Great Gatsby vs Death of a Salesman
The American dream is something many people strive to achieve. In many ways, the “American dream” itself, is inevitably impossible to achieve fully. In both stories, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller both main characters strive to achieve the American dream, but ultimately fail. There are both similarities and differences in how they define success for themselves, the way in which they both chose to achieve their dreams, and finally the result in attempting to achieve their dreams.
Jay Gatsby, now a flamboyant, extremely hopeful and a suave man living the life of luxury defines success as having money, and working hard for what you want. Jay Gatsby grew up in a small town and was unbelievably poor, however he manages to reinvent himself by learning what it means to be a part of the “Upper Class”. He achieved the dream in some way, even though he did not do so in the correct way, he still achieved, in some ways the “American Dream”, but he was missing the key aspect of fully transitioning to the upper-class, which was winning Daisy Buchannan over. Gatsby fell in love, and he fell in love with the Ms. Daisy Buchannan. Falling in love with Daisy refined his whole dream. He wanted to win Daisy over, but at the time he met her, he was missing one very important thing: Money. He spent the next few years of his life trying to fulfill his dreams, as a result of working hard for what he wants. Whereas in Death Of A Salesman, Willy Lowman, defines success for himself as being well liked and knowing enough people, having a great and charismatic personality. That is what he defined success for himself as. Willy Lowman is an amateur salesman, who lives in an ...
... middle of paper ...
...tsby believes in working hard for success and Willy solely believes in lying your way to success and being well liked, Willy does not believe in working hard for success. Both Gatsby and Willy attempt to achieve their dreams, however Jay Gatsby does not live a life based thoroughly on an illusion. Some lies that Gatsby told were parts of the truth, whereas Willy Lowman believes that he is successful, popular and a good father, none of this is true. Finally one can say that the way in which attempting to achieve their dreams ultimately lead to both Jay Gatsby and Willy Lowman’s deaths. Reading both stories one may come to a conclusion that the “American Dream” itself, may have to stay a dream forever. That it loses its meaning if one actually achieves what they initially wanted, or that once one have achieved it, they realize that it was not so great to begin with.
The American dream is an idea that every American has an equal chance of success. In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald shows us this is not the case. Fitzgerald wrote the character Jay Gatsby as a tragic American hero. Jay Gatsby went from a nobody to a millionaire and most people believe that he had achieved the American dream. However, he did not achieve the American dream because he lost a piece of himself in his pursuit of his supposedly incorruptible dream.
The novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, deals heavily with the concept of the American Dream as it existed during the Roaring Twenties, and details its many flaws through the story of Jay Gatsby, a wealthy and ambitious entrepreneur who comes to a tragic end after trying to win the love of the moneyed Daisy Buchanan, using him to dispel the fantastic myth of the self-made man and the underlying falsities of the American Dream. Despite Gatsby’s close association with the American Dream, however, Fitzgerald presents the young capitalist as a genuinely good person despite the flaws that caused his undoing. This portrayal of Gatsby as a victim of the American Dream is made most clear during his funeral, to which less than a handful of people attend. Gatsby makes many mistakes throughout the novel, all of which Fitzgerald uses these blunders as a part of his thematic deconstruction of the American Dream.
The American Dream states that with hard work people come rich. Fitzgerald questions this value. Gatsby’s story presents the unrealisticness/falsehood of the tradition/original American dream.
Although Jay Gatsby's and Willy Loman's dreams paralleled each other in their desire to attain wealth and acceptance, they had distinctly different approaches to achieving them. A. Gatsby believed wealth would win acceptance, Willy believed being well liked would get financial success. 1. What is the difference between a. and a. "no real right to touch her hand" lacked real resources, "he let her believe that he was a person from much the same strata as herself" (Fitzgerald 156) 2. What is the difference between a.. Well "liked.
were not of a very high standard. In Act 1 we see him stealing a ball
The American Dream is only achievable based on your motivation to succeed, your process in which you achieve your dream can be more important than your actual dream. Sometimes it's the journey that makes or breaks you and not the destination. The Great Gatsby, written by Fitzgerald, is based off the idea of the American Dream, and whether it's achievable to all Americans. Many seem to have their own opinions and thoughts on the idea of the American Dream. The idea of the American Dream is sought after by just about anyone. This topic is often mentioned during times of sorrow and death ,as well as through many platforms such as poems, speeches, novels, and essays. Gatsby
Everyone has a dream of their desired future, they dream of the one thing that makes them happy that they do not have now. In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman and Gatsby are characters dominated by an American dream that destroyed them. Their dream comes from a fantasy past. These dreams were made outside from who they truly are. Gatsby tried to repeat his past, while Willy attempted to create a new past. The lack of control over their goals and dreams lead to their downfall at the end. The two novels show the various points of the American dream; either to pursuit of happiness, or to pursuit of material wealth.
