ipl-logo

Socioeconomic Position In Great Gatsby And A Raisin In The Sun

914 Words4 Pages

A person’s socioeconomic position affects his or her American Dream by either facilitating or hindering his or her process of achieving his or her goals, which would in turn alter his or her true American Dream. This range of accomplishment may limit people of a lower socioeconomic position to a humbler American Dream, such as for Mama in A Raisin in the Sun. However, someone’s low socioeconomic position may likewise push him or her to achieve an even more lavish American Dream, such as Gatsby in The Great Gatsby. In the opposite sense, someone’s high socioeconomic standing may satisfy him or herself enough to not desire a form of the American Dream. A person’s high socioeconomic class may also give him or her easier access to achieving an …show more content…

Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, similar themes from A Raisin in the Sun are presented in the sense that each character has his or her own American Dream due to his or her varying socioeconomic status. Originally, Gatsby had a poor socioeconomic status, which motivated him to increase his status with a lavish, over-the-top American Dream in order to please Daisy. When Gatsby confronts Tom, promising that Daisy never truly loved Tom in the first place, Gatsby uses his wealth as a factor as to why she married Tom: “She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me” (Fitzgerald 130). This proves that Gatsby was motivated by Daisy’s desire for wealth to justify his lurid American Dream. Daisy, on the other hand, was quite the opposite. Due to her high socioeconomic status, her American Dream remained effortless. To Daisy, a woman’s American Dream in the early 1900s was to get married, have a child, and be the perfect, beautiful housewife. When Daisy hosts a luncheon she has her daughter dress up because Daisy said she “wanted to show you off” (Fitzgerald 117). In this instance, Daisy’s daughter is more of an accessory to the ensemble of the American Dream than a loving addition to the

Show More
Related
1160 Words | 5 Pages

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby the Character of Jay Gatsby conveys the theme that the American dream is unattainable. Gatsby is initially a part of the lower class, and because of that he cannot have Daisy Buchanan. When Nick talks about Gatsby's parents he says that they “were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people” (Fitzgerald 98).  Gatsby didn’t inherit from his parents

Read More
241 Words | 1 Pages

In his novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald explores the reality of the American Dream. Throughout the novel, he uses Daisy to represent the American Dream. In chapter eight, after Daisy crashes the car, “she vanish[es] into her rich house… leaving Gatsby nothing” (149). Daisy is depicted as soulless; she is willing to let Gatsby take the fall for her faults. In order to remain the American Dream, Daisy must appear blameless to society; therefore, the common man must always take responsibility for her mistakes.

Read More
1038 Words | 5 Pages

When one envisions the American Dream, one might picture the classic rags-to-riches story or simply the freedom to prosper and succeed. But in reality, not everyone gets an equitable chance to rise above the ashes, and because of this one can only wonder about the tangibility of this dream. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, readers explore this idea, examining people from the ultra-wealthy, such as Tom and Daisy Buchanan, to the impoverished lower class, such as Mr. Wilson. In doing so, one realizes that not a single character ends up satisfied, all left to grasp the barest trace of happiness and comfort. While Tom appears to fit the simplistic archetype of the affluent out-of-touch person that cruelly antagonizes the other characters

Read More
1627 Words | 7 Pages

The American Dream What if you were told you will never achieve your dreams? Florence King once said, “People are so busy dreaming the American dream, fantasizing about what they could be or have a right to be, that they’re all asleep at the switch. Consequently we are living in the age of human error.” Humans have a tendency of wanting what they cannot have or being oblivious to what they do have at the moment.

Read More
506 Words | 3 Pages

The American Dream has been ingrained in the nation’s identity for centuries; many people come to the United States hoping to achieve their dreams. Books like The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and A Raisin in the Sun show that this dream is often impossible to achieve. They talk about problems like differences in social class, racism, and society’s high expectations, which make it hard for people to reach the dream. The American Dream is more of a myth than a reality. Firstly, both The Great Gatsby and A Raisin in the Sun show how class differences make the American Dream hard to achieve.

Read More
1352 Words | 6 Pages

The American Dream suggests that every American citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work. One of the major ways that Fitzgerald portrays this is by alluding to outside events or works of literature specifically from that time period. Another major relationship that develops in The Great Gatsby is between Tom and Daisy. F. Scott Fitzgerald alludes to things such as the World’s Fair and “The Love Nest” to display the eventual dismantling of Tom and Daisy’s relationship. Both of these separate plots consolidate under the idea of Gatsby trying to become the epitome of the American Dream, as seen through his strive for a “perfect life.”

