Essay On The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

The American Dream in The Great Gatsby The American Dream is a powerful thing in the lives and hopes of its citizens, as shown in Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald’s book, The Great Gatsby. It is, and was, faith in individualism, expectation of progress, and mainly the belief in America as a land of opportunity. However, it also is differs from person to person. This plays a great part in Fitzgerald’s book, The Great Gatsby. His book took place in the 1920 's, which is also called the 'Roaring 20 's '. During this time, many Americans were freely spending. Moreover, the economy was doing extremely well and thus provided citizens with a sense of security and intense freedom. Many used that freedom and economic boom to become rich in business.

Myrtle proves this when she sees Tom for the first time, and is entranced by his suit. She is more impressed and attracted to his wealth and status then to his personality and attitude. Also, Myrtle also shows her materialistic personality by being furious when George borrowed a suit for their wedding. She shows the materialistic part of the American Dream here by showing that some people 's Dream is to be wealthy. To be successful, have money, and have objects that portray your wealth to yourself and others. Therefore, in that sense, objects like a nice expensive suit would be appealing -even at first glance like it was with Tom- to a person with that Dream. Likewise, there are several more examples of materialism in The Great Gatsby. In one scenario, which takes place at Tom and Daisy 's house, Gatsby and Nick discuss the wonders of Daisy 's voice. Gatsby himself states about Daisy 's voice, saying, “Her voice is full of money” (127). Thus, part of the reason Gatsby is attracted to Daisy is her voice. Additionally, other men pursued her, and Gatsby witnessed that. So he saw her as a prize to win, something that no one else had. Also, after Gatsby and Daisy met again after being apart for almost five years, Daisy started crying when looking at Gatsby 's shirts. She was so consumed by the things that Gatsby had, how expensive and nice they

When Gatsby met Daisy as a poor farm boy, he was intrigued. She was something other men had strove and strove to obtain. Then Gatsby decided that he wanted her, because of her voice, the very fact that he wanted to accomplish something no one else had, and he genuinely started to love her. Notably, at this time he probably was attracted to her voice because his dream was to be successful and wealthy because he did not want to be like his parents. Then, he later describes her voice as full of money. When Gatsby returned from the war, he discovered that Daisy and Tom were married. However, he kept an eye on her while he pursued his career as a bootlegger with Meyer Wolfsheim. A main part of why he became a bootlegger was to become rich quickly, so that he could obtain enough items and wealth to impress Daisy when he would eventually meet her again. Likewise, Gatsby picked a house across from Daisy’s, where he could look across the dark lake at night and see the green light at the end of her dock. However, Gatsby 's view of Daisy eventually turned into an illusion. While Daisy and Nick were at Gatsby 's house, Klipspringer started playing the piano. About how "The rich get richer and the poor get-children" (101). This is saying how the rich are so caught up in staying wealthy, and the everyday needs of their career among other things, that they do