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The Great Gatsby Research Paper

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What is the American Dream? According to F. Scott Fitzgerald in his book, “The Great Gatsby,” wealth is the American Dream. Throughout his book Fitzgerald shows how people are not treated equal based on wealth and gender. This book does not show the American Dream to be what the Declaration of Independence states which is,
“All men are created equal and have the rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.”
In the book “The Great Gatsby,” Fitzgerald shows how life was in the 1920’s.
Fitzgerald also shows how people of wealth through deception and greed bring the American Dream to devastation. Most of the characters in “The Great Gatsby” are full of hope. Nick Carraway comes to east egg with the hopes of building his business …show more content…

Myrtle was married to a poor man name George. Myrtle was having an affair with Tom Buchanan who is a wealthy man. She hoped that Tom would leave his wife Daisy so she could marry him and have the wealthy life he had. One night Myrtle and Tom were at the apartment where they carried on their affair and Myrtle was taunting Tom about Daisy. Tom had told her to stop and she didn’t. “Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand.”(Fitzgerald, 37) Although Tom was a violent man Myrtle still wanted what he supposedly had, wealth and the American …show more content…

Before Daisy met Tom she met Jay Gatsby who she fell in love with. Gatsby went away to war and then Daisy met Tom. Daisy thought for sure she had found the American dream with Tom. It didn’t take her long to figure out that she didn’t love Tom and of his affair with Myrtle. Daisy and Tom had a daughter together which Daisy was not really happy about. She felt that women weren’t treated equal. When her daughter was born she said, “I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”(Fitzgerald, 17) Tom Buchanan was borne into wealth. Tom never had to work for anything. Tom was a very deceitful person whom thought he had the perfect life. Although Tom was having an affair with Myrtle he didn’t want to lose Daisy because it may mess up his perfect, American Dream, life. Jay Gatsby was self made. “The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself.”(Fitzgerald, 98) Gatsby was in love with Daisy and spent all his time growing his wealth and mansion in hopes that when he met with Daisy again she would want to be with him and leave Tom. One day Gatsby asked Nick to invite his cousin, Daisy, over to Nicks place so he could see her. Nick did and Gatsby spent the day showing off all his wealth to Daisy and Nick. Daisy still loved Gatsby. Gatsby and Daisy started having

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Gatsby then gets involved with the nightmare of the American Dream. Fitzgerald portrays the 1920s perfectly as an era of decayed social and moral values, evidenced in its overarching greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure. This novel shows the lack of social skills in newly made millionaires such as Gatsby that cannot even pick up on an invitation to lunch. This book was enjoyable to read because it set in when America was becoming an economic superpower and it was relatable in some ways.

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Dai— Making a short deft movement Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand” (Fitzgerald 37). This shows that he still has a quick temper and did not learn from his actions before People still see him as an aggressive man. Tom also gets jealous very easily. You would think the man who has it all wouldn’t get jealous over a car but I guess not.

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