To some people in this world the most important thing to them is to fulfill their American dream. The American dream has changed throughout the years, but one thing that hasn’t changed is how important that dream is to people. One great example of the importance of the American dream is The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald puts a lot of detail and mystery into his book trying to make people think about what each characters dream was. Fitzgerald also uses his characters to portray the different types of dreams people have including money, love, and acceptance. These three things have changed throughout the years, but some of them still have a little of the same since this book was written.
Money has always been something people have wanted, from the beginning when America was settled to now. Everyone always wants to work hard to get the money or marry into it, like Daisy. “She wanted her life now, immediately – and the decision must be made by some force – of love, of money – that was close at hand (Fitzgerald 96).” In this part of the book Daisy was in love with Gatsby still but she knew he wasn’t rich. She wanted to start her life already with someone who can give her what she wanted. She American dream was to have someone who can provide a better life for her. She met that someone in Tom. Money is usually paired with ownership and security in this situation. Now in days people have identified their American dream as ownership and security (Kadlec 1). Now people just want to feel like their lives are being taken care of from the beginning. They do not want to have to worry about being in debt or financial problems. So they try to solve that problem by making it the most important goal of their life, their American dream. Ano...
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...tter how much time has passed. Everyone’s American dream is important and they will try anything to fulfill their dream.
Works Cited
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, and Matthew J. Bruccoli. The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Scribner, 1925. Print.
"The Great Gatsby.”. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2014. .
Hargreaves, Steve. "The myth of the American Dream ." . CNNMoney, 9 Dec. 2013. Web. 19 May 2014. .
Kadlec, Dan . "Is the American Dream Withering or Just Changing?." . TIME, 26 Sept. 2013. Web. 19 May 2014. .
Klett, Ernst. "The American Dream then and now." . N.p., 1 Jan. 2008. Web. 19 May 2014. .
In today’s society the idea of “American Dream” has become a controversial and widely interpreted issue that awaked opinions and research from professionals in fields such as Economics and Journalism because of the concept that in general the American dream involves. In his essay, “Hiding from Reality,” Bob Herbert examines how the achievement of the American dream is affected by the economy and quality of education in American society, and the effect of the inadequate utilization of the sources by the politicians will impact future generations. Despite his diverse points of view to determine if the American dream is still a viable element in today’s US society, the restauration of the American
...on materialism and social class. While novel is widely considered a zeitgeist of the time period, it is also a warning for the American Dream. Although the Dream is not Marxist materialism, it is certainly not traditional individualism and freedom. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby poses a question: what is the American Dream?
The Great Gatsby,a novel by F,Scott Fitzgerald,is about the American Dream,and the downfall of the people who try to reach it.The American Dream means something different to different people,but in The Great Gatsby,for Jay Gatsby,the subject of the book,the dream is that through acquiring wealth and power,one can also gain happiness.To reach his idea of what happiness is,Gatsby must go back in time and relive an old dream.To do this,he believes,he must first have wealth and power.
Hargreaves, Steve. "The myth of the American Dream." CNNMoney. CNN, 9 Dec. 2013. Web. 29 April, 2014.
Kamp, David. “Rethinking the American Dream.” Vanity Fair.com. Conde Nast Publications, April 2009. Web. 19 Nov. 2010.
The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, perfectly symbolizes many emerging trends of the 1920’s. More importantly, the character of Jay Gatsby is depicted as a man amongst his American dreams and the trials he faces in the pursuit of its complete achievement. His drive to acquire the girl of his dreams, Daisy Buchanan, through gaining status and wealth shows many aspects of the author's view on the American dream. Through this, one can hope to disassemble the complex picture that is Fitzgerald’s view of this through the novel. Fitzgerald believes, through his experiences during the 1920’s, that only fractions of the American Dream are attainable, and he demonstrates this through three distinct images in The Great Gastby.
A little girl dreams of a white wedding with white doves flying over the ceremony and the fairy-tale honeymoon. Only then to come home to the yellow house in the country, with the white picket fence included. Everyone has daydreamed about their future and having the “perfect” house, with the “perfect” car and the “perfect” marriage- everyone wants to live the “American Dream”. There are many people that believe that the “American Dream” is a concept that they are entitled to and expected to live. Then, there are those who believe that you should use the opportunities that America offers as a stepping stone to earn and create your own “American dream”. However, as time goes on the mainstream idea of “living the American Dream” has changed. This change is mostly due to the ever-changing economy, professions, and expectations of the American people. Throughout the book Working, by Studs Terkel, we meet many diverse groups of people to discover the people behind the jobs that allows American society to operate and how their choice of a career path has changed their lives.
" The American Dream. 2014 The American Dream, 15 Jul 2013. Web. 13 Feb 2014.
... the American Dream goes, it will ALWAYS be there for most American citizens. However, whether or not we can achieve the American Dream will be the true battle.
“The American Dream: Out of Reach?” America Press 10/3/2011: Pages. Vol. 205 Issue 9, p6-6. 8/9
People who work hard enough become successful and build a good life for themselves and their family. Millions of Americans and others who admire America have believed this for generations. However, is this still true? Brandon King debates his interpretation of the American Dream in his published work, “The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold?” During his essay, the speaker highlights how important the American Dream is to the economy and providing a distance from inequality. The speaker emphasizes his belief that the American Dream is still alive within America and that people must work hard to achieve it. When discussing the American Dream, King will agree that the idea is alive and thriving in the minds of Americans; yet, I argue that the idea is on hold within American society due to lack of upward social independence and economic mobility.
Tran, Lynda. "Losing the 'American Dream'." USNEWS.com. N.P., 13 May 2013. Web. 12 Mar 2014. .
In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald employs the use of characters, themes, and symbolism to convey the idea of the American Dream and its corruption through the aspects of wealth, family, and status. In regards to wealth and success, Fitzgerald makes clear the growing corruption of the American Dream by using Gatsby himself as a symbol for the corrupted dream throughout the text. In addition, when portraying the family the characters in Great Gatsby are used to expose the corruption growing in the family system present in the novel. Finally, the American longing for status as a citizen is gravely overshot when Gatsby surrounds his life with walls of lies in order to fulfill his desires for an impure dream. F. Scot. Fitzgerald, through his use of symbols, characters, and theme, displays for the reader a tale that provides a commentary on the American dream and more importantly on its corruption.
The American Dream can obliterate any prospect of satisfaction and does not show its own unfeasibility. The American dream is combine and intensely implanted in every structure of American life. During the previous years, a very significant number of immigrants had crossed the frontier of the United States of America to hunt the most useful thing in life, the dream, which every American human being thinks about the American dream. Many of those immigrants sacrificed their employments, their associations and connections, their educational levels, and their languages at their homelands to start their new life in America and prosper in reaching their dream.
Evensvold, Marty D. "The American Dream: Stories from the Heart of Our Nation." Library Journal Dec. 2001: 200. General OneFile. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.