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What Is The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

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The American Dream(The Great Gatsby)

The American Dream is the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. The American Dream is a dream that everyone wants to achieve but I'm the Great Gatsby, it is portrayed as a negative thing . It shows how they will do anything to get ahead, use their wealth irresponsibly and will get so lost in their cares that the effects of others don't come to mind. In his novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald shows that the American Dream is portrayed ruthlessly.

First off, the characters will do anything to get ahead. Gatsby gets his wealth by doing illegal activity. He runs a bootleg alcohol sales. In the 1920s alcohol was illegal to sake and with Gatsby selling alcohol he made a lot of money. Someone who had actually worked for money and deserved more was Wilson. Wilson has a gas station and live above his garage. Although he does all that work he did not get what he deserved for all his hard work. On the other hand people like Gatsby got their money the illegal way. …show more content…

For example Gatsby drives a fancy car, a Rolls-Royce, a huge mansion to himself, and throws parties non-stop to impress people, and to try to make Daisy come back to him. He does all of this with the money he inherited from a life of crime, in the bootlegging business. Gatsby throws big parties but does not not anybody that comes to his parties. Gatsby believes that since he is rich, everyone will be his friend. Another person who uses their wealth irresponsibly is Tom. Tom buys is mistress Myrtle everything she wants. With all , of this happening, the book shows that money cannot buy

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Tom’s old money also dazzled his secret lover Myrtle Wilson. Myrtle was in awe with having the luxury of having currency and materials. Myrtle was enthralled by Tom’s carefree money use. An evident representation of Myrtle’s allure is clear when Tom states “here is your money, go on and buy ten more with it.” He says this to Myrtle as she picks out an Airedale puppy from a man on the streets of New York

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Myrtle downright ignores her own husband, “walking through her husband as if he were a ghost” and approaching Tom with a smile on her face (Fitzgerald 25-26). Though Myrtle and her husband have been married for a long time, Myrtle never got the money and status she wanted. As soon as she met Tom, all she could see was the money that surrounded him. In fact, she even changed her clothes around Tom, “attired in an elaborate afternoon dress of cream colored chiffon, which gave out a continual rustle as she swept about the room” (Fitzgerald 30). Myrtle often tries to come off richer than she is, proven by her various outfit changes in a small party where she wants to “prove herself a woman of Daisy's status through a melange of color, fashion, and commodities” (Goldsmith).

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In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby is a young man, around thirty years old, who rose from an impoverished childhood in rural North Dakota to become fabulously wealthy. However, he does not belong in the wealthy class. One reason Gatsby doesn't belong in the wealthy class would be how Gatsby manages his money. Gatsby's money did not come from inheritance, as he would like people to believe, but from organized crime. The story takes place during the time of prohibition and Gatsby has profited greatly from selling liquor illegally.

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Scott Fitzgerald became a very wealthy and financially successful man by bending the capitalistic system's rules. Throughout the book, it is prominent that Gatbsy craved to be wealthy and successful from his first taste of money working for Dan Cody on a yacht. Coming from a poor family farm in North Dakota, Gatbsy chose to illegally bootleg alcoholic beverages to sell to drug stores during the 1920s. At this time, Gatsby personally benefited extremely from the ability to grow his illegal business without the control of anyone. Gatsby's wealth is harmful to himself and others, and the way he controls people is extreme.

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Gatsby believes that money can buy him whatever his heart desires. Gatsby’s misunderstanding of the way money functions in the society he lives in results in the failure of his attempt to gain both status and the

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The young Gatsby admired her lifestyle, he felt that “her voice was full of money” (Fitzgerald 120). Gatsby demonstrates his appeal to Daisy, he loves her social position, popularity, and wealth, which he aspires to have. Daisy’s financial strength is something that pushes Gatsby to obtain his own luxurious lifestyle; his determination and success created by Daisy promote his greatness Gatsby’s swift reach to success is an impressive feat, as he climbed the social ladder in a few years. His wealth, which is said to be a product of family inheritance, is a lie uncovered by Tom. It is instead generated from over-the-counter bootlegging of alcohol, along with illegal gambling.