Read More
539 Words | 3 Pages

The American Dream is a vision held by the working class of America: a dream in which one can achieve all that he desires through hard work and perseverance. The reader sees Gatsby as a self-made man: a man with everything you could possible want in life, a man who has achieved the American Dream to its fullest, and yet, this image is marred by his unhappiness. A barrier between the inherently wealthy and ‘new money’ blocks his ability to win back the girl he loves, placed there by by the embodiment of the upper class in America - Tom Buchanan. Tom never saw Gatsby as his equal because Gatsby was not born with money, calling him a “Mr. Nobody from Nowhere” (130). The working class sees this statement as an example of why the American Dream is not worth the effort.

Read More
747 Words | 3 Pages

In the Great Gatsby, the American Dream is posed as “withering away” (Eble 36). Eble describes the American Dream of withering away and that all people striving for their American Dream are coming up short. People that desire to be one of the upper class, or the American Dream, will now struggle more than they already do. Likewise, Eble portrays critics as the cause of the “portrayal of the naive American Dream in a corrupt society”(Eble 35). Kenneth Eble initially says that people cannot go any further with the American Dream because we live in such a corrupt society.

Read More
1756 Words | 8 Pages

The Corruption of The American Dream in The Great Gatsby In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald illustrates society in the 1920’s and the desire for the people with in it to achieve the American Dream, which embodies the hope that one can achieve power, love and a higher economic/social status through one’s commitment and effort. The novel develops the story of a man named Jay Gatsby and his dream of marrying what he describes as his “golden girl”, also known as, Daisy Buchanan, his former lover. Fitzgerald explores the corruption of the American dream through the Characters; Myrtle, Gatsby and Daisy.

Read More
1140 Words | 5 Pages

The American dream stands as a symbol for hope, prosperity, and happiness. But F. Scott Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby, examines the American dream from a different perspective, one that sheds light on those who contort these principles to their own selfish fantasies. Fitzgerald renders Jay Gatsby as a man who takes the Dream too far, and becomes unable to distinguish his false life of riches from reality. This 'unique ' American novel describes how humanity 's insatiable desires for wealth and power subvert the idyllic principles of the American vision. Jay Gatsby is the personification of limitless wealth and prestige, a shining beacon for the aspiring rich.

Read More
950 Words | 4 Pages

The Great Gatsby is not simply a story of Jay Gatsby’s undying and misguided love for a Daisy Buchanan. The novel, The Great Gatsby, encompasses a number of themes, the most significant one is the disillusionment and corruption of the American dream. The ability to obtain prosperity such as happiness, or a car is what comprises of the American dream. It is a belief that anyone who is self-sufficient, or who is a hard worker can obtain this dream regardless of their social standing. In the book, the facade of a dream appears to be at the tips of Gatsby and Myrtle’s fingers but this “pursuit of happiness” sentiment is in actuality impossible.

Read More
1218 Words | 5 Pages

The Great Gatsby Literary Analysis “They were careless people…” says Nick Carraway, the narrator of The Great Gatsby. In a story depicting the 1920s during a time of prosperity, growth, and the emergence of the America as a major global power, this statement may seem to be contrary. But in reality, Nick Carraway’s description of his friends and the people he knew, was not only true, but is an indication of those who were striving for the American dream. F. Scott Fitzgerald suggests that the American Dream is foolish, the people who pursue it are immoral and reckless, and this pursuit is futile. First, F. Scott Fitzgerald proposes that the American dream is foolish.

Read More
884 Words | 4 Pages

Gatsby has the American Dream of being successful and wanting to marry the girl of his dreams. However, Fitzgerald argues that The American Dream is a paradox because dreams aren’t supposed to be achieved, and are better off to remain in one’s imagination. For example, Gatsby wants to marry the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan. Sadly Gatsby sets such a high standard for her that she will never be able to live up to. Gatsby envisions Daisy as the golden girl, and once he put his plan into action, he realizes

Read More
723 Words | 3 Pages

Part of the American dream is finding love and raising a family. Gatsby’s hard work was fueled by the dream of Daisy. Gatsby had never loved a girl like this one. He was so infatuated with her that he even said, “Her voice is full of money," (Fitzgerald). Gatsby loves his money and ultimately just to hear her voice brought extreme emotion to him.

Read More
695 Words | 3 Pages

The main character Jay Gatsby suffers the most from the promises of social mobility inherent to the american dream because he spends his life believing that if he makes enough money and throw a lot of parties he can transcend his lower - class birth and become an equal to Tom and Daisy not only the but also become closer to them so he can get what he truly wants, To turn back the clock and have Daisy once again. “And what’s more, I love Daisy too. Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time.” ‘He looked at her the way all women want to be looked at by a man.’ After becoming rich and having the blessings of luxury he still doesn't get respect and isn't accepted by his peers.

Read More

More about Socioeconomic Position In Great Gatsby And A Raisin In The Sun

Related Topics

Open Document