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The Great Gatsby American Dream False

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Gatsby’s American Dream What is the American Dream? In general, it is thought that the American Dream is when one rises from nothing to achieve success through money and power, which brings them happiness. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the American Dream is exposed and shown to be false. Fitzgerald’s message in this novel is to warn the readers about the dangers of money and power, and that having these will not always lead one to achieve greatness. Fitzgerald portrays Gatsby’s life as an example for this notion. Gatsby acquired all of his money because he thought that it would change his mental state and allow him to be happier by gaining what he wanted most. He wanted to rise to financial power to grab hold of his dream girl but even after he had all that money and power he still wasn’t able to to complete his dream. Gatsby did whatever he had to do to acquire his money: "but I lost most of it in the big panic – the panic of the war” (103). He goes by saying that he inherited his money so he he can blend in. From the text we know this false, Gatsby was in fact in the …show more content…

Gatsby has this flawed view of his life where he has to keep getting more power to be content with himself: “My life, old sport, my life... my life has got to be like this. It's got to keep going up” (125). He wants to acquire more wealth and more power to achieve a higher social status, almost as if he wants to prove a point to himself and everyone else. However, he fell in love along the way and this stumped his plan. When Gatsby fell in love with Daisy, he changed his whole perspective in life and guided it to work around Daisy: “ I knew it was a great mistake for a man like me to fall in love” (141). On the other hand, he did lose her and that ruined him. His only goal from there was to get her back any way

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