...In the controversial book “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald one can see that the idea of the American dream is expressed through the simplicity of color. Many have argued that The Great Gatsby is a book of sexual immorality and critically acclaimed thoughts as well as a magnificent book that secretly has deeper meaning than the simply words it offers in its sentences. Such a person is Daniel J. Schneider who is an advocate of the glory behind the cover, he wrote “Color Symbolism in The Great Gatsby” where he puts forward his own point of view on the meaning of the use of Fitzgerald’s color symbolism in each sentence were he expressed an elusive idea hard for the common reader to find. In this mysterious book the color blue is very much present, from describing attire to showing the mode of the characters, blue goes beyond this and elusively states that it is the dream...
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...“The American Dream” as defined by James Truslow Adams in 1931 is a national ethos of the United States in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social mobility achieved through hard work. Truslow states "life should be worse and poorer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement" regardless of social class or circumstances of birth. The idea of the American Dream is rooted in the United States Declaration of Independence which proclaims that "all men are created equal" and that they are "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights" including "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." The American Dream is viewed by many Americans as not only an American pursuit, but also many Americans, most especially those citizens that identify themselves as Christians see this pursuit as a Christian right of passage. In the catechesis of Christian language the American dream has become synonymous with the being a Christian. In the minds of many Americans the American Dream is a Christian reward to faithfulness. The proliferation of the American dream through the vehicle of the “Prosperity Gospel” is a cause for the continuance of poverty in America. In this writing I plan to discuss the origins of the American, the canonizing of the American dream in scripture, and the growth of the Prosperity Gospel as an answer to the rising poverty rate in this country. ORIGINS OF THE AMERICAN...
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...Harlem In the play, “Dutchman and The Slave” by Imamu Amiri Baraka, there is a lot of manipulation and also a clear struggle for power. In addition to Baraka’s play, the short stories “Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, and “Harlem” by Langston Hughes they also illustrate the struggle of power and how society of that era were manipulating the minds of Africa Americans into believing that their dreams weren’t worth anything. Imamu Amiri Baraka introduces Lula, clearly a bipolar racist. Lula has a unknown problem witnessing African Americans strive towards a dream, that she feels they don’t deserve. Her motives throughout the book/movie were to become superior or have power by manipulating young African American men. The way Lula behaved was sure to get a rise out of anyone with some sort of sanity. Shirley Jackson also showed the power role by introducing her character in “Lottery”. Mr. Summers was not only manipulating, but he applies a fearsome amount of power over the village, power that seems to have been assigned to him at random. Much like Lula, Mr. Summers now has complete control in determining who dies. The villagers show a type of blind-trust in Mr. Summers which the author never illustrates why their trust is so strong. The village just seems to accept the ritual without a thought of change. That trust was also shown in the Dutchman, how Clay trusted Lula by sharing inviting conversation, and kind gestures. Lula was symbolized in Dutchman as the white devil. Ephesians...
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...Park Avenue Money, Power and the American Dream Introduction and Summary Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream is a documentary about how the American Dream is disappearing across the country. When the Great Recession of 2008 hit, many of the people living across Park Avenue lost their jobs and income (Park Avenue, 2012). People living in the South Bronx depended on food stamps to survive during the bad economy (Park Avenue, 2012). They faced failing school systems and many African Americans failed to graduate from high school (Park Avenue, 2012). America needed to fix the problem by electing a democratic congress to solve the problem with unemployment and increase the graduation rate. Gap between the Poor and Rich. I was surprised that the gap between the poor and the rich has been getting wider in the last thirty years. I...
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...Does America still provide access to the American dream? Does America still provide hope to all people? In my opinion America still provide access to American dream, in these days we still have jobs and opportunities to access. Many people think the American Dream is just owning a home .The America dream is defined as dream of land that is better and richer for everyone not just owning (a) house. We know that American dream is free and opportunities that give to all people also people that is not US citizen. In my opinion American dream still accessible. We still create our own equal and rights. Americans realized back in the 1900’s that social programs needed to be created to take the power away from political machines. The political...
