the 1920’s; a time when virtually anyone could achieve the dream. Jay Gatsby, the main character, encompasses every fault in the warped idea of the American Dream in the booming 20’s making The Great Gatsby, the perfect title for the story. The American dream is commonly defined as “The ideals of freedom, equality, and opportunity traditionally held to be available to every American. (Dictionary) Almost any American would describe the American Dream as a stable income, a sustainable job and the chance to provide the opportunity for the following generation to do even better. In the booming 20’s, that dream was available to almost every...
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...The Great Gatsby Summary: The Great Gatsby is a story told by Nick Carraway, who once was the neighbor of the well-known and wealthy man, Jay Gatsby. The movie follows the mysterious Mr. Gatsby, which order only request one thing: to be reunited with his old flame, Daisy Buchanan. Mr. Gatsby uses Nick to become closer to Nick’s cousin Daisy, and to develop a new relationship with her, but Daisy already has a husband, Tom. Meantime, Myrtle Wilson is running over by a car drove by Daisy. Tom has suspects about the secret meetings between Gatsby and Daisy and talks to Myrtle Wilson’s husband, which shoots Gatsby as revenge, as he thinks, Mr. Gatsby was the driver of the car which hit his wife. The American Dream: The movie “The Great Gatsby” is about the American Dream and its influence at the people back in the 1920’s. The purpose about the American Dream is based on that everyone may participate equally no matter of the racy, history or society. American Dream’s plays a big role in the movie The Great Gatsby. Ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for success, and the success, which comes from one’s own efforts. Mr. Gatsby is a living example, when he has saved his money to become even richer than his past generations. In that way, Mr. Gatsby deals with the human aspiration, to start a new life without thinking back at his past. “I wish we could just run away”, he is saying to Daisy. Jay Gatsby is constantly holding big parties at his place...
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...The Great Gatsby, a story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is one based on the American Dream or should I say the “demise” of the American Dream. This so called dream in the 20’s was portrayed by wickedness and greed. Week three of our lecture we were asked to discuss what the American Dream meant to us and my response was one based off freedom, discovery, and hard work. Immigrants, salves, lower class citizens, etc. were accustomed to earning their money through manual labor, not through family inheritance as seen by most of the characters from The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald uses this story and the characteristics and actions of these characters to say that the “American Dream” was based on a lie in the 1920’s. The carefree satisfaction of the Jazz Age, also seen as the Materialistic Era, led to the extortion of the American Dream. The Declaration of Independence states that “all man are created equal and that they are endowed with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.” F. Scott Fitzgerald created this story to reveal that people in the 20’s were in a pursuit of selfish delight, and the equality of people was based on their financial assets. The line that states all mean are created equal is broken in the scene where Tom is bashing Gatsby for how he became wealthy. He calls Gatsby a crook, and in this in turn leads to retaliation from Gatsby and a fight almost breaking out. Two mean that hold such high class and dignity, yelling and...
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...December 2015 Corruption of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby Dishonest work is a major role in the novel, The Great Gatsby. Throughout Gatsby’s life he was always working for his American Dream. That doesn't mean everything he did was honest. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates the corruption of the American Dream through the illegal work of Gatsby, showing that, when one achieves wealth through illegal affairs and by doing dishonest work, one must prepare themselves for the consequences that pertain to that lifestyle. Throughout The Great Gatsby, Gatsby appears to be the embodiment of the American Dream until pieces of his past begin to come out. Early in the novel...
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...To what extent do you agree that Fight Club is an updated version of The Great Gatsby that captures the zeitgeist of modernism? The extent to which Palahniuk’s Fight Club bears resemblance to Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is debatable despite the fact that there are numerous similarities between the two texts in terms of its narrative structure dominant themes and the presentation of characters thus their respective zeitgeist of modernism, both texts have clearly their own mark that make them truly unique. Clearly the extent of the similarities between the two texts cannot be overlooked when Palahniuk stated himself in the Afterword that ‘’Gatsby’s updated a little’’, as both novels have apostolic narratives it can be seen that both reveal the hollow superficial nature that existed within society in both the 1920’s and 1990’s. Fight Club and The Great Gatsby can be contrasted as, Fitzgerald describes Gatsby’s lavish parties, flamboyant suits and mansion to be a template for the narrator’s own existence in ‘Fight Club’. His life is dominated by his IKEA ‘’condo’’ and his own job, which he then finds that he has nothing to live for and is empty inside. He is someone who has ‘’ lost everything’’ and is ‘’ Lost in oblivion. Dark and silent and complete.’’, which also illustrates the impossibility of the American Dream of both novels. ‘’Fight Club’’ thrusts the idea of conspicuous consumption even further as the narrator describes the destruction of material possessions no longer...
