ipl-logo

Why Is The American Dream Unattainable

698 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Gatsby's problems with wealth

The American Dream is the idea that being a citizen in America means individuals who can rely on themselves, can prosper with the opportunities and progress that America promises them. However, actions will always contain more meaning than words. Throughout the story The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald explores this idea through the perspective of the excessively wealthy, high-class citizens of America. Using evidence from The Great Gatsby, the American Dream is unattainable because financial success does not equal fulfillment in life, and the lower classes are given little to improve the rough situations and decaying economy that society leaves behind; however, attaining the image of the Dream that others see from an outside perspective, is achievable. When the American Dream is discussed, the concept is focused …show more content…

Affluent Dan Cody would serve as a true inspiration for Gatsby, because he was born into a family of poor and unsuccessful farmers. Following the eventual passing of Cody, any money left for Gatsby was taken by Cody’s mistress; leaving Gatsby with a plan for financial triumph, however he would have to start from scratch. While attending a school, “he [would stay] there two weeks, dismayed at its ferocious difference to the drums of his destiny, to destiny itself, and despising the janitor's work which he has to pay his way through.” (Fitzgerald 99). Life was not in Gatsby’s favor, but once he met his love, golden girl Daisy, now there was motivation to keep on striving. The dream was put on hold when Gatsby was called to war, which would result in him not seeing Daisy for five years; unfortunately, during this period of time Daisy would marry the overly affluent, Tom Buchanan. In order to meet her, Gatsby would

Show More
Related
1422 Words | 6 Pages

The American Dream is something which almost every American is familiar with, but it also is unattainable for the vast majority of Americans, something which F. Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates with his acclaimed novel, The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby covers the story of Nick, an all around average man who is thrust into the lives of both the ultra wealthy and the aspiring-to-be wealthy when he moves to New York. He meets his nextdoor neighbor, Gatsby, who owns an extravagant mansion which Nick finds out to be purchased with money of questionable background, and owned by an ever increasingly strange and dubious man. Over the course of the novel, different characters all chase their own goals - some want love, some want power, almost everyone

Read More
273 Words | 2 Pages

What is the American Dream? The American Dream is the ideal that every U.S. citizens achieve their dreams through hard works and determinations, as portrayed in The Great Gatsby; a novel that pursuits the American Dream, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Through the uses diction and imagery, the author, Fitzgerald has successfully revealed how each character in the story pursuit their own versions of the American Dreams; prompted numerous life lessons at the end of the story. To begin, the author uses man great diction to create certain tones, where these tones then lead to ways that the characters pursue their American Dreams, and expose life lessons that readers can easily take away. For example, in chapter 5, the author states, “Gatsby got himself

Read More
987 Words | 4 Pages

The idea of the American Dream has served as a driving force in American society for centuries. However, the attainability of this dream is not promised, and rather than a dream, one could just be pursuing a destructive illusion. The American Dream is highlighted in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, illustrated as an alluring ideal that could deviate into a harmful fallacy. The harm of the American dream can be associated with Gatsby and Myrtle’s deaths, both demonstrating the failure of the lower class obtaining their desired reality. Daisy and Tom help depict how the achievability of the American dream is more prevalent to those whose social status is predetermined to be higher.

Read More
1123 Words | 5 Pages

The American Dream has been a goal for many Americans for many decades. This dream often consists of “pulling up your bootstraps” and moving from a lower class position to a high class one through hard work. Even though this has been a prominent value throughout the decades, it is difficult to think of this as truly attainable. Although F.Scott Fitzgerald highlights the extremely wealthy and elite in the novel, The Great Gatsby, the failure of George Wilson and the way Tom Buchanan views everyone as disposable proves that the American Dream is not attainable. Throughout The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald places emphasis on the material wealth of many of his characters including the Buchanans and Jay Gatsby.

Read More
353 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More
1712 Words | 7 Pages

The American dream is much more than what meets the eye When people think of the American dream, their heads automatically go to the novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby is famously known for its portrayal of the American dream and it has become the stereotypical story for every American dreamer. It has done many wonders in American literature; however, people are starting to forget that it is all solely fictional and to not strive for their lifestyles. They also seem to forget the true nature of the American dream and its powerful significance of it. The critically acclaimed Novel, The Great Gatsby does not portray the real American dream because modern society has changed its expectations.

Read More
1140 Words | 5 Pages

54 percent of American adults believe there is an American dream, but 28 percent think it is unattainable. The 20s were a time of prosperity with the economy rising, with many get-rich-quick schemes that made people strive for their American dream. Gatsby was able to use the prosperity of the time to get rich and climb the socioeconomic ladder, which led him to have his American Dream within reach. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald there is a constant similarity between Gatsby’s American Dream and that of most people in the 20s because the novel shows that people will do anything to get to their American dream no matter how corrupt it is, most American dreams equate with social status, and the attempts to reach the American dream

Read More
1109 Words | 5 Pages

The ever-hopeful end result of pursuing the American dream is the aspiration of achieving a substantial amount of money and successfully building the white picket fence. Many talk about the famous accounts of successful dream chasers, however, hidden under their feet are countless Americans anxiously waiting to climb up the ladder. In contrast, several get caught up on earthly desires believing it will lead them to eternal satisfaction, but often, it decides their own fate. In The Great Gatsby, American author F. Scott Fitzgerald explores the tragedy found within numerous characters. This novel reveals all social classes striving to achieve the American dream, showing how even the most wealthy struggle to live an authentic, happy life.

Read More
873 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Gatz was born into poverty in a small town in North Dakota. Gatz always felt distant from both of his parents, he did not dislike them, he just did not have an emotional connection with them like most children do. Even though Gatz and his family were less fortunate and impoverished, he always knew that one day he would be rich and prospeous. One day, while working on Lake Superior, Gatz noticed a yaght owned by a rich copper mogul that went by the name of Dan Cody, and rowed out to warn him about an impending storm. Cody was very grateful for this and made Gatz his assistant.

Read More
871 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
660 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
1816 Words | 8 Pages

In life, everybody hopes to seek prosperity, and the American dream exemplifies the opportunity of success and security. As part of American culture, the American dream is a key part of what defines America. In light of over a century of this dream, many people can see the effects that develop from it as the famous American writer Azar Nafisi describes, “The negative side of the American Dream comes when people pursue success at any cost, which in turn destroys the vision and the dream.” Despite what people hate about the American dream, the unwavering tenacity that people strive for the American dream is what makes it beautiful and admirable. In his novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald criticizes and explores the early ideas of the

Read More
1034 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
1558 Words | 7 Pages

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.

Read More
772 Words | 4 Pages

"The negative side of the American Dream comes when people pursue success at any cost, which in turn destroys the vision and the dream." In this quote, by Azar Nafisi, it explains how dreaming can be tainted by reality, and that if a person doesn’t compromise they may suffer. In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the American Dream is one the many themes present. The American Dream that most people in this book hope to have involves wealth, status, a fun social life, and someone to lust after. It is the life they all strive to have until they obtain it and see its meaningless composure.

Read More

More about Why Is The American Dream Unattainable

Related Topics

Open Document