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The pursuit of happiness the american dream
The pursuit of happiness the american dream
Commentary on american dream
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The American Dream
There is no set definition to be found anywhere of the true meaning of The American Dream. Any hope, dream, or goal which was pursued by anyone in the history of America is on an American Dream.In modern times the accepted dream seems to be 2.5 children, a house with a white picket fence, and a perfect spouse. However, as it is shown through out literature from the early days of America to contemporary times the American Dream is not always so simple a concept.
America was originally founded on the dream of freedom.People have freedom to pursue what they want.That is the ideal behind the American Dream. Early stories in American literature are about peoples pursuit of the freedom to worship as they pleased. Another version of the American Dream is the hope that immmigrants had of building a better life for their children than they had, as shown in the book My Antonia. Another is the search for acceptance, which is shown in the book Black Boy. Another is simply the hope to survive, as shown in the book Lord of the Flies.
Whatever the dream, the most interesting thing that can be read or written about it is the drive of people to attain it.This is best shown in The Great Gatsby.
The Pursuit of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby
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.
Jay Gatsby is a man who does not wish to live in the present because it offers him nothing.He spends the majority of his adult life trying to recapture his past and,eventually,dies in his pursuit of it.The reason he wishes to relive the past is because long ago he had a love affair with the rich Daisy Buchanan,who he fell deeply in love with.However,he knew that they could never get married due to the difference in their economic and social statuses.He wants to marry her,but because of this problem he leaves her to gain wealth and social status in order to reach her standards.
After reading both, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and “Paradox and Dream” by John Steinbeck, it is extremely clear that both authors believe the American Dream differs from person to person. Though, the main similarity between American’s different versions of the American Dream is that each person wants more than they have. No matter the social status or salary, each person dreams of more; more money, a bigger home, a better job, etc.
Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald criticizes the American dream very elaborately and shows the idea of the American dream to be connected with the goal of achieving wealth. Fitzgerald does not praise wealth in the Great Gatsby but condemns it by drawing attention to the dreadful fall made by Gatsby. Fitzgerald finds the desire of wealth to be a corrupting impact on people. Throughout the novel, the characters with money contradict the idea of the American dream. They are portrayed to be very snobbish and unhappy people. The American dream in the novel is shown to be unachievable. For some time, the American dream has been focused upon material things that will gain people success.
If you look up the meaning of the American Dream, you will keep finding definitions similar to this one: “the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.” The real meaning of the American Dream however, varies from whom you ask. Many people argue that the American Dream is alive and well, whereas others might argue that the dream is pretty much dead. If you ask me what I think, I personally believe that the American Dream was once a farfetched goal of the people of America, where people dreamed of going from rags to riches. Though the dream might still be alive, it is no longer what is use to be. I believe that the American Dream nowadays, is just a short redefined version of living a middle class lifestyle. But, for others the dream might simply mean to escape poverty and give their children a better life. The American Dream however, is in my opinion not only applicable for natural born citizens but to legal and illegal immigrants as well.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald's, The Great Gatsby, the pursuit of the American dream in a corrupt period is a central theme. This theme exemplifies itself in the downfall of Gatsby. In a time of disillusionment the ideals of the American dream are lost. The classic American dream is one of materialism and when Gatsby incorporates Daisy, a human being, into the dream he is doomed to fail.
Clearly, there is no cut and dried. definition of the American Dream as long as any two people hold a different meaning. The syllable of the syllable. What it does universally represent, however, is the opportunity for. people like Sara to seek out their individual and collective desires under a political umbrella of democracy.
Upon first meeting Gatsby we find him staring at the green light at the end of the dock owned by Daisy. The exact wording of this moment is “But A I didn’t call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone-he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling” (Fitzgerald, 19-20). This instance alone shows nothing, save a longing, but when combined with the next few chapters it shows Gatsby obsession with all things related to Daisy. Another instance of Gatsby's longing for Daisy is showed in that his parties are meant to be for her. This conversation between Nick and Gatsby from late in the book shows Gatsby's concern when Daisy is actually at his party ““She didn’t like it,” he said immediately. “Of course she did.” “She didn’t like it,” he insisted. “She didn’t have a good time.” He was silent, and I guessed at his unutterable depression” (108-109). The major flaw in Gatsby's plan is that Daisy is old money, and old money and new money...