The American dream has been a tangible idea, greatly sought after by many over the course of American history. The dream has eluded many, to strive for success in America’s open markets, and become a self-made man from the sweat of one’s brow. The idea of becoming self-sufficient, and having limitless dreams that take one as far as they are willing to imagine is captured very differently from The Great Gatsby to A Raisin in the Sun. Both novels seem to have the American dream as their subject, but both end up having very different outcomes to how one achieves it, and if the dream is truly in existence, namely with the characters of Jay Gatsby and Walter Younger. The books mainly brush upon the idea of what the American dream truly is, how one achieves the dream, and what the real fulfillment of the dream encompasses.
...nt of the lie, greed and theft, and the corrupted characters within both novels, although the American Dream is portrayed differently in the books. Both Willy and Gatsby pay the ultimate sacrifice in the end, they both die. This shows the importance of keeping true values and morals within our lives. If there is a lesson to be learned in the books, it is that turning away from good moral principles will result in unhappiness and death. One must always do what is proper and right, honor is important above all things because even if one does not achieve one's dream, then it is known that you did the right thing.
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.
The American Dream has been a figure of hope for the American society for generations, seemingly ever since the declaration of independence by the founding fathers all those years ago. The central theme of ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘Death of a Salesman’ is the path towards a perfect life, driven by the American Dream. Both characters Gatsby and Willy have a hope, and both texts illustrate how it ‘prolongs their torment’, as neither achieve their goal in the end. Gatsby’s strive to become among the civil and well respected part of society is in vain for he will never be able to fully change himself, and his mistakes by trying to fulfill such a dream has him murdered in the end. Similarly, Willy’s desire to become a better salesman like his father
The Great Gatsby is a novel about identities, as each of the big characters endeavor to find or create himself or herself as an independent figure in the twentieth century American life. In the 1920s F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" was produced, which also marked the golden age. Jay Gatsby was a man with a lot of money, associates, and not many friends. Although, Nick Carraway narrates the novel, he is a stockbroker in New York, he becomes friends with his rich neighbor Gatsby. Jay Gatsby is the primary character that believes in the American Dream. These attributes are also like the customs of Willy Loman in the short story, "Death of a Salesman" because he too believes in the American Dream, just a tad bit differently. Willy Loman
Both Willy Loman and Jay Gatsby had a similar dream they wanted to accomplish, ‘The American Dream.’ But the pursuit of a dream based on deception and false illusion can be the cause for tragedy. Reading Miller’s ‘Death of a salesman’ and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’, we can know that both of these characters had a goal of achieving an unrealistic dream which later leads to their downfall. Willy Loman is so much determined to achieve success and happiness that he isn’t satisfied with his present state. He loses his mind out on the road selling. He doesn’t earn the way he used to and the lifestyle is wearing him out. The dream has so much of significance in his life that his actions are justified in a wrong way to achieve it. It comes down to when he commits suicide not specified for which
American clothing designer Tommy Hilfiger once said “The road to success is not easy to navigate, but with hard work, drive and passion, it is possible to achieve the American dream.” This idea of the “American dream” has been around since the founding and has become a prominent part of American culture and identity. This same idea is what the raved about novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is based around. Jay Gatsby, the protagonist, pursues this American dream through his pursuit of Daisy Buchanan and his need to be insanely rich.
The American dream has an inspiring connotation, often associated with the pursuit of happiness, to compel the average citizen to prosper. In Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby’s infatuation for Daisy drives him towards wealth in order to respark his love. Due to Daisy’s rich background, the traditional idea of love becomes skewed because of the materialistic mindsets of people in the 1920s. In the novel the wealthy are further stratified into two social classes creating a barrier between the elite and the “dreamers”. Throughout the novel, the idea of the American dream as a fresh start fails. As Nick, the narrator, spends time in New York, he realizes the corruption pursuing goals. Characters such as Gatsby and Myrtle constantly strive toward an the American dream, which Nick realizes to be fruitless in the end.