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Examples Of Capitalism In The Great Gatsby

1176 Words5 Pages

Natalie Smith
Mrs. Thompson
Honors English 11
5 June 2023
The Destructive American Dream

What would someone do to obtain the American Dream? In The Great Gatsby, a novel that tells the story of a mysterious man’s life, we see just how far someone would go. This man is Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire and a man tragically in love. Gatsby's life is a perfect example of the American Dream, he did whatever it took to reach his dream life even if it was detrimental to him. The podcast Gangster Capitalism also discusses the destructive effects the American Dream can have on a person's life. Corruption, rapacity, and delusion encountered while striving towards reaching the American Dream destroy a person's livelihood. Corruption is encountered …show more content…

A great example of this is wealthy Americans who feel entitlement and are eager for their children to attend Ivy League schools even if their children have not worked for it. They crave higher social status, which may be their idea of the American Dream. Jane Buckingham, who has written a parent help book, asks, “Can you give me a test for him to take at home? That I proctor him?” (Gangster Capitalism). She wants her son to take the test at home, so he thinks he took the real, test while Mark Ridell, “aka the really, smart guy” (Gangster Capitalism), takes the actual test so her son can have an almost perfect score. The greed of achieving higher social status and appearing better than others because their children get into Ivy League schools will make the wealthy act evilly. They will do whatever it takes, cheating, paying people off, or making huge donations, destroying everyone in their path. Equal opportunity does not exist. These same classes of wealthy individuals tend to desire for their children to attend the same schools their family has. It’s greed to continue family traditions. Caitlin Flanagan, who worked at a college admission office at an elite private school, said, “There was a parent, he had gone to this Ivy League college, let's call it Yale and his older son had gotten in, but the younger son, we’ll call him Jack hadn’t gotten in and the father screamed and everyone heard ‘I went to Yale, my older son went to Yale, it’s Jack’s turn!’ It was so filled with legitimate anger and legitimate rage” (Gangster Capitalism). The desire for wealthy children to continue a tradition of attending a school, such as Harvard or Yale, powers them to be unethical, improper, and immature and can destroy the lives of others, and they couldn’t care less. These people are full of rage and are unafraid to break laws or behave immorally to get what they want. They want the American

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