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What Was The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

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The Unattainable American Dream “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Source A). Jay Gatsby shares that no matter what happens or how hard you try you are trying still trying to achieve an impossible accomplishment. Some say that the American dream can be achieved and that is how people became rich. The reality is that the American dream is not what gave them wealth at all. In the book, The Great Gatsby author F. Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates how people try endlessly to obtain the impossible American dream illegally, in hopes of social prosperity, and wealth. To start, many people think through illegal loopholes they can achieve what they think is the American dream. Jay Gatsby had a very different …show more content…

Many people in the past, and even today think that striving to achieve the American dream and have so much wealth will bring them a better social life. In Source G the cartoon depicts how a man purchased a large truck and says to his neighbor that he thought buying the truck would bring the American dream now it is causing a headache. The man thought that buying the truck would show his wealth and bring social benefits, but it truly did the opposite. He realizes that buying anything does not help achieve anything, it just brings problems and issues. It could be said that the man was trying to make it known to his neighbor that he purchased a new expensive car and wants to make sure that everyone knows what his social status is. People have lived many lies they have been told, and they never know. Source H, shows a father trying to explain to his kids that “they can become whatever they want, and this time it is true.” This reiterates the fact that many people think and try so hard to achieve something in hopes to live better socially, and they have to explain to their kids that they can be whatever they what they are told. This helps to extend the American dream. People try endlessly to achieve a dream of social prosperity throughout the American dream, but that is not what gives them that. In conclusion, Americans hope that finally achieving the American dream will them great wealth.

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America has always lured people with an unfulfilling promise of more; people come to America with nothing to try and gain something that’s unobtainable; Unfortunately, what they find is far from what they wanted to gain. F. Scott Fitzgerald expressed just how much of a lie the American dream was in The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald lived as a captive of the dream 's unlawful grip that promised so much but gave so little. He was born middle class and tried his hardest to become more than what his father was, but as ambitious as he was he never gained the wealth and elite status that he desired. The Great Gatsby was his way of stating the way that things were at the time, and he writes about how the American dream is unobtainable through symbolism.

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The Constant Pursuit of The American Dream: The Truth of Gatsby's American Dream The American dream is and always will be the ultimate goal for many Americans. It is this mythological accomplishment that many people pursue, but it can never be truly achieved. Problems that hinder the achievement of the American dream will always be present. In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby is the protagonist that was always seen as a man that had the most luxurious lifestyle, yet his far-fetched dream is across the bay and will never be reached.

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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.

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It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.” The Founding Fathers put into law the revolutionary idea that each person's desire to pursue happiness is not merely from self-indulgence. They’ve made the Dream to be understood as something that’s a part of what drives the American ambition and creativity to make something of themselves.

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In the video, a journalist, Courtney Martin, discusses how the American Dream changed for our generation. She believes that the newer generation’s “dream” is based on relationships, helping the community, and contentment. It is less about the financial income and more about relationships. Courtney

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783 Words | 4 Pages

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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I. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the American Dream is depicted as a mirage due to its ultimate lack of fulfillment, outsider’s inability to obtain it, and the corruption it causes. A. Those who have achieved their idea of the American Dream are ultimately unfulfilled emotionally even though they possess tremendous wealth. B. The American Dream is a mirage, and thus unattainable as it limits success of an individual by their class and ethnic origin. C. Not only is the American Dream exclusive and unfulfilling, but it also causes corruption as those who strive for the American Dream corrupt themselves in doing so and the old rich hide behind their wealth in order to conceal their immoralities.

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The American dream at one point was what drew people to American; the right to life, liberty, and the happiness. The American dream is the hope to acquire currency, large homes, raise a middle-class family, and pursue what brings people joy in life. But in the year 2016, the American dream becomes hard to believe in. The American dream may still exist, but it is not equally accessible to all Americans. This is true because the American dream is not affordable for everyone, it is not available to everyone from different degrees of education, and race and ethnicity creates large social barriers.

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578 Words | 3 Pages

The American Dream is the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success, prosperity, and social mobility through hard work, determination, and initiative. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby attempts to achieve social mobility but ultimately fails due to the constructs of old vs new money. An argument is shown that the American Dream is just that, a dream, and that happiness cannot be achieved through wealth. In the novel, the super poor are stuck in their social class, unable to move because they live in the valley of ashes, which represents poverty and the corruption and social decay that came with the lavish and careless lifestyles of the rich.

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The short story by Edwin Arlington Robinson, Richard Cory, is an excellent way of depicting how others falsely perceived as one way and seen as achieving the American Dream yet, in reality, they feel something totally divergent. The townspeople in the story all describe Richard Cory as this Godlike King figure by saying, “ he was rich—yes, richer than a king—, And admirably schooled in every grace:, In fine, we thought that he was everything, To make us wish that we were in his place.” (9-12). Everyone perceives him as some to look up to. He is idolized and believed to have achieved the conditions in life to which they only dreamed of reaching for.

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762 Words | 4 Pages

The American Dream is an opportunity in which a determined person can have exceptional success through dedication and hard work, achieving equality, freedom, and personal goals. As immigrants, my grandparents followed this beacon of hope, and had this one thing in mind: a better life. Coming from

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1145 Words | 5 Pages

the belief that anyone, regardless of race, class gender, or nationally can be successful in America. ”In other words, according to this quote, everyone should be able to accomplish this dream. This matters especially because the dream is depicted as a white picket fence, symbolizing “a happy family that lives in a modest residential home with children, pets, and a sense of safety from the community.” This is not true because there are groups of people who do not have it as easy as people put it. Critics might say that immigrants are helping to fashion the dream into something more achievable by creating more jobs and increasing the size of the labor force but seeing that the U.S. has a vast population of immigrants that are largely more motivated and likely to strive for the American Dream it hinders the ability for others to

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The Facade of the American Dream The American Dream is the opportunity for all Americans to live a life of personal happiness and material comfort, but is it actually achievable? F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, is a story of characters working hard to achieve the American Dream, but ultimately they are unable to ever realize their perfect life. The novel makes a strong naturalism argument about the rigid class system in society and the disillusionment of the American Dream.

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1060 Words | 5 Pages

No matter who you are or where you have come from, you have undoubtedly heard of the American Dream. The idea that no matter who you are or where you have come from, you can do whatever it is you desire in America. What was once one the main driving forces for immigrants to flock to the new world, has slowly changed over the years, but still holds its value in the eyes of those who are looking for a promising new place to live. The American dream might not hold the same awe inspiring sound that it once did, but for many generations before ours it was a beacon of hope that helped build the foundation that the United States was built on. And, still, today the American dream might not be as achievable as it once was, but it is still an important

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763 Words | 4 Pages

For a great amount of United States citizens know about the American Dream, and everyone set it as their life target. The American Dream is a national known character of the United States, the main ideas are the focus on democracy, rights, liberty, opportunity, and equality. The American Dream is about freedom that includes the opportunity for success and prosperity for family and children in the society, through hard work. The American Dream is tied to the Declaration of Independence, which claims the point “all men are created equal” with the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The American Dream is not about how rich you are it is about the environment where people were born or position that they stand.

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