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The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

800 Words4 Pages

Avery Draper
Mrs. Blomme
Honors English 1
16 December 2014
The American Dream
Shakespeare wrote, “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” This much can be said about “The American Dream”. Some are born into money, some work for their wealthy and the others inherit it. There are many different variations of this dream. Some see it as fame, others see the white picket fence with a two story house that has a wrap-around porch, but during the 1920s, the American Dream was perceived as fortune. After World War I, the stock market went to a record high, bringing many brokers and holders unbelievable wealth. In the novel The Great Gatsby, every character dreams for the same thing; money.
Nick Carroway goes to New York for one reason; to live the dream that he’d heard so many others achieve. He begins to work in stocks, which at the time was the job in highest demand. He did whatever he could to gain wealth, though he was okay with living in his little shack for such a low price and experiencing the wealth vicariously through Daisy and Tom or Gatsby. The difference between Nick and the other characters is that Nick didn’t seem so eager to become wealthy. The Wilsons worked their life away, or George anyhow, for a chance at the American Dream, Gatsby did illegal …show more content…

The reason that Gatsby was better than the rest was that Gatsby didn’t hoard his money like Daisy or Tom. What he did was let others share it with him. The first thing he did as a wealthy man was buy his father a new house. Whether Gatsby does something for Nick, Daisy, or his family, he’s always using his money to the benefit of someone else and never himself. No matter what he did, Gatsby will always be the most generous man in the

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