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Values In The Great Gatsby

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The American Dream is the idea that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. In other words, an individual who has money, a vehicle, a place of residence, formal clothes, and a happy family is living the American Dream. The novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the theme :the decline of the American Dream. With that being said the essay “Moral Perfection” by Benjamin Franklin and the art piece “Immigrants Arriving at Ellis Island” further my understanding of the theme portrayed in The Great Gatsby. Furthermore, The Great Gatsby is a novel that demonstrates/gives the reader a more detailed explanation and vivid picture …show more content…

To him the American Dream was that any man can earn prosperity, economic security, and community respect. Hard work and honest communication was the way to earn this respect. His virtue of sincerity supports this by saying “Use no harmful deceit. Think innocently and justify; and if you speak, speak accordingly.” Franklin created 13 virtues that would mold him into being perfect, which is what the American Dream consists of…. …show more content…

Yes, the American Dream was that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. However, going about it the under the wrong circumstances and reasons, the desire to live this dream is bound to destroy you in the long run. With the help of the art piece,” Immigrants Arriving at Ellis Island” my understanding of the decline of the American Dream expanded. The reason being that they represent the aftermath of trying to live the American Dream life under the wrong circumstances and reasons. In a nutshell, the desire for something can cause people to be someone they’re not which doesn’t result in a positive outcome. Most characters in The Great Gatsby novel all wanted wealth and happiness. During this time, all women married not for love, but for the money forgetting the fact that money can’t buy true happiness. The American Dream was the idea that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success. The Great Gatsby showed me just how the American Dream declined and Moral Perfection as well as Immigrants Arriving at Ellis Island furthered my

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The American Dream is similar to the ideals of The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald, because today we do not have steady employment, it is unrealistic to those with different circumstances, the dream can be reachable through hard work, and the dream varies for people. People still struggle to find opportunities of employment and

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This is affected by the concept of the American Dream. The American Dream is an idea that believes that with hard work, you can achieve anything. Gatsby takes this idea into his past love life when he is told he cannot repeat the past, but he responds with, “‘Can't repeat the past?’ he cried incredulously. ‘Why of course you can!’”

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Wealth, power, and material possessions are all the core ideas of achieving the American Dream. In his novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald manages to define, praise and rebuke the concept of American dream quite successfully. Fitzgerald depicts the American Dream and its quietus through the corruption of major characters in the novel. The American Dream not only causes corruption but also causes demolition of major characters like Myrtle Wilson, Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby.

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The Failure of the American Dream in the Context of The Great Gatsby Sun Seo Jeon 전순서 20140880 The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States, which is a belief that anyone, regardless of their social class and the situation they are born into, is given opportunities to achieve their own version of success. It is emphasized that American dream is achieved through sacrifice and hard work, not just by chance. This meant to motivate Americans to attain prosperity and happiness. However, there is an ironic interplay between idealism and materialism in this statement of American Dream; the dream suggests hope, opportunity and equality, but in reality, it is to become rich and of higher social status, which is only

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Scott Fitzgerald would say that the American dream is a concept that you can achieve greatness or better circumstances by any means that you can. Also, the real dream is not riches because then people would become reckless, but the real goal is to reach ultimate happiness. He would say this because when people desire for something they are not, they go to measures the affect others and the outcomes are not often positive. The novel and Gatsby’s story show that the failure of achieving his dreams proves the the foolishness of short-cutting the dream by corruption without hard work, integrity, or real love. Fitzgerald’s version of the American dream would say that all have the ability to gain more success with hard work and being true to yourself.

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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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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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Over the course of this semester in Later American Literature, we have been looking at the American Dream. What is the American Dream, the Webster's dictionary says “an American social ideal that stresses egalitarianism and especially material prosperity; also: the prosperity or life that is the realization of this ideal.” In the beginning of the semester, I thought something similar, I believed the definition of the American Dream was to create something for yourself and do as you please, as long as it doesn’t affect anyone. As the semester went on and we read The Great Gatsby, The short stories of Hemingway, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and finally, we watched Lala Land, my definition changed. Now I believe that the American Dream is the force that drives us to be better and make a better life for ourselves.

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What really is the American Dream? It seems to be a very simple concept, everyone in America has an equal opportunity and that opportunity is to work hard and become wealthy. But is the American Dream actually possible for everybody and is wealth the only factor? In The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night both male protagonists become very wealthy individuals seemingly because of the idea of the American Dream however they still encounter many issues. Through the aspirations and subsequent failures of the protagonists in The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald makes a commentary on the American Dream, conveying to the reader that the American Dream is just an unattainable and fictitious idea, focusing on material wealth rather than happiness.

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