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(Fitzgerald 141). This revelation, made by Tom, demonstrates that Gatsby has participated in illegal activity to gain his riches, further proving that he is not truly great. Becoming rich through these means shows that Gatsby did not work for his wealth, and instead cheated the system. Others may argue that Gatsby’s illegal accumulation of wealth does not disprove the claim of his greatness, since his actions are not harmful to others. While this may seem true, Gatsby’s participation in bootlegging is an unfair way of obtaining his riches, which further degrades the efforts of others who have made money through honorable

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To begin, Fitzgerald highlights that people take advantage of wealth in which they become selfish and do not have morals anymore because they think they are better than everyone else and no one can stop them. The characters in East Egg were known to have “old money” which was passed down from generation to generation, yet Gatsby lived in West Egg ``new money” and he made the money all on his own but nobody quite knows how he made it. Although Tom says, “... He and this Wolfsiem bought up a lot of side street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter…”(Fitzgerald 133). No one really knew how Gatsby made all his money but Tom managed to find out. But the only reason why Gatsby wanted to have so much money was to impress Daisy.

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Although Myrtle is not wealthy enough to buy these things, she is able to use her looks to move up her social class. Being with Tom allows her to buy these things with his money. In certain situations, just changing the people around you can help you achieve the American

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Gatsby was not born wealthy, his parents were unfortunately unsuccessful farmers. But as an adult he became successful and rich. People thought he was a spy and/or a murderer. But he really just owned drug stores, illegally sold alcohol and

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The real reason why Gatsby got all of his money was by bootlegging, illegally distributing or buying illegal substances, but he was not going to tell people that. Instead, he states, “My family all died, and I came into a good deal of money” (Fitzgerald 51). Gatsby learned to act rich from a man named Dan Cody. He taught Gatsby to say things like “old sport” to make him sound wise and well-off. He loved to show off his wealth to everyone, but there was one person he wanted to please the most, Daisy

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The most expositor figure of Gatsby’s true wealth is Tom Buchanan. In the New York hotel room, Tom brings to light Gatsby’s true cause of prosperity. “He and this Wolfshiem bought up a lot of side street drug stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter,” Tom states boldly finally proving that Gatsby did not inherit it but assumed it through fraudulent

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Despite the fact that his illustrious parties gather crowds, Gatsby knows very little about the people who attend them. Granting all this, Gatsby’s money did not come from inheritance, as he wants people to believe. His wealth was attained from organized crime. Due to the story-taking place during the prohibition area, Jay profited

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Gatsby has a fortune, illegal albeit, but still a fortune. Gatsby was the son of a farmer and was inspired by Dan Cody to make a name for himself and achieve his dreams. However the American Dream lost its original meaning in the 1920s, thanks to bootlegging and the mob business that was becoming so popular on the east coast. Gatsby took advantage of this to make a shortcut of the American Dream. At this point Gatsby wasn't concerned with accomplishing anything as long as he felt accomplished.

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While on the surface, Gatsby does have a ‘rags-to-riches’ story, it is not a virtuous one; he amasses his wealth through illegal channels by working with Meyer Wolfsheim, and never fulfills his dream, Daisy. Also, He changes his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby when he first encounters Dan Cody. Because Gatsby has to take on an entirely different persona to achieve success, disguising his poor upbringing and suggesting that James Gatz could never achieve the American dream. Gatsby first attempts to earn his financial success by performing menial labor for Cody, but when Cody’s ex-wife swindles Gatsby out of his inheritance, he turns to illegal means of getting rich. Not only does Gatsby illegally gain his wealth my selling grain liquor over the counter, but he also does so under the direction of Meyer Wolfsheim, breaking two essential qualities of the self-made man, virtue, and independence.

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