False Hope Of The American Dream

The American Dream, a long standing ideal embodies the hope that one can achieve financial success, political power, and everlasting love through dedication and hard work. During the Roaring 20s, people in America put up facades to mask who they truly were. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald conveys that the American Dream is simply an illusion, that is idealist and unreal. In the novel, Gatsby, a wealthy socialite pursues his dream, Daisy. In the process of pursuing Daisy, Gatsby betrays his morals and destroys himself. Through the eyes of the narrator, Nick,

Ambitions are an integral aspect of human culture. They motivate us in a ceaseless pursuit of constant success. However, humans are truly not contempt with their successes, and perpetually dream for more success in a never-ending spiral of greed. Jay Gatsby’s character throughout F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, is an ideal epitome of human greed, or as we can refer to it, the American dream. Fitzgerald is able to foster a culture within the novel where dreams seem unreachable, despite the amount of hunger, or greed, one may possess in aim of fulfilling their desires. A sense of elitism is also present within the novel as Fitzgerald ably crafts astounding discrepancies within the social structure of the era fondly

Fitzgerald uses Gatsby's parties and the way in which Nick views them to reveal that whilst Gatsby is surrounded by shallow and vulgar people, he is above this. Fitzgerald also uses these parties to expose Gatsby's isolation which leads us to feel sympathy toward Gatsby. Despite the amount of people at the party, Nick observes Gatsby's seclusion and loneliness, "my eyes fell to Gatsby, standing alone on the marble steps". This evokes a great deal of sympathy from us as although Nick describes Gatsby in a warm and friendly way, "It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life", we now can see that Gatsby is a lonely figure. This sympathy is accentuated when Nick is the only person to turn up to Gatsby's funeral, as we know that Gatsby is a decent and honourable character and thus our sympathies are emphasised by Gatsby's isolation. When Nick first meets Gatsby, he reveals Gatsby to be a fascinating character that we would like to know more about. The warm and assuring smile that Nick describes is in antithesis to the

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famed novel The Great Gatsby incorporates many dynamic characters and situations into the world of the Roaring Twenties. Given the title, many readers will argue over whether the main character, Jay Gatsby, a mysterious man who throws elaborate parties, was truly great or not. The true definition of great is one who is selfless, pure of any illegal actions, and who doesn’t lie. Gatsby rebelled against all of these characteristics. Gatsby was selfish, committed illegal actions and lied about his overall past. Using these three reasons, one can prove that Jay Gatsby was not as great as some believed him to be.

“Nothing great will ever be achieved without great men, and men are great only if they are determined to be so,” once said Charles de Gaulle. This valiant quote by a former president of France accentuates my opinion of the Great Jay Gatsby. From humble beginnings rises our main focus of F. Scott Fitzgeralds’ The Great Gatsby. Young Jimmy Gatz is brought to West Egg from his heavily impoverished North Dakota family. His desire to be something greater than a farmer drove him to fortune and love through any means necessary; his life long obsession, Daisy Fay, infatuates Jay in his own insatiable thirst for her affection. James follows Daisy in the years after he is deployed to World War 1, and when he sees she has married Tom Buchanan he becomes hell-bent on replicating the success Tom has inherited in order to win over Daisy. Through moderately deceitful ways, Jay Gatsby builds his wealth and reputation to rival and even supersede many already lavish family names. Astonishingly, the great Mr. Gatsby, overrun with newfound affluence, stays true to his friends, lover, and his own ideals to his blissfully ignorant end.

What is American Dream? What does it mean to you? What does it mean to me? Although we all have the same ideology of what the definition of what the American Dream is, we can all come up with a different meaning, each one more personal to ourselves than to others. As we will see with the help of three different authors, regardless of age, race, sexuality, religion, or social status, we could possibly agree on the idea of the American Dream falling short and being a false sense of reality for many Americans to this day.

The perspective of the person being asked makes all the difference because the american dream isn’t always the same for every person. A study showed that 62% believed their parents achieved the american dream while 57% of parents believe they achieved it. This all depends on the perspective of the person asked. If you ask a minimum wage worker at mcdonalds they may have a different input on what the American dream is compared to a big city businessman. I believe the divide in the different thoughts of what the American dream is makes it a false hope. The belief that anyone can succeed makes the idea to far fetched to be realistic. I believe the American dream is a false hope due to the lack of drive and financial ability of the average american.

In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald displays society’s role in transforming one’s identity by creating complex and realistic characters. Jay Gatsby is a prime example of how one will change themselves to accommodate society. Once a poor son from a farming family, Gatsby puts up an extravagant facade to hopefully win a woman over, however in the process, puts aside morals and values. Fitzgerald demonstrates the importance of social expectations, wealth and the perception of the American Dream are in determining one’s identity.

