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Pursuing The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

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The American Dream is a common thing that people seek to have. The American Dream is the idea of a person coming from nothing and rising up to the upper class through hard work and dedication. Through this hard work and dedication people would hope to be free, wealthy, and happy. I'm sure this is everyone's dream, especially ones who come from a struggling family or come from another country looking for freedom and a way out from the way of life they were stuck in before. Pursuing this dream is good in some ways but not everything turns out the way it is planned to be. There would be things to be sacrificed, like the people you love and the things you care about. Money can not buy everything.

In The Great Gatsby, the man Jay Gatsby represents the American Dream. He came from a family that moved to America and farmed to make a living. He wanted to make something of himself and get out of the way of life his family was living in. Gatsby pursued his American Dream. The downfall in this is that in the book, Gatsby got his money from bootlegging. This was an illegal activity in the time the book is placed in. He illegally sold alcohol to many people in the upper class. But he did pursue his American Dream. He got all the money he wanted, he has his big house and his freedom. But for what? He has all this money but he isn't even …show more content…

All of these people in the book who are rich and wealthy that live this dream are really bad people. Deep down the people of the upper class are hollow. They don't care about anyone or anything but themselves. These other rich people have everything just like Gatsby does. But they aren't happy at all. One of them, Tom, cheats on his wife Daisy and beats her because he feels like he doesn't have any power anymore. Daisy won't leave Tom because he is very wealthy. If she gives up on Tom she loses all that he has and she messes up her reputation through the others in the upper

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