The American Dream had always been based on the idea that each person no matter who he or she is can become successful in life by his or her hard work. The dream also brought about the idea of a self-reliant man, a hard worker, making a successful living for him or herself. The Great Gatsby is about what happened to the American Dream in the 1920s, a time period when the many people with newfound wealth and the need to flaunt it had corrupted the dream. The pursuit of the American Dream is the one motivation for accomplishing one's goals, however when combined with wealth the dream becomes nothing more than selfishness.
Truth Behind the American Dream: Is the American Dream only a dream or can it ever be achieved? In the United States, the basic motto is to attend the American Dream. It is the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. It does not matter if a person was born into a poor family; he or she has equal opportunities to attain the American Dream. The American Dream basically means success in life with a nice house, a job, knowledge and especially the pursuit of happiness.
The author illustrates through the characters that the search for wealth, love, or fame or going after the past ideals may not lead to true happiness. Jay Gatsby, the central figure of the story, is one character who longs for the past. Surprisingly, he devotes most of his adult life trying to recapture it and, finally, dies in its pursuit. In the past, Jay had a love affair with the affluent Daisy. Knowing he could not marry her because of the difference in their social status, he leaves her to amass wealth to reach her economic standards.
The concept of the American Dream has always been that everyone wants something in life, no matter if it is wealth, education, financial stability, safety, or a decent standard of living. In addition, everyone will try to strive to get what they want. The American Dream, is said to be that everyone should try and get what they hope they can get in life. In the play A Raisin in the Sun the author Hansberry tells us about a family where each has an American Dream, and Hughes in the poem “ Let America be America Again “is telling us to let America be the America that was free for us to obtain The American Dream. Hansberry and Langston see America like as a place to find the dream desired, although they also see limitation to obtain the American Dream, such as poverty, freedom, inequality, racism and discrimination.
This represents the abstraction of the American Dream, area qualities of harder plan and appetite are shown. The atypical The Abundant Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald embodies abounding themes; about the a lot of cogent one relates to the bribery of the American dream. The American Dream is authentic as anyone starting low on the bread-and-butter or amusing level, and alive harder appear abundance and or abundance and fame. By accepting money, a car, a big house, nice clothes and a blessed ancestors symbolizes the American dream. This dream aswell represents that people, no amount who he or she is, can become acknowledged in activity by his or her own work. The admiration to strive for what one wants can be able if they plan harder enough. The
Up until now, the term American Dream is still a popular concept on how Americans or people who come to America should live their lives and in a way it becomes a kind of life goal. However, the definitions of the term itself is somehow absurd and everyone has their own definition of it. The historian James Tuslow defines American Dream as written in his book titled “The Epic of America” in 1931 as “...dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.” The root of the term American Dream is actually can be traced from the Declaration of Independence in 1776 which stated “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that
For decades, Americans have disputed over the meaning of the American Dream as a whole. However, many have failed to come to the conclusion that there is no universal definition. Instead, the American dream is an amalgamation of diverse hopes and aspirations that vary from person to person depending on his/her morals and lifestyle.
The American dream is the idea held by many in the United States of America that through hard work, courage and determination one can achieve prosperity.
"The American Dream" is that dream of a nation in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with options for each according to capacity or accomplishments. It is a dream of social stability in which each man and each woman shall be able to achieve to the fullest distinction of which they are essentially competent, and be distinguish by others for what they are, despite of the incidental conditions of birth or stance. The American Dream is often something that humanity wonders about. What is the American dream? Many people discover success in a range of things. There are many different definitions of the American Dream. However, the American Dream embraces prosperity, personal safety, and personal liberty. The American dream is a continually fluctuating set of ideals, reflecting the ideas of an era.