The American Dream is most commonly known for freedom and individual success. The differences between time eras and changes throughout society are constantly making the American dream look different. It’s all about the different culture and events that happen. The way Americans react will shift quite a few viewpoints of life. Starting way back when in the 1920’s we see Fitzgerald take a stand with his book The Great Gatsby.
The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, tells a story about social structures and how impossible it is to achieve the American Dream. The story takes place in the villages of East Egg, West Egg, and New York City in the 1920s. It depicts the rigid class system of the time and how hard it was to move up in status. Narrated by Nick Carraway, one of the main characters in the book, who witnesses the withering of the American Dream for Jay Gatsby and the shallowness of the upper class. Each character in the book has a unique personality, characterized by descriptions of where they lived.
Throughout the story, Fitzgerald uses three vastly different geographical areas to show the separation between classes. The Valley of Ashes, where the poor live, is described as a “desolate area of land ... [where] spasms of bleak dust drift endlessly” (Fitzgerald 23). The poor people are trapped here, and no matter how hard they work, they can never escape this grim existence. The idea of no social mobility, and having no control over one's life, reflects the Naturalist view of society.
Some say the American Dream is exceptionally attainable if one tries hard enough. However, F. Scott Fitzgerald questions this statement by presenting a novel that portrays how the result of the American Dream--wealth--causes destruction. Fitzgerald also argues that trying to fit in where one desires to is not always the best idea. Fitzgerald uses a multitude of examples from his novel to present his argument. Fitzgerald used geography--East and West Egg--to depict the American Dream.
To everyone in the world, the American Dream is something so far, but somehow just out of reach. For “We Share Hope for the American Dream” many Caribbean immigrants desire to attain it, yet due to their color or some other reason for being discriminated, they can only attain a small piece “... We believe that you work hard for what you want, and are then rewarded with a piece of the American dream... We can’t become presidents, but our kids certainly will one day” (Thompson). With hope in hand, many Caribbean immigrants wait for the day when they will be seen as equal and be able to fully obtain the American Dream.
F.Scott Fitzgerald is an American novelist and a short story writer. He is the author of the famous novel “ The Great Gatsby”, which is written in the 1920’s. The period of the 1920’s is well known as the roaring twenties due to lack of morales and the lowering of standards and expectations, people intended just to have a good time not caring about the outcomes of their and how they will effect their lives. Fitzgerald wants to prove in his novel the death of “The American Dream” it’s just a myth. The author of this novel shows the death of the american dream through the events surrounding Gatsby, and Daisy.
The American Dream is possible for anyone if they are hard-working, hopeful, and have perseverance. The characters in The Great Gatsby deem to make this true. They all have their different definitions and hopes of the American Dream. The characters all want to be successful and achieve their dreams in their own way. The characters all define these characteristics and try to make their dream come true.
"The negative side of the American Dream comes when people pursue success at any cost, which in turn destroys the vision and the dream." In this quote, by Azar Nafisi, it explains how dreaming can be tainted by reality, and it that if you don 't compromise you may suffer. In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the American Dream is one the many themes in this book. The American Dream that most people in this book obtains to have is wealth, statist, a fun social life, and someone to lust. It is the life we all strive to have until we obtain it and see it 's meaningless composure.
In the 1920’s life as an American in New York was trying. Even for a rich man named Jay Gatsby,who seemingly has everything. But there is one thing that money can't buy for him, true love. Over and over Gatsby spends so much money on parties,cars and glamourous things just so Daisy might come over to just one .Gatsby could never truly be happy till he And Daisy were reunited and the spark reignited. Jay Gatsby's main dream in life was to win back Daisy Buchanan’s love.
"The negative side of the American Dream comes when people pursue success at any cost, which in turn destroys the vision and the dream." In this quote, by Azar Nafisi, it explains how dreaming can be tainted by reality, and that if a person doesn’t compromise they may suffer. In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the American Dream is one the many themes present. The American Dream that most people in this book hope to have involves wealth, status, a fun social life, and someone to lust after. It is the life they all strive to have until they obtain it and see its meaningless composure.
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 .
Initially, “The Great Gatsby” can be seen as a painfully typical love story. As much as it is pretentious and unfortunate, it is a love story nonetheless. What makes it different than the average romantic novel is the symbolism and meaning that lays underneath the expensive lives of Nick Careaway and his upstart friends. The themes of “The Great Gatsby” are diverse and incoherently complex. The variety of motives and characteristics make reading the novel a sincerely unique experience, since the story and its’ morals will usually be what the readers makes them out to be in the end.
The American Dream: Promising or Hopeless? A statement from the article “Rethinking the American Dream” reads, “(…) like so many before and after him, was overcome by the power of the American Dream” (Source E). The American Dream is the ideal that everyone should possess an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through determination. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel
Evan Olmstead English II - 6th Mr. Davidson 2/16/18 AMDG The Great American Dream F. Scott Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby portrays many themes, however the most significant theme relates to man 's unsuccessful attempts at the American dream. The Great Gatsby shows how not one by many characters fail at achieving their American dream. The American Dream as defined by James Truslow Adams in 1921, "life should be better, richer, and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each regardless of social class or circumstances of birth”. The desire to strive for what one wants can be achieved if one is willing to work hard enough.
There are many themes exist in the novel of The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald. The most significant theme in this novel is the American dream. The meaning of the American Dream is someone who starting low on the social level or economic, which then working hard and try their best towards wealth and fame. In other word, it stand for one’s independence to strive in order to achieve desired wealth and fame with hard work, but it ends up being more about selfish and materialism pursuit of pleasure. American dream is achieve when a person having a car, money, big house, happy family and nice clothes.
