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The American Dream In The Great Gatsby And My Antonia

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What Is The American Dream? To achieve any dream or aspiration, a goal must be set, and steps must be taken towards that goal. To what goal are we collectively striving towards? Rather, are we climbing up the same mountain by different means and with different results in expectancy? “The American Dream” has been referenced as a common ethos for any and all American citizens. However, it has become a widespread connotation that either the same path can be taken or the same goal is present for most people. This is not entirely true; “The American Dream” doesn’t exist; rather “American Dreams.” Literature is a great platform to express and display strong, compelling, and direct messages. Both The Great Gatsby and My Ántonia demonstrate a theme …show more content…

He illustrates that Gatsby’s aspiration does come out of the goodness of his heart, but means he uses to achieve his goal majorly differ. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby’s Dream is the one showcased. In My Ántonia, nearly every character has their American Dream presented. Whether they’re the main character or one that is mentioned in 2 sentences, they contribute to the idea of various Dreams. Even though each of these characters has different intended paths of travel, they all know where they’re going."Antonia came in and stood before me; a stalwart, brown woman, flat-chested, her curly brown hair a little grizzled. It was a shock, of course. It always is, to meet people after long years, especially if they have lived as much and as hard as this woman had… She was there, in the full vigor of her personality, battered but not diminished, looking at me, speaking to me in the husky, breathy voice I remembered so well." (Cather 238) This quote describes at least 2 characters Dream. Putting the obvious last, Jim’s Dream isn’t directly stated here. In fact, it isn’t his whole dream that is expressed. Just like all Americans can’t forget their Dream, he never forgets his love for her. He gets to close proximity in reaching his goal, he never grabs …show more content…

"The biggest danger is not failing to achieve the American Dream, the biggest danger is achieving a dream that you don't actually believe in." (Martin, Courtney. “The New American Dream.” TED Talks. February 2016. TED2016.) The new Dream is creating a rebuilt community of hope that isn’t solely focused on individual success; rather bringing everyone up to that same mountain and sending them on the way of their own

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My Antonia and The Great Gatsby are both stories of self actualization through the pursuit of each character's American dream. Nonetheless, the examples of achieving the American dream contradict each other. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald suggests that the American dream is unachievable, that it is an ideal that Americans strive for but are never able to fully achieve. In Contrast, My Antonia argues that achieving the American dream is relative and not linear to just one dream and that if one is happy then they have achieved it. Gatsby is the example we’re given to the Great Gatsby of someone trying to achieve the American dream, after he dies, Nick reflects on who Gatsby was and what he stood for in regards to this dream stating that “Gatsby [had] believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.

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“The term “American Dream” is used in many ways, but it essentially is an idea that suggests that anyone in the U.S. can succeed through hard work and has the potential to lead a happy, successful life.” (McMahon). The American Dream, according to Google, is everybody can achieve wealth and through hard work, determination, and good fortune. For most people, the American Dream is for lower class people trying to climb the social ladder to be considered upper class.

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Gatsby 12 PM Explication These passages from the chapter describe Gatsby’s struggle to reinvent reality. Gatsby, a self-made man, is the epitome of the American dream: he started as a nobody James Gatz, but he aspired a life of wealth, and worked hard to make his dream a reality. F. Scott Fitzgerald, however, draws attention to the limits of the American dream: that a dream is but a dream, separate from reality. Passage one conveys Gatsby’s sentimental attachment to the past and his idealism to change things according to his favor, while passage two talks to the impracticality of the American Dream.

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Although we have the freedom to access the American Dream most people have challenges of achieving it. In the novels, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, we see each protagonist struggling ,but at the same time a strong aspiration in obtaining their American Dream. For example, Jay Gatsby, he was the definition of the American Dream,he builds his social status from becoming a farm boy to one of the world's top millionaire but his dream wasn't complete without the love of Daisy. Unfortunately Janie Crawford in Their Eyes Were Watching God

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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.”

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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.

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The view of the American Dream is different for everyone. The Epic Journey, by James Truslow Adams, views the American Dream as a dream of attaining one’s fullest stature regardless of one’s social status. Similarly, in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book, The Great Gatsby, Gatsby’s American Dream relates to Adam’s dream but limited to materialistic wealth- a dream that seeks for motor cars, higher wages, and to impress the people of high status. Both Adams and Gatsby believe that everyone has an equal chance of achieving their dream. Adams says “The dream is that dream of land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement”.

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"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.

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The American dream at one point was what drew people to American; the right to life, liberty, and the happiness. The American dream is the hope to acquire currency, large homes, raise a middle-class family, and pursue what brings people joy in life. But in the year 2016, the American dream becomes hard to believe in. The American dream may still exist, but it is not equally accessible to all Americans. This is true because the American dream is not affordable for everyone, it is not available to everyone from different degrees of education, and race and ethnicity creates large social barriers.

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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.

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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.

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"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.

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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 .

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James Truslow Adams defines the American Dream as the “dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement” (The American Dream). An idea sought after by millions of people is the American Dream; they believe there is a reward for hard work and that that reward is happiness and prosperity. The Great Gatsby, Of Mice and Men, and The Crucible are all works, which portray the pursuit and destruction of the American Dream. Jay Gatsby’s American dream was to marry the woman he loved. This is evident throughout the novel; Gatsby is determined to transform his life from dirt to diamonds all to be a suitable man for Daisy.

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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

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