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Comparing The American Dream In The Great Gatsby And Freedom Writers

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The simplified definition of the American Dream has been the ability to succeed from the given opportunities that America offers. The Great Gatsby, Middlesex, and Freedom Writers all have characters that struggle in means of financial success but ultimately have to succeed in having satisfaction in their lives. These works support the idea that the American Dream does incorporate money, but is ultimately about the opportunities to make their decision.
The Great Gatsby revolves around the concept of the American Dream, and Fitzgerald focuses on Gatsby’s reckless journey to obtain such dreams. Daisy was Gatsby’s American dream because she represented wealth, freedom, and whatever else that she represented to him. He associated her with the …show more content…

As the eldest child, sister, and wife to Lefty, she takes on the most demanding job that consumes her soul, guilt. Despite, having children with Lefty and then doing multiple things to atone for her sin. Desdemona in various ways is the typical immigrant to the United States and the one that is currently living the “American Dream”, having overcome many obstacles. Although, her husband Lefty makes it seem that Desdemona does not have the credit that she deserves. On the way to the United States, Desdemona becomes a helpless child that does not have the will to pursue anything. The exact opposite of someone changing their dream. Desdemona focuses on the little details like her “silkworms, sensitive to human emotion, [and] stopped spinning cocoons.”(18). Despite the fact that Desdemona does not have the determination that would have allowed her to pursue her own America Dream. She does live it due to her husband, Lefty. The American Dream compared in Middlesex and The Great Gatsby, are not very alike. Both build on the idea that ultimately the American Dream is the ability to make decisions, yet happiness depends on the person as it is their choice to be …show more content…

Like Middlesex, the Freedom Writers, have characters that come from various places and are considered to have lived in the ghetto. They are the poverty, that struggle to survive every day. The Freedom Writers celebrates a class of people that were able to follow the beaten path and obtain the privilege of having a voice without using money as their primary tool. When the students come to Mrs. Erin Gruwell for the first time, Mrs. G is unable to understand why her students lack the motivation to strive. It isn’t until Marcus voices, “ Lady, I’m lucky If I make it to 18. We in a war. We’re graduating every day we live”. Mrs. G is unable to understand what that meant because she does not face the problems they did when she was a child. She later takes it upon herself to become the reason that her students strive for more than just “graduating every day (they) live”. She exposes the inner desire of each of her students and what is wrong in their life. Indeed, the American Dream is born from these kinds of people. People that weren’t born into a life that they wanted, but people that have been born into a society that have an inner desire to have a better life than they are living. Money, or wealth, or status did not open their eyes to what was truly needed in their life. It was the desire born from the circumstance that defines the

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The American Dream is something which almost every American is familiar with, but it also is unattainable for the vast majority of Americans, something which F. Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates with his acclaimed novel, The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby covers the story of Nick, an all around average man who is thrust into the lives of both the ultra wealthy and the aspiring-to-be wealthy when he moves to New York. He meets his nextdoor neighbor, Gatsby, who owns an extravagant mansion which Nick finds out to be purchased with money of questionable background, and owned by an ever increasingly strange and dubious man. Over the course of the novel, different characters all chase their own goals - some want love, some want power, almost everyone

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Gatsby’s life represents the working class’ desire for “the American dream” and the strives they took to acquire it. Gatsby’s new money and opulent lifestyle are a direct representation of the new money Americans of the 1920s and how they lived. His pursuit of Daisy also shows his tireless journey for “the American dream”. He wants the societal status that she is, and the solidification of his success she would provide him.

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1427 Words | 6 Pages

Disenchantment: The American Dream Reimagined Through Gatsby “The American Dream is briefly defined as it is the belief that every man, whatever his origins, may pursue and attain his chosen goals, be they political, monetary, or social. It is the literary expression of the concept of America: the land of opportunity.” (Pearson) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a work of literature made and set in the 1920s of Jazz Age America.

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The American Dream, as portrayed in The Great Gatsby, was the idea that one can meet prosperity through hard work and dedication, withal of their social class. F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, is an indirect satire of the American dream and the decline of the American Dream, which can be depicted through the characters of the novel. The morals of hard work and dedication were soon replaced with materialism and avarice in consequence of wealth and social status. This is true for the characters Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson.

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The American Dream is viewed as the idyllic way of life in which any and all individuals are given equal chance and opportunity to obtain wealth and status. However throughout history it has been clear that The American Dream is not attainable for all through regular means. Many authors and books have attempted to show an accurate depiction of The American Dream but the most notable depiction is The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald uses the Characters and symbols to criticize The American Dream by showing that it is an unattainable ideal that will rarely come to fruition and never end well.

