The American Dream consists in the idea that the American social, economic, and political system makes success possible for every individual. This notion is discussed and criticized by F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby and by Arthur Miller in Death of a Salesman. Both Jay Gatsby and Willy Loman are examples of tragic heroes struggling to live with the competitiveness and materialism of the American society in the 1920s and the late 1940s and their obsession to achieve success resulted in their downfall and ultimate tragic death. Each character had a rather specific vision of success, for Gatsby success was being able to marry the “perfect wife,” Daisy Buchanan, who was oppressed by his dream and was the reason why he got into the ilegal market in order to make money and build a stable wealthy life. Gatsby was blind by his desire to repeat the past, as always insisting: “Can't repeat the past?' he cried incredulously. 'Why of course you can!” (Fitzgerald, p. 110), which clearly represents his attempts to stop the passage of time and go back.The idea of not being able to recreate his past or have back what he gave up five years ago is a source of depression and sadness. On the other hand, for Willy being well-liked by others and personality, not hard work and innovation, were the main keys to having success and accomplishing the dream. He wanted to be sure that his sons, Happy and specially Biff were popular. For instance, when Biff confessed that he was making fun of the math teacher, Willy was worried only about the reaction of the classmates and not about what the teacher did. “Biff: I crossed my eyes and talked with a lithp. Willy: (laughing.) You did? The kids like it? Biff: They nearly died laughing!” (Miller, p.118... ... middle of paper ... ...y’s death is not the end of the American Dream, it is losing Daisy for when she goes, all his dreams die and he is was not able to achieve the green light, a symbol of hope. The challenge to live the American Dream is too much for Willy to handle and he crumbles under the pressure and crashed the car, killing himself. After all, despite coming from two distinct walks of life, both characters Jay Gatsby and Willy Loman felt prey to their own wants to achieve something that had already been lost to the past. Willy keeps talking to himself and recreating the past when he had good times with his kids and his brother Ben. Gatsby insists that he can repeat the past with Daisy, a time when he felt safe. But, because they have tied their happiness to the past, they could never be happy in the future and finished their lives alone, with almost no one in their funerals.
Gatsby is unrealistic. He believes he can relive the past and rekindle the flame he and Daisy once had. He is lost in his dream and accepts that anything can be repeated, "Can't repeat the past…Why of course you can!" (116, Fitzgerald). For Gatsby, failure to realize this resurrection of love is utterly appalling. His whole career, his conception of himself and his life is totally shattered. Gatsby's death when it comes is almost insignificant, for with the collapse of his dream, he is spiritually dead.
The American Dream is an ideal that has been present in the majority of American literature including The Great Gatsby. Although this phrase has become a cliché we sometimes put it into use without knowing the meaning. What exactly does this famous American Dream mean? Some might say that it is a journey to wealth and prosperity, while others might say that it is nothing else but the beautiful promise of settling down, having children, being able to provide for your family, and basically living a pleasant worry-free life. However, over time, the original expedition for resolution and freedom has evolved into a continuing
success” and where money and fame is achieved through hard work. However, Due to the United States’ economic advantages, the industrialization of the 19th and 20th centuries began to change the American dream, replacing it with a statement of "get rich quick".F. Scott Fitzgerald expresses and explores this idea thoroughly in his most successful novel, The Great Gatsby. To live out the American Dream was what once was on the minds of many Americans. In The Great Gatsby, the American Dream was presented as a corrupted version of what used to be a pure and honest ideal way to live. The idea that the American Dream was about the wealth and the possessions
To reach his idea of what happiness is,Gatsby must go back in time and relive an old dream. To do this 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.
... American Dream that was sold in society at the time after World War II can overshadow the actual meaning in real life. The “American Dream” is, in the end, defined as a comfortable living in a happy house. Instead, the materialistic society back then attempted to sell it in terms of appliances and products that were not needed, and unaffordable. They marketed it to the middle-class by attracting them to the aspect of credit, buying it with money that they don’t have. As Willy’s neighbor claimed at his funeral, Willy was merely a victim of his profession, leaving him with an unhealthy obsession with an image that was unrealistic, especially for them. This dissatisfaction with his life, and his misinterpretation of the “American Dream”, led to his downfall as a tragic hero, and a death that went in vain, as his son failed to follow the plan he had laid out for him.
