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Achieving The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

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The ‘American Dream’ is the idea that an one is able to achieve whatever he or she dreams of by living and working in the United States. The idea has spread to be known worldwide. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of the many themes is this concept of the American Dream. In addition to Gatsby’s love story, the book can be seen as a satire of the privileged and wealthy. Although the book contains parts that support the American Dream, a lot of it can portrayed to come off to support the reasons why the American Dream is not a realistic and is merely a delusion. The ambition to fulfil the American Dream is false as the Dream is filled with as much flaws as advantages. Michael Schudson stated that “The American Dream’ is ‘The Great national suggestion’ (171) that anyone, with hard work according to the rules, has a reasonable prospect of succeeding in life,’highlighting that the Dream is not limited to any social of economic class. (566) The dream is open to anyone who is working hard in life. The idea of the American Dream is positive and promising. Due to the broad definition, the American Dream may be different for every person, "Achieving the American Dream can be as broad as getting …show more content…

In the book, the characters all have one thing in common; a lack of success in their life and a need to have more. One example of this is the Buchanans’ attempts to achieve the American Dream. Tom and Daisy are unhappy despite the fact that they have a wealthy lifestyle and have begun a family. Although the Buchanans could be described as living the American Dream, they “lead American lives of no moral or existential significance" (Berman 12). They do not have much meaning for their lives, having already been given what is described as the American Dream. In Gatsby’s case, he achieved the version of the American Dream, the wealth and luxuries, on his own, without it being handed to

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It is always so close but still so far out of reach. Gatsby’s past with Daisy was keeping him from achieving true happiness because she would never love him the way he loved her. The fact that Gatsby managed to amass such wealth was impressive itself, but even though he managed to do that, he did not achieve his goal. This is proof of how unattainable the American Dream was in Fitzgerald’s opinion.

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The American dream is not as easy as people say it is. The American Dream is being able to afford the necessities you need, without having to struggle and suffer just to put food on a table for their families. People think it’s easy to live the American Dream, but little do they know that there are people out there struggling to support their family. The American Dream is difficult to achieve but very possible if people could find the opportunity and available to them.

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TRYING TO REACH THE UNREACHABLE ‘The Great Gatsby’ by Fitzgerald focuses on many issues of the America of the 1920’s. However, ‘American Dream’ which is the primary objective of the protagonist-Jay Gatsby-, might be the most important issue the novel tries to address. The American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society where upward mobility is possible for everyone. The American Dream is achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking and hard-work, not by chance.(investopedia,2018) When considered from this point of view, American Dream can led people to work and try hard to attain their goals.

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The view of the American Dream is different for everyone. The Epic Journey, by James Truslow Adams, views the American Dream as a dream of attaining one’s fullest stature regardless of one’s social status. Similarly, in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book, The Great Gatsby, Gatsby’s American Dream relates to Adam’s dream but limited to materialistic wealth- a dream that seeks for motor cars, higher wages, and to impress the people of high status. Both Adams and Gatsby believe that everyone has an equal chance of achieving their dream. Adams says “The dream is that dream of land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement”.

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"The negative side of the American Dream comes when people pursue success at any cost, which in turn destroys the vision and the dream." In this quote, by Azar Nafisi, it explains how dreaming can be tainted by reality, and it that if you don 't compromise you may suffer. In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the American Dream is one the many themes in this book. The American Dream that most people in this book obtains to have is wealth, statist, a fun social life, and someone to lust. It is the life we all strive to have until we obtain it and see it 's meaningless composure.

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I. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the American Dream is depicted as a mirage due to its ultimate lack of fulfillment, outsider’s inability to obtain it, and the corruption it causes. A. Those who have achieved their idea of the American Dream are ultimately unfulfilled emotionally even though they possess tremendous wealth. B. The American Dream is a mirage, and thus unattainable as it limits success of an individual by their class and ethnic origin. C. Not only is the American Dream exclusive and unfulfilling, but it also causes corruption as those who strive for the American Dream corrupt themselves in doing so and the old rich hide behind their wealth in order to conceal their immoralities.