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...Disillusionment and failure in The Great Gatsby In the book The Great Gatsby, author F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the theme of disillusionment, love, lust and failure in order to portray the “American dream”. The American dream is the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. Many believe that the American dream is “earned”, but what they don't know is that there is a lot of “behind the scenes” money making deals that occur. And these deals put you at the top without even asking. For example Gatsby wasn't the perfect man that he was imagined to be. Jay Gatsby's real name was, James Gatz and the change seemed right when he “reinvented” himself. Gatsby didn't like being the son of farmers and was embarrassed about where he was from. “His imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all.” He changed it at the age of 17 because of his transformation when he met Dan Cody. This one of the main reasons he hid his background from people. The other was that in reality Gatsby was indeed an unrepentant criminal, who bootlegged his way through the Prohibition to create his wealth and pursue his dream. The prohibition was a nationwide constitutional ban on the sale, production, importation, and transportation of alcoholic beverages that remained in place from 1920 to 1933. To make his way to the top and to pursue the “American dream” Gatsby basically illegally sold alcoholic beverages...
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...The American Dream: Why the American Dream is A Dream The American dream is solely based upon the hard work to achieve prosperity, success, and the upward movement in social class. Everyone's American dream is specific to personally set goals. While reading the book The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there are many examples that symbolize the American dream. Two main details from The Great Gatsby will focus on Gatsby's hopes and dreams, as well as, obsession with wealth. F. Scott Fitzgerald has a very illusory message pinned on the American dream. He feels that the American dream can drive a man to do extraordinary and unethical things. “Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies” (Friedrich Nietzsche). People will chase a better tomorrow that is always just a tad out of reach. In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby does many ludicrous and unethical things to achieve the American Dream. Gatsby throws extravagant parties every weekend in hopes that Daisy Buchanan will show up amongst the large crowed. "Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay" (Fitzgerald 147)....
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...2014 The Great Gatsby Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is about a poor boy finding the love of his life, who’s a popular young lady that all the soldiers in town like and who doesn’t marry poor boys. He works and makes himself rich over time. After a few years he finally gets to own a big house with a pool and servants, a few nice cars and he throws parties all the time. The only thing stopping him from being officially happy is having Daisy in his full possession. Fitzgerald portrays Gatsby’s life as almost every Americans’ average American Dream, with the big mansion like house, the expensive luxury cars, parties all the time, and endless money. The only thing is Gatsby isn’t even happy living the average American Dream. Although he may have all these nice things, he only wanted one thing, which was to be with Daisy and by way of Daisy Fitzgerald shows that material things don’t always make your dreams come true or make you happy. For example, Gatsby owned a few dozen servants for his huge home. One day he decided to fire all of them except for about two or three because he wanted to keep him and Daisy’s business between them; he didn’t want gossip going around town from the servants. Although any average American would love to have kept all those servants and it would have made them happy, they didn’t bring Gatsby any joy. He did it to keep Daisy happy with him. That’s the only thing that brought him joy. Another example of Gatsby’s own American Dream, or Fitzgerald’s...
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...Despaired Dreams: The Death of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby. The colors and wonders of a perfect dream are indefinite. Some say that everything good comes to an end , even when it seems that your dreams are going to last forever. Holding onto your hope and perseverance are the first signs of accomplishing the American Dream, but the signs of the death of the American Dream are almost unrecognizable. Walking through life dreaming not knowing when your dream is going to end . The characters in the great gatsby are the dreamers , who have accomplished the american dream. They all fight to the top in order to to get what they want, but soon they will come crashing down. The way that Gatsby builds his world around illusions , having Gatsby being symbol of the american dream, and the desire to rise in society all display the death of the american dream in the The Great Gatsby. If our perception of life isn’t reality , then most likely we won’t be able to see life clearly. If you don’t see life clearly you won’t live up to the full potential of life. Gatsby's perception of life isn’t real. He builds his encounters with others based on...
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...The American Dream is defined as a happy way of living that can be achieved by anyone that works hard. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a novel that portrays the decline of the American Dream in the 1920’s. Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan, the protagonists in the novel, as well as Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s wealthy husband, symbolize the corruption of the American Dream. Gatsby portrays the corruption of the American Dream through the way he makes his fortune, and by doing everything specifically to impress Daisy. Daisy exposes the American Dream as a fraud because she marries Tom for his wealth. Tom represents the wealthy person that never needs to work hard to be successful because he inherits billions of dollars from his father....
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...Men who set their future goals based off past experiences, will end up destroying those dreams by themselves. “Through Gatsby, Fitzgerald attempts to correct Americans’ misconceptions about the American dream” (Dilworth 119). The Great Gatsby was written during the “Jazz Age” and prohibition era. Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota and died on December 21, 1940 in Hollywood, California. He attended Princeton University in 1913 and in November 1917, with graduation looking unlikely, he decided to accept a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He later went on to marry Zelda Sayre and had a daughter named Frances Scott Fitzgerald (born in 1921). In his novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald demonstrates...
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...What does the American dream mean to you? My American dream is to own my own house with a small family out in the country well maintain. The American dream mean to me that your living how you want to. In the book, Raisin in the Sun the American dream in the play was to own something like a house or business. In the book, The Great Gatsby, the American dream was to be the wealthiest person around and have the nicest things around. The American dream could mean something different to every person. The American dream to you should mean living a good life or owning everything you always wanted to own. For an example, you have everything you have ever wanted or wanted to be like being a bank accounted and living a big house driving a Corvette....
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