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...Jeremiah Mertz American Lit Is the American Dream Still Alive F. Scott Fitzgerald and William Faulkner are commonly considered two of the best writers of the twentieth century. Their novels depict the lives and struggles of people and give insight into the life of the early 1900's. Their stories often concern the American Dream. In these stories it seems that both these authors are saying that the usual concept of the American dream does not result in happiness and is false. Many people associate accumulating wealth, power, and status as the American dream. In Faulkner's and Fitzgerald's stories this is not the case. Their stories state that the dream is not about accumulating wealth, power, and status as this does not make a person happy, but that creating close relationships and spending time with loved ones creates true happiness and that is what the American Dream truly is. Faulkner's story "A Rose for Emily" centers around the character of Emily Grierson. Emily Grierson was the only relative left of an aristocratic old southern family. These families had wealth, power and status. They were the families that controlled most of life in the old south. Despite the old south falling, Emily still had her wealth and status. She was well known around her town and everyone respected her. The town tried to support her the best they could after her father had died and even remitted her taxes as a sign of respect. Yet Emily was not happy. After her father's death she was seldom...
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...Over time the American dream has proven to be a unique perception in which Americans have connected through personal experiences and life narratives. The American dream is not established in origin, religion or some form of history the American dream is molded and defined by unified values. The American dream shows its true nationality identity in the world through principles and morals which are embedded in self-reliance, self-actualization and individualism. This three principles make it possible for Americans to achieve overall fulfillment in their destiny. They are self-reliant and believe in the promise that through hard work and dedication life can be better and different. The provable documentations of these values in relationship to...
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...audiences? From Joseph Campbell’s novel The Hero With A Thousand Faces, a twelve step model known as ‘The Hero’s Journey’ and ‘Archetypes’ has been established. The Hero’s Journey is a narrative pattern that the leading character takes on their typical adventure, and the Archetypes are the supporting characters though out the story. The Heroes Journey and archetypes can be perceived in thousands of stories, dramas, storytelling, religious rituals and psychological development including Of Mice and Men. The narrative pattern of, Of Mice and Men starts with the first stage, what Joseph Campbell called ‘The Ordinary World’. George and Lennie’s ordinary world is going around America, from job to job and ranch to ranch to complete their ‘American Dream’, they wished to own their own property and ‘live offa the fatta the lan’. George and Lennie were forced to leave their hometown, Lennie did not realise his strength and got himself into trouble, this was common for Lennie, but George was always there to fix the problem. As discovered by the reader, George is portrayed as ‘the hero’, the natural leader, Slim as ‘the mentor’ who provides George and Lennie with helpful advice through out the novel. Curley is represented as the ‘threshold guardian’ and ‘the herald’ who tests and provides fears and doubts for ‘the hero’ but also makes the adventure possible. Curley’s wife is the ‘shape shifter’ who changes the readers perceptions and...
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...many unarmed African Americans killed by the police within recent years. Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book, Between the World and Me, discusses these injustices. He addresses these topics to his son, Samori. He also discourses his memoir towards white Americans so he can bequeath awareness about what it is like to grow up African American. Coates discussed growing up as an African American in the Baltimore projects. He argues about the inequalities of the public-school system and about white Americans stuck in “the Dream” (Coates 11). “The Dream” is the ingroup favoritism of white...
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...To most high school students, The Great Gatsby is probably the most familiar American Literature unit. To many scholars, it is also one of the greatest classics of the twentieth-century. Published in 1925, The Great Gatsby, narrates a tale of a man named Jay Gatsby and his journey to steal back the girl of his dream, Daisy Buchanan, from her husband, Tom Buchanan. Then, an ironic car accident destroys their relationship, and Gatsby dies heart broken, taking a false blame for the accident for Daisy. The author of the novel is American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. He was born in Minnesota in 1896, dropped out of Princeton in 1917, and published his first novel titled This Side of Paradise in 1920, which enabled him to marry Zelda Sayre; the couple...