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The American dream at one point was what drew people to American; the right to life, liberty, and the happiness. The American dream is the hope to acquire currency, large homes, raise a middle-class family, and pursue what brings people joy in life. But in the year 2016, the American dream becomes hard to believe in. The American dream may still exist, but it is not equally accessible to all Americans. This is true because the American dream is not affordable for everyone, it is not available to everyone from different degrees of education, and race and ethnicity creates large social barriers.

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The American dream is a term used in a lot of ways. Although research has shown that American dream can’t be attainable by most people, closer examination shows that it can be attainable by the following reasons. As Daniel J. Mitchell stated in New York Times im January 1st, 2015 “The United States is not a perfect country, but the American Dream is still a reality.” By that he meant that even with America’s Grow rate, poverty, unemployment rate in the past years and still going Americans can still chase their American dreams If we look at the history and the definition it shows that infact it is possible to attain it.

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Gatsby was a man who came up from essentially nothing by gaining his money through bootlegging and other illegal acts in order to gain a reputation in society. Gatsby’s constant desire to accomplish more in his life demonstrates the corruption of the American Dream. It is evident that Gatsby has had a thirst for the American dream since a young age, this is shown when Gatsby’s father says: “Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves like this or something. Do you notice what he’s got about improving his mind?

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The novel The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitz Gerald embodies many themes. A major in the story is the pursuit of can be labelled the American Dream. The American Dream is defined as someone starting low on the economic or social level, and working hard towards prosperity and or wealth and fame. By having money, a car, a big house, nice clothes and a happy family symbolizes the American dream. The Great Gatsby shows what happened to the American Dream in the 1920’s, which is a time period when the dreams became corrupted for many reasons.

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The Facade of the American Dream The American Dream is the opportunity for all Americans to live a life of personal happiness and material comfort, but is it actually achievable? F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, is a story of characters working hard to achieve the American Dream, but ultimately they are unable to ever realize their perfect life. The novel makes a strong naturalism argument about the rigid class system in society and the disillusionment of the American Dream.

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Instead of following the American dream of ‘pursuing happiness’ Gatsby focuses on using his assets to bring consummation to an otherwise empty life. This perversion of the American dream serves only to improve his 'image ' to a society that initially rejects him when he is impoverished. It is Gatsby 's belief that wealth makes him a "son of God," a deity that carries out his "Father 's business" through the "vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty" (89) of possessing material objects irrelevant to happiness. To get these earthly treasures, he exploits the “Land of Opportunity” and dabbles in illegal activities, a practice akin to modern corporate scandals. The true purpose of the American dream is lost upon Gatsby, as it makes "no sound" of warning upon his conscience, fading into an omen that becomes "uncommunicable forever" (100).

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"The negative side of the American Dream comes when people pursue success at any cost, which in turn destroys the vision and the dream." In this quote, by Azar Nafisi, it explains how dreaming can be tainted by reality, and that if a person doesn’t compromise they may suffer. In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the American Dream is one the many themes present. The American Dream that most people in this book hope to have involves wealth, status, a fun social life, and someone to lust after. It is the life they all strive to have until they obtain it and see its meaningless composure.

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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is a reflection of the American Dream. Written in 1925, the book tells the story of a man named Jay Gatsby, whose main driving force in life is the pursuit of a woman called Daisy Buchanan. The narrator is Gatsby’s observant next-door neighbor, Nick Carraway, who offers a fresh, outsider’s perspective on the events; the action takes place in New York during the so-called Roaring Twenties. By 1922, when The Great Gatsby takes place, the American Dream had little to do with Providence divine and a great deal to do with feelings organized around style and personal changed – and above all, with the unexamined self .

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The American Dream: Promising or Hopeless? A statement from the article “Rethinking the American Dream” reads, “(…) like so many before and after him, was overcome by the power of the American Dream” (Source E). The American Dream is the ideal that everyone should possess an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through determination. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel

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