ipl-logo

How Does The American Dream Negatively Affect People

1017 Words5 Pages

The American Dream

The American Dream is defined as ¨the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative¨, according to dictionary.com. The American Dream has influenced many people's decisions since people started moving to America from England and other countries. Ever since than most Americans have wanted to reach the American dream and that has led to a bunch of different authors to write about this. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Willa Cather and Lorraine Hansberry use the same tones and themes to suggest that the American dream can negatively affect people because it makes people focus on wealth and success.
In the Great Gatsby The American Dream …show more content…

However, In this story The American Dream is shown in a different way. This story is about a young boy named paul who desires the more expensive things in life and he wants to live more luxurious. As he grows up, he watches his dad live in the middle class. He is not satisfied with the middle class and as he grows up he wants to have more money and live a more luxurious life. Also, money and wealth has became everything that paul desires and one of the only things he wants. Paul “had not a hundred dollars left and he knew now, more than ever, that money was everything, the wall that stood between all he loathed and all he wanted” (Cather 1). This quote from the story further proves the point that all that Paul wanted was money. Little did Paul know that this was a bad thing because it ended up leading to the demise of him because instead of wanted a basic American Dream he decided to go for the more luxurious version of The American Dream. As he went to New York and realized that he could not live the lifestyle that he wanted to, then he did not want to live at all. This shows that the pursuit of money could lead to greed, drastic life changing decisions and could completely change a

Show More
Related
282 Words | 2 Pages

What was the Battle of Attu? Why was Attu important to the Allies? It was a battle between the American and the Japanese armies during the World War II. This battle was fought from May 11 to May 30, 1943.

Read More
759 Words | 4 Pages

According to the F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, May Lamberton Becker expresses, “... the depressing truth that they are what they are not in spite of money and power, but because of these.” The failure of the American dream demonstrates the overall theme Fitzgerald appeals to show appearance vs. reality. Gatsby characterizes the American dream because he had nothing. He put much effort into achieving his dream, but failed with Daisy going back to Tom. Just like the green light across the bay, the Valley of Ashes, and the East and West Egg lifestyle, the American dream annihilates too.

Read More
624 Words | 3 Pages

As Nick put it, Gatsby's dream sounded so possible and simple for him, for from the perception of others, it's a dre am that's way too far for his reach. Although all the characters seek the pursuit of the American Dream, th ey do n't all achieve what they're seeking for. Indeed the characters that formerly have the life of the Amer ican Dream aren't happy with it. In the novel, we read about the life of the characters of Tom and his wom an

Read More
674 Words | 3 Pages

If Gatsby is meant to represent the American Dream, the reader can assume that the American Dream had become corrupt; that it could only be achieved through illegal deals and lies that got him the life he wanted but didn’t deserve. The American Dream through Gatsby is built upon deception and sooner or later, the truth must

Read More
790 Words | 4 Pages

While “The Great Gatsby” explores a number of themes, none is more prevalent than the corruption of the American dream. The Great Gatsby is about the main character, Nick Carraway, who comes to New York in search of the American dream. The American dream is someone starting low on the social or economic level towards prosperity and wealth. By having money, a big house, a car and a happy family symbolizes the American dream. The dream is represented by the ideas of a self-sufficient person, who works hard to achieve a goal to become successful.

Read More
402 Words | 2 Pages

Persistent hope and the idea of the American dream is a prevalent theme in The Great Gatsby. The American dream is often perceived as the ability to have opportunities and gain economic stability, but in the novel it is represented as extreme wealth and materialism. This is expressed by the extravagant parties and materials Gatsby surrounds himself with in order to receive recognition from people as a successful person, “according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes “ (Fitzgerald 91). Gatsby’s hard work still does not get him “accepted” into the same status as the inherited rich and affects his aspiration to get Daisy back. This represents that hard work will not always result as planned with extensive opportunities and rewards,

Read More
181 Words | 1 Pages

The American Dream was changed originally for it to asist the United States. Despite the fact the numerous changes were at first done to help America, they didn't. The American Dream has negatively affected the States because of its difficulty to achieve, it has driven numerous people into debt, and it does not include the entire population living in America. Individuals in subordinated groups have gotten the short end of the Dream; regardless of how hard they attempt to fulfill their American Dream, their result will be a large amount of debt. Since the Dream does exclude everybody, many individuals from subordinated groups will have a hard time on getting past every obstacle in their way to accomplish it.

Read More
749 Words | 3 Pages

The Great Gatsby is the idea of an “American Dream.” The novel, set in the 1920’s after WWI, reflects society’s shift towards a more materialistic lifestyle, and the character’s pursuits mirror these changes. To most of the characters in The Great Gatsby, “The American Dream” primarily embodies personal wealth and social status. Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby’s love interest, exemplifies the more materialistic version of “The American Dream” common with her “old money” social class. When Gatsby and Daisy are younger, they fall in love.

Read More
1361 Words | 6 Pages

Although The Great Gatsby depicts the American Dream as prioritizing financial wealth, this concept may carry on a culture that is overly materialistic and ignores the structural limitations that exist in society. The emphasis of a more welcoming and just version of the American Dream would be on progression and accomplishments, and it would take structural impediments that hinder people from realizing their full potential into account. While pursuing individual achievement, the American Dream may also be seen as a path toward personal

Read More
813 Words | 4 Pages

Gatsby’s rise and fall can contribute to the idea of the American Dream. The idea of the American dream is displayed throughout the novel as the idea that the characters, no matter what social status, can achieve their dreams by working hard and being determined. The novel shows that wealth and status will not insure one’s happiness

Read More
3089 Words | 13 Pages

This actively critiques not only Gatsby but those who are also striving for the American dream

Read More
1493 Words | 6 Pages

The American Dream was expected to be achieved through hard work, but in reality it was achieved through extensive borrowing and increasing credit growth; and this can be supported by the lifestyle delineated in the novel. The Great Gatsby focuses on the corruption, especially in the character named

Read More
1756 Words | 8 Pages

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?

Read More
660 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
1133 Words | 5 Pages

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 .

Read More

More about How Does The American Dream Negatively Affect People

Related Topics

Open Document