ipl-logo

The Great Gatsby American Dream Essay

623 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Gatsby and the american dream essay

The Great Gatsby, written by F.Scott Fitzgerald uses the idea of new money vs old money and social classes to affect one's pursuit and fulfillment of the American Dream. Through Gatsby, Fitzgerald wants us to get the idea that Gatsby is affected The American Dream is the idea that through hard work, perseverance, and determination one can achieve one's goals. In The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald, we see that he uses many characters that embody what the American Dream is to reveal how one's class can affect their American Dream.
The main character, Jay Gatsby is the embodiment of the American Dream. Gatsby comes from hard beginnings, and he works his way to the top through determination. Gatsby has one main goal, that is to get back with his former love, Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby believed that if he can get money and a good social status, he will be able to get Daisy back. …show more content…

He gets too fixated on his dream of getting back with Daisy; he doesn't realize what is really going on with his life. He believes that his wealth and status is the only thing that matters in his life. Gatsby as well throws all of these expensive parties on the weekends just in hope that Daisy will be there and be impressed with all of the money he is spending on all of his parties. He then as well begins to buy all of these things to impress her, but those things aren’t impressing Daisy. Towards the end of the book Daisy gets in a hit and run resulting in the death of Myrtle Wilson. When Daisy is worried about what is going to happen to her, Gatsby steps and says that he will take the blame for what happened. Gatsby’s decisions in taking the blame leads to his death. We see that when someone is so fixated on one thing it makes them make decisions that will cost them a part of their

Show More
Related
623 Words | 3 Pages

The American dream has a different definition for each person, and in The Great Gatsby, each character has their goals for their American dream. Nick moves to New York “to learn the bond business” (Fitzgerald 3) after he comes back from World War I feeling the Midwest has nothing left to offer him. By moving he hopes to make money through his plans and achieve a level of prosperity that many see as part of the American dream, but many also see love as a key aspect of the same dream. For Gatsby, he can only find this love in Daisy, but five years have passed since he looked at her “in a way that every young girl wants” (Fitzgerald 75) creating blocks in the development of their relationship. During the gap years, Daisy gets married and “[has a] little girl” (Fitzgerald 77) starting her own version

Read More
656 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the story, it is clearly shown that he has an obsession with Daisy, which causes him to make detrimental and life-altering decisions. This is shown when he decides to take the blame for Myrtle’s death when he knows for a fact that Daisy was the one who murdered her. At the end of the story, the narrator Nick states “It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw Wilson’s body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete” (Fitzgerald 124). Gatsby’s desire to win Daisy back led him to make the choice of covering for her actions. This unfortunately cost him his

Read More
1014 Words | 5 Pages

In the book, Gatsby is very foolish, his actions are unreasonable and unrealistic. “He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: "I never loved you."” (125) Gatsby had expected Daisy to be the same girl she was five years ago, but the truth is that she isn't. Many things had happened to the both of them and he had set up a foolish expectation that Daisy was willing to leave Tom for him. Gatsby’s foolishness originated with Daisy.

Read More
1432 Words | 6 Pages

His friends like many, put the blind pursuit of wealth over the people that depend on them. Gatsby however is driven by his love for Daisy, a pure motivator for his pursuit of wealth, which in society only proves as a weakness, because it will eventually inhibit an individual from obtaining greater sums of wealth. His pure intentions in the beginning carry on throughout the novel, but eventually prove the fact that economic success must not come from the hope of getting something pure. Since Gatsby does get Daisy, in order to contradict this notion, he dies still believing that he can one day conform and not be a victim of the limitations and

Read More
702 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
542 Words | 3 Pages

Though Gatsby’s weaknesses may outbalance his strengths, there is an up and down to everything. To begin, Gatsby is very naïve, his lack of judgement and wisdom do not work to his benefit. His naivety throughout the novel, blocks him from the true reality of who Daisy is. Daisy is a woman who thrives on the attention and wealth of others, she no longer loves Gatsby the way he genuinely loves her. This leads to him into taking the blame for Myrtle’s death, which he would not have done, if he was not protecting Daisy from the backlash.

Read More
666 Words | 3 Pages

The Illusion of the American Dream In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby is the most meaningful and important character because he represents the different aspects of the American dream. He shows the illusion and the struggles behind the American dream and how it can change your life. In the novel, Gatsby reveals his true past life to his friend also narrator Nick Carraway. No one knew Gatsby’s true past as he always told people he was from a wealthy past, an Oxford man he said, which was far from the truth.

Read More
1626 Words | 7 Pages

Gatsby is foolishly blinded by his need to worship Daisy, allowing him to be destroyed by her ideal while failing to build any kind of life without her. For Gatsby, Daisy’s final rejection of him made him demise completely, his death being in part due to the fact that he was not prepared or willing to see who she really

Read More
525 Words | 3 Pages

F. Scott. Fitzgerald and the American Dream F. Scott. Fitzgerald’s message at the end of chapter nine of The Great Gatsby illustrates the American dream. “Gatsby believed in the green light.” To be able to achieve the American dream.

Read More
875 Words | 4 Pages

The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, is a novel that explores the decadence of the Roaring Twenties, a decade of economic growth, technological advances, and cultural change. As a whole, the novel represents the American Dream, the good and the bad, as a set of ideals and desires that have defined the national identity of the United States. The American Dream is often described as the belief that anyone can achieve success and happiness through hard work and determination. To most, the American dream is seen as the pursuit of success and satisfaction in order to achieve true happiness.

Read More
1074 Words | 5 Pages

Many immigrants come to the United States to achieve this “American Dream” but is it possible for all of them to succeed? America is portrayed as the land of opportunity and the American Dream is to be successful and wealthy, but it is not possible for all people to achieve this Dream because they do not all receive the same opportunities. This idea is brought to life in Langston Hughes’ poems ¨Let America Be America Again¨ and ¨Merry-Go-Round¨, it is also shown in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. All of these literary works show that the American Dream is easier to accomplish with the acquaintance of wealth, but most people do not have that so they solely rely on hope that they will receive an opportunity to achieve. People of minority races are cheated of their opportunities, which are given to the successful people in America.

Read More
632 Words | 3 Pages

The main character, Jay Gatsby, personifies the American dream, being a self-made man who pulled himself out of poverty, only to meet a tragic end. Gatsby desired to be rich and successful in the hopes of reuniting with Daisy. He was ready to be involved in organized crimes and bootlegging to attain his dream. The irony is that the bootlegging that made Gatsby wealthy is the same reason Daisy leaves Gatsby. Gatsby's dream self-destructs since it was corrupted in the beginning.

Read More
1133 Words | 5 Pages

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 .

Read More
923 Words | 4 Pages

The Great Gatsby discusses and portrays various themes and ideas that tie into the American Dream. Fitzgerald develops several life-like characters that convey the reality of achieving the ideal every American dreams of. F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author of the novel The Great Gatsby, illustrates the corruption behind aiming to achieve the American Dream through Gatsby’s

Read More
723 Words | 3 Pages

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald shows how Jay Gatsby tries to fulfill the ideals of the American Dream. When Gatsby was young, he set goals and worked hard to improve. He pursued the typical American dream of gaining wealth, finding a companion, and being admired by others. Gatsby thought it was best to try and change everything about himself. He wears a thick mask of lies throughout the story, hiding his past, changing his name, suppressing his emotions, and even adapting his word choice.

Read More

More about The Great Gatsby American Dream Essay

Related Topics

Open Document