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Gwendolyn brooks describes with empathy the position these ruffians need to act out. Their dismissal of education “We real cool. We, Left school, We”, is an expression against society for their abandonment and their lost hope for their future. Gwendolyn brooks characters’ rebel against the standard conformity of the general public to express their anger and to break free from the life society has already abandoned for their

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As demonstrated in multiple scenarios, the excursion that is caused by the dream contributes to the part of the greater American story. Many Americans lack the resources and opportunities that others are naturally given, yet it is what the individual does in their specific circumstance that allows them to fulfill their own American Dream. The hardships and sacrifices that an individual goes through provides the motivation that has them continue to search for the self-gratification that stems from the American Dream. As demonstrated in Source D, the truths that we hold to be self-evident and those that provide us with Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness are shown through “a faith in simple dreams, an insistence on small miracles,” while “[participating] in the political process without fear of retribution,” (Source D). The small miracles and dreams that the people have, as well as the motivation and courage to seek out the dream embodies the entire concept that lays the foundation for the dream: hope.

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Daisy was the end of Gatsby’s American dream. He never achieved it and with more symbolism Fitzgerald may hint that Gatsby was chasing the unattainable all along: I thought of Gatsby’s wonder where he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity behind the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.

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481 Words | 2 Pages

The Great Gatsby: Gatsby/American Dream: He embodies the idea of the American Dream as the American Dream is a promise that anyone can become whoever they want regardless of where they came from. Gatsby's American Dream involved gaining wealth as he came from a poor family and Daisy would represent money and the upper class for him which is part of the reason he is so attracted to her. But this would all disprove this American ideal as in the novel Gatsby tries to gain back Daisy after the war which is just Gatsby not being able to let go of the past where his poorer self was able to make a rich girl fall in love with him and the fact that Gatsby had turned to crime to become the person that he had wanted. This further proves that the American

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915 Words | 4 Pages

The characters Daisy, Gatsby, and Tom in the novel wanted money, wealth and happiness and would do anything in their power to achieve it. Throughout the book, Daisy demonstrates the theme of the American dream in many different ways. From a young age, Daisy was exposed to the American

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1886 Words | 8 Pages

The American Dream is, for many, the idea of having more opportunities and living a better life. Many people come to the United States primarily attracted by better job opportunities for themselves and their families. They view America as a place of opportunity where prosperity and success can be attained through perseverance and hard work. The American Dream is a recurring subject in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby," acting as both an analysis of the elusive nature of prosperity and pleasure in American society and a driving force behind the actions and motivations of the main characters. He captures readers with his examination of the illusions that envelop the American Dream and the complexity of the human condition.

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Although The Great Gatsby presents a glorious lifestyle to begin with, this changes however very quickly and the reality is subsequently released. The American Dream is more of a facade than it is a dream. Source A begins with a clear statement about the Great Gatsby and its connection to the American Dream, “The Great Gatsby is a tragic love story on the surface, but it's most commonly understood as a pessimistic critique of the American Dream” This means that the American Dream, even as it’s presented in the Great Gatsby, is ultimately not a dream of success but rather of greed and awful endings. This matters because the American Dream is honestly not what it seems, it far from there of, it is not a possibility of success but rather a curse of greed and evil. Continues, “Jay Gatsby overcomes his poor past to gain an incredible amount of money and a limited

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1864 Words | 8 Pages

The Great Gatsby contains numerous representations of the American Dream, which is a major theme in the novel. The American Dream is an ideal of freedom and equality, in which all citizens of America, regardless of background are able to achieve success through hard work and initiative. This philosophy, that all men are created equal, and free to the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, is built into the core of American culture, politics and law. However, in the novel these ideals have been corrupted from visions of a better life into simply becoming rich.

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The “American Dream” has been the “Holy Grail” for Americans for centuries. Consisting of the well-known saying “If a person works hard, that person will have success”, the “American Dream” is misleading and destructive. Different signs all point to the underlying condition that the “American Dream” is impossible, or at best unlikely. Sure the opposing side can say that Oprah Winfrey beat poverty or that Elon Musk has created one of the most popular social media formats in the world; however, these are just two people out of seven billion people in this world. There are many other ways to gain money without having to work for it.

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Fitzgerald focused on the shift in the American Dream - from being the idea of self-fulfillment, dignity and comfort that is achieved through hard work, to being equated with the pursuit of wealth and power, and identifying happiness with having money. The novel depicts the rise and fall of the concept and describes the causes of its decay. The downfall of the American Dream is most accurately shown through the main protagonist of the story – Jay Gatsby. To reiterate, the American Dream is the concept that anyone can achieve a better life and become self-fulfilled, if they put enough effort to it and make the most of their abilities.

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