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...The Deterioration Of The American Dream The Great Gatsby, a novel by Scott Fitzgerald, is about the American Dream, and the downfall of those who try to reach its goals. The attempt to capture the American Dream is used in many novels. This dream is different for different people, in The Great Gatsby, for Jay, the dream is that through wealth and power anyone can acquire happiness. To get this happiness Jay must reach into the past and relive an old dream. In order to do this, he must have wealth and power. The dream also brought about the idea of being a self-reliant man, a hard worker, and making a successful living for yourself. The Great Gatsby is about what happened to the American Dream in the 1920s, a time period when a lot people with tons of wealth and the need to show it off had corrupted the dream. When the American Dream is combined with excessive wealth it becomes nothing more than selfishness. Jay Gatsby, the main character of the story, is one character that longs for the past. Surprisingly, he spends most of his adult life trying to recapture it and, finally, dies while trying. In the past, Gatsby in love with the attractive young Daisy. Knowing he could not marry her because of the difference in their social status, he leaves so that he can reach her standards and later hopefully rekindle what they once had. Once he becomes rich, he moves near Daisy, "Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay (83)," and throws extravagant parties...
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...Gatsby’s Ruined Future Gatsby’s Lost Dream "The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement."(Adams 1931). In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald criticizes the American Dream. In The Great Gatsby, a lonely man named Gatsby started out with no money, but he did a series of illegal acts in order to achieve his success. Despite his success, he was still unhappy because he had no one to love. In the end, Gatsby’s ultimate dream was to marry a beautiful and rich women, and acquire the American dream, which is to be rich and have power or importance. However the American dream forced Gatsby to seek materialistic...
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...In the essay “Stephen Cruz” Studs Terkel gives a strong opinion on the American dream. He says, “The American dream, I see now, is governed not by education, opportunity, and hard work, but by power and fear. The higher up you go, the more you have to lose. The dream is not losing.” (Terkel pg. ) This is interesting to me because I have never viewed the American dream with a negative outlook. History classes always put the idea that the American dream was a fantasy of a perfect life. It went along the lines of having a nice house, white picket fence, expensive car, beautiful family, dog… and the list could go on. After reading “Stephen Cruz” I’ve come to recognize the illusion that the American dream has been made out to be. When Studs Terkel...
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...The American Dream, the archetypal notion that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative, is an ideal that most people strive to achieve. Unfortunately, in the past and in modern day, the population that surrounds us has been propelled by conceptions such as racism and gender roles which avert us from obtaining our visions. Classic works of literature including To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, and A Raisin in the Sun accurately display a lack of equality and fair treatment in the sharing of wealth and opportunities by incorporating racism and gender roles into the lives if the characters in the novels. The authors of To Kill a Mockingbird,...
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...Great Gatsby: American Life during the 1920’s Cameron L. Green Lakeland College The Great Gatsby was a famous novel written by the so called “Jazz Age” novelist and short story writer Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby is a famous novel that provides vivid description and complexities of American Life during the 1920s that only leads to misery and death. The narrator of the novel in the original book is Nick Caraway who was a resident of the west-egg district of Long Island. His next door neighbour was a mysterious character called Jay Gatsby. He narrates the incidences that took place with Jay Gatsby as the central character during the summer of 1922. The novel narrates how an alcohol peddler who acquires a lot of wealth gets involved into true relationships which was mistaken by societal class. Their feelings were looked down by the societal class as “money power”, as they thought arranging parties and fests are one of the ways these people try to create a societal status. They were misunderstood in various occasions and faced tragic end like Gatsby. The Jazz age or popularly called the roaring twenties took place after the World War I and ended with the start of great recession during 1929. The result of prohibition and the banned sale of alcohol made various millionaires who were economically not sound. The period witnessed a new style of music called “jazz” which marked the extravagant and extrovert American lifestyle...
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