The Great Gatsby Research Paper

The American Dream

The American dream is usually depicted as “the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative”. Many people work their whole life, yet don’t attain their dream… and other people, work efficiently and timely from a young age to secure their wishes. Of course there are those wealthy thav t are often born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Characters of the Book, “The Great Gatsby” by F.Scott Fitzgerald highlight multiple outcomes of the major characters of the book, All of which come from different backgrounds and homes. Through the various occurrences in the book, Fitzgerald conveys the message of the rarity of the american dream,

James Gatz was an avidly disciplined figure from a very young age, creating well organized day-by-day schedules, and a moderate weekly budget for himself. Gatz came from an extremely poor family, one so poor… that made him change his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby, in hopes of never being traced back to them.”The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God—a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that—and he must be about His Father’s business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.” (Page 104). Nick compares Gatsby to Jesus Christ, revered by many to be the “Son of God”. From F.Scott Fitzgerald’s time era (19th Century), the most influential book on Christ is The Life Of Jesus, by Ernest Renan. The book portrays Christ as someone who eventually gets

As such he isn’t able to afford as much free time that Tom lavishes in, not afford to throw lavish parties practically every night. Throughout the course of the book, Nick understands life from the perspective of the 1%; servants doing everything for you, well known and respected, etc. But he also faces discrete abuse from the 1% too. When Tom talks to Nick at the start of the book, he immediately makes sure he has “one-up” on Nick; ''Now don't think my opinion on these matters is final,'' he seemed to say, ''just because I'm stronger and more of a man than you are'' (page 7). Tom appreciates his status-quo, and indirectly tells Nick he expects him to appreciate as well. Nick’s treatment remains the same throughout the book, being treated as inferior to the 1%. His dream was, at the time, to sell war bonds to potential customers and to make a decent profit off of it. But as the economic system was structured at the time, with politicians and governors bumbling in the lavish atmosphere hosted by the wealthy, Nick technically had slim chances of making it to the big leagues. This is an example when hard work and determination do not result in achieving the sought-after American dream. Nick represents the lower class in a situation where the government already despises of them and doesn’t offer aide of any sort. Unfortunately, people in this category will find it almost impossible to attain their American