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The Great Gatsby Compared To Today

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The Great Gatsby, by a F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a novel that goes way back to the roaring twenties in New York right before The Great Depression. The roaring twenties was a time of much excitement and much fun as America was leaning toward becoming even greater. Those days were so much different compared to today because of what was going on and how people were able to live. The concept of “The American Dream” has always been around as citizens who were born on U.S. soil and immigrants from other nations coming to the U.S. looking for a fresh start and a better life with more opportunities. Everybody wanted “The American Dream” so that his or her families would be able to pass it on to future generations. “The American Dream” is evident in both the book and movie of The Great Gatsby, which is why it’s so special to the start of it. “The American Dream” had played a big role throughout the novel. During the 1920s, people’s values had mostly changed, instead of striving for equality, people wanted to get as rich as they possibly could with a wife and a certain amount of kids. “She’s asleep. She’s three years old. Haven’t you ever seen her?” (Fitzgerald 10). Daisy irrelevantly had asked this to Nick when he came over from the Midwest to see Tom and Daisy …show more content…

A conversation had sprung up about Daisy by Gatsby over to Nick, who told Gatsby that the past couldn’t be repeated because times have changed. “Cant repeat the past?...Why of course you can old sport! See she must tell Tom that she never loved him” (The Great Gatsby). Although Gatsby had already been living “The American Dream” going from rags to riches, he wanted Daisy to be included into his life again and not feel that sense of loneliness anymore. He revealed that the only reason why he threw such big parties was to catch Daisy’s attention all

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The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, is a novel that is known for its focus on the idea of the American Dream. The Great Gatsby has a relatively negative viewpoint, and revolves around the idea that the American Dream is indeed dead. In the 1920s the American Dream was corrupted due to the idea of easy money, and relaxed social values. The pursuit of happiness, was quickly replaced by the desire to strike it big, and get rich. For example, in the novel we are introduced to Gatsby's dream of having Daisy, and being dissatisfied with who he is.

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970 Words | 4 Pages

Gatsby tells Nick, his neighbor, that Daisy did not enjoy the party and that he wishes she could just understand. He wants her to tell her husband Tom that she never loved him thus they can get married and have times back to the way they were five years ago. Nick proceeds to tell Gatsby, “I wouldn’t ask too much of her,” Nick ventured. “You can’t repeat the past.” “Can’t repeat the past?”

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232 Words | 1 Pages

Musician and astronomer, William Herschel, changed the way we look at the sky in the 1780’s. In 1781, Herschel went on an adventure to construct a telescope with bigger reflecting mirrors than had ever been used before (Hoskin). He made a telescope that was top of the line for that time. He discovered Uranus, which was the first planet to be discovered in a very long time (Upgren). Many people inspired and aided Herschel’s desire to study astronomy.

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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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1143 Words | 5 Pages

This is so inspiring and uplifting because most people want to better themselves, especially back in the 1920’s. This idea is portrayed as an important theme in the book, The Great Gatsby. The author of The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald reveals many characters in the book that strive for the American Dream. However, it’s controversial if they achieved the American Dream or failed.

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1189 Words | 5 Pages

Gatsby was born in a poor family in the twentieth century. At that time, American dream was a very popular word among the young men just like Gatsby. Its core meaning explaining that anyone in the United States, so long as with enough effort, can enjoy a better life. Because of the deep influence affected by it, he had a great ambition to win wealth and position. He thought that, as long as making arduous efforts and struggling for them, he would achieve his dream definitely.

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576 Words | 3 Pages

In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald is very meticulous on how the novel is shown as more satirical rather than romantic. The visionary of the American Dream is the most coveted life during this time period, so Fitzgerald used this lifestyle to mock and expose the vices of others. Fitzgerald uses certain aspects of this lifestyle to show characters satirical impulsiveness or materialism, which ridicules them and the ideals of the 1920s. During the time period in which this novel took place, the American Dream was perhaps the most sought after lifestyle. The American Dream during the roaring twenties is the pursuit of wealth regardless of morals.

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1223 Words | 5 Pages

They both love Daisy in their own way and do not want to lose her. Gatsby states, “Both of us loved each other all that time” (Fitzgerald 138). Gatsby wants Daisy to tell Tom she never loved him so that they can be together, but she cannot because it would not be true. Daisy says to Gatsby, “I did love him once-but I loved you too”(Fitzgerald 140). Daisy used to love both of them but chooses Tom because she is used to life with Tom and does not change.

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As a result of an era of decayed social and moral values, evidenced in its overall cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure. The character Jay Gatsby is the best character to show the American Dream and its awful outcome. Gatsby’s American Dream is the life he strived to have and obtained for himself. When growing up he wasn’t born rich like most of the upper class.

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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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809 Words | 4 Pages

Fitzgerald makes it apparent throughout the novel that Gatsby does everything in hopes to compete against Tom and impress Daisy. For example, Gatsby throws lavish parties every weekend with the hope that Daisy will stumble in, and then they will be reunited and return to their old ways. Additionally, when Gatsby moves to the West Egg, he purposefully purchases an extravagant mansion near the Buchanan’s mansion where he can view their emerald light on his dock. Throughout the duration of The Great Gatsby, Gatsby noticeably envies Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s husband, for seizing the life that Gatsby was not able to achieve. Gatsby longs to return to the passionate relationship they had five years prior and maybe even create a family similar to the family Daisy has with Tom.

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Seth Harvey Ms. Maggert English Honors III 7 April 2017 The Death and Resurrection of the American Dream In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald quietly critiques the American Dream and the way it has been besmirched through the use of strong symbolism and the story of Jay Gatz. In the novel, Gatsby symbolizes the American Dream, coming from rags to riches. The 1920s is where the American Dream began to change.

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1558 Words | 7 Pages

The American dream states that any individual can achieve success regardless of family history, race, and/or religion simply by working hard. The 1920’s were a time of corruption and demise of moral values in society. The first World War had passed, and people were reveling in the materialism that came at the end of it, such as advanced technology and innovative inventions. The novel The Great Gatsby exploits the theme of the American Dream as it takes place in a corrupt period in history. Although the American Dream seemed more attainable than ever in the 1920’s, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby demonstrates how materialism and the demise of moral values in society leads to the corruption and impossibility of the American Dream.

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772 Words | 4 Pages

"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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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 .

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