Fitzgerald chose Nick to narrate the text because his perspective creates a multifaceted view of the world Fitzgerald portrays. He is an outsider to the wealthy materialistic world in which he lives. His similarity to Gatsby in that respect helps us gain an appreciation for Gatsby’s character, but although Nick and Gatsby are both outsiders Nick fails to fully understand Gatsby. This appreciation but lack of full understanding gives the reader a very different perspective than a narration from Gatsby’s point of view or that of anyone else in the novel. Nick is caught between the perspective of the man “looking up and wondering” (35) and the man in the party. Gatsby is neither; he holds the party but then scarcely shows up. Far from being an outsider to the world of wealth and materialism, he seems to embody it. Gatsby and Nick both disdain the world of vacuous wealth, but they do so from different perspectives. Gatsby has everything he needs to be part of it and chooses not to; Nick is caught on the edge, unsure whether or not he wants that world, but ultimately he cannot have it. If Nick is an outsider unsure about trying to become an insider, Gatsby is an insider trying, studiously, to make himself an outsider.

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby provides the reader with a unique outlook on the life of the newly rich. Gatsby is an enigma and a subject of great curiosity, furthermore, he is content with a lot in life until he strives too hard. His obsession with wealth, his lonely life and his delusion allow the reader to sympathize with him.

This research presents F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The novel was first published in 1925 with a cast of fictional characters living in New York around the 1920s. This research primarily focuses on sources including critical essays, published reviews, and synopses. The research focuses on the idea that the American dream is unattainable. The focus is that the main character, Jay Gatsby’s desire for wealth results in his death and the failure to win back the girl he once lost. In many ways symbolism played out root causes to the corruption of characters in the novel. This case example shows Gatsby's desire for wealth and the American dream, the green light and the Valley of Ashes result in the failure of achieving his dream.

In an average day, an American is exposed to over 3000 advertisements, (Kilbourne). Whether they want to admit it or not, they are drawn toward them. A common scheme of the advertisers is to allow the consumer to “picture the new them.” Whether this be a wealthier them, a skinner them, or a prettier them, they gear there product towards every person and want everyone be able to connect with the advertisement and picture the “new them.” American Idol, Nutrisystem, and The Biggest Loser, the lottery, and many other “products” promote that anyone has the chance to be famous, fit, or fortunate. The successes from these “products” present themselves as they were before, with the sob story that hopefully touches a nerve with

As a child, did you ever dream about something huge, like becoming a movie star or owning your own mansion? Did this dream come true? For many people living in the 1930’s, as well as in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, their dream did not come true. Many people in this time period believed that they could prosper and become successful; they believed in the American Dream. Steinbeck shows the true disillusionment of the American Dream through his characters in his novel.

Critically acclaimed author, Azar Nafisi once said, “The negative side of the American dream comes when people pursue success at any cost, which in turn destroys the vision and the dream.” Within The Great Gatsby, which is set in the midst of the roaring 20s, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s apparent plot is the rekindling between hopeless lovers but in actuality it converses the inevitability of the American dream downfall. The novel is narrated by Nick Carraway who speaks in absolute awe of Jay Gatsby, originally James Gatz, who is a man who lives a life of luxury from not only new but dirty money. The Great Gatsby is a highly symbolic text, in particular of the true hollowness of the American dream in an era of materialism and corruption which ultimately leads to shattered hopes and dreams.

In the timeless classic The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald describes the prevalent, rich culture of high society in the East Coast and uses the life of Jay Gatsby to disclose the trappings in this social structure. After he returned from World War I in 1918, Fitzgerald wrote this book when America was entering a new age of dreams. Fitzgerald is quite critical of the high society while he is also trying to raise his own social status. With his earlier success of This Side of Paradise, Fitzgerald’s life is resembled Gatsby’s extravagant social ambitions. Since Fitzgerald was from the “moral” Mid-West of Minnesota, his residence resembled Nick Carraway’s, Gatsby’s only friend (“F. Scott Fitzgerald” Web). Whether Fitzgerald was comparing the path of his life to Gatsby’s or just protecting his perceptions of high society is unsure. Gatsby’s new riches allows him into high society in West Egg with frivolous parties. However, the ultimate goal in all that Gatsby does is to win the love of Daisy and Gatsby allows himself to be enticed into immorality by having an affair with this married lady from East Egg (Topham Web). This relationship propels Gatsby into a selfish society which only looks out for itself. This scandalous relationship ends in the death of Gatsby and his dreams. The Great Gatsby exposes the immoral culture of high society, unravels self-seeking motives of the heart within this culture, and warns of the ultimate demise of such selfish behaviors.