The American Dream in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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United States of America. The American dream, the national ethos of United States. "Life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement" (Truslow, James 1931) In the 1920s America’s economy was rocketing. In this decade, America became one of the wealthiest countries in the world. The Average Joes had well paid jobs, and people had leftover money to spend. The industries sold more products than ever before and one example of this is the T-Ford. In 1928, a T-Ford had a price of $295, while the same car in 1909 had the insane price of $1200. (This would be $4000 versus $30.000 in today’s value.) There is one keyword: Mass production. Since the prices on items were lower, more people could buy such items. This resulted in more sales and expansion of factories and jobs. There were people with insane amounts of money. The characteristics of this era was that the rich became immensely rich. Bootlegging were a shadowy business that made a great deal of money. There is a connection between bootlegging and mafias. Al Capone were one of the most significant mafia leader and without doubt participated in selling illegal liquor. As a result of the prohibition era federal prison population increased by 366%, as well as police funding increased by $11.4 million. Some made their money fair and square; others were bootleggers and made a great amount of money. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (24. September 1986) was born in to an upper-middle-class neighborhood in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1913 Fitzgerald attended Princeton university, where he befriended Edmund Wilson who were to help him years later. As Fitzgerald failed to join the football team, he felt disappointed for years. ... ... middle of paper ... ...society is not a good match. Works Cited Loeffelholz, Mary et al. (2011). The Norton Anthology of American Litterature: New York, W. W. Norton & Company. pp 3-20 Fitzgerald, Francis (1992) The Great Gatsby, Collier Book Luhrmann, Baz. (2013). The Great Gatsby, USA: Warner Bros Truslow, James (1931) Localized Retrieved December 5, 2013 from http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/580393.James_Truslow_Adams Chris Truman, (Unknown year), America in the 1920’s, Retrieved December 5, 2013 from http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/America_economy_1920s.htm Unknown author, but a Princeton.edu website (Unknown Year), F. Scott Fitzgerald Papers, Retrieved December 5, 2013 from http://www.princeton.edu/~rbsc/research/tutorial/lib-fitzaid.html Shmoop Editorial Team. (2008, November 11). The Great Gatsby. Retrieved April 23, 2014 from http://www.shmoop.com/great-gatsby/

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