While everyone has a different interpretation of the "American Dream," some people use it as an excuse to justify their own greed and selfish desires. Two respected works of modern American literature, The Great Gatsby and Death of a Salesman, give us insight into how the individual interpretation and pursuit of the "American Dream" can produce tragic results. Jay Gatsby, from F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, built his "American Dream" upon the belief that wealth would win him acceptance. In pursuit of his dream, Gatsby spent his life trying to gain wealth and the refinement he assumes it entails. Jay Gatsby, lacking true refinement, reflects the adolescent image of the wealthy, and "[springs] from his Platonic conception of himself" (Fitzgerald 104).
The American dream originated when immigrants came to America searching for new opportunities and a better life. In the early 1900’s all people could do is dream; however, those dreams gave many different meanings to the phrase “American dream”, and for the most part, wealth and hard work play a very large role in the pursuit of “the dream”. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, and Arthur Miller’s drama, Death of a Salesman, both protagonists, Jay Gatsby and Willy Loman, are convinced that the way to achieve a better life is by living the “American dream”. However, the dream does not end up successfully for these two characters. In fact, their ideals and hopes of rising to success cause their American dream to take a turn into a nightmare.
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.
Gatsby spent his whole life striving for one thing. The American Dream, which for him is mainly dominated by Daisy. In chapter nine of the book you can see that Gatsby started striving to meet the American Dream at young age. The reader learns of a book of Gatsby's. He has his everyday routine planned out in this book. Things like "Read one improving book or magazine per week." Show That Gatsby wants to improve himself to a point where he can succeed. That isn't all Gatsby did to improve his chances of success though. He even went to the extent of changing his name from James Gatz, to Jay Gatsby in an attempt to create a new, successful man that people could admire.
Gatsby made himself from nothing and dedicated his life to achieving his dreams, “If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life…. an extraordinary gift for hope…. I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again”(Fitzgerald,67). It is not what Gatsby did or would be willing to do to achieve his dreams, but the drive and hope he embodied in his fulfillment of those dreams that makes him great, “For Nick, Gatsby 's lies, his pretensions, and his corruption are "no matter"; nor is his failure to win back Daisy; what matters is the sustaining hope and belief in the value of striving for a "wondrous" object, not its inevitable disappearance and meaninglessness”(Will). The fire that drives Gatsby defines him, an individual who would sacrifice his life for his dreams. “Jay Gatsby is the embodiment of the American Dream. He is shown to us with an insecure grasp of social and human values, a lack of cultural intelligence and self-knowledge, a blindness to or unconcern for the pitfalls that surround him”(Pidgeon). The greatest foe of the story is not George Wilson, who kills him, but Gatsby’s own persistence and desire to be accepted as something he will never be,“Old Money”. Gatsby works so hard expecting to be accepted by the Old Money social wealthy class, not knowing due to “lack of cultural intelligence” that it can never be achieved. The greatest hope Gatsby has is that over the five years it took him to build his materialistic legacy is that he could simply “repeat the past” with Daisy. Gatsby is shown throughout the novel of having overwhelming pertinacity and hope, this earns him the title and defines what makes him
Gatsby and Willy had different views on what their dream was. Jay Gatsby’s dream was to get as rich and as powerful as possible to furthermore win the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan. Willy Loman’s on the other hand, was to become successful from being “popular” and well liked. They both do whatever
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
Gatsby Has A Dream As people of the United States, they have a dream that was created and thought out. The dream is that all people should have an equal opportunity to achieve success through hard work. In 1931, James Adams first publicly defined what the American Dream was.
What is the "American Dream"? The "American Dream" cannot be defined. I know that my "American Dream" consists of a Porsche, a large house, and a happy family. Willy Loman's definition does not differ greatly from mine although while trying to pursue this dream, Willy's mind slowly drifted further and further away from reality. The "American Dream" is the idea that any man or woman can make his or her own fortune, despite his or her past. Willy is trying to achieve success through this thought, believing that being "well liked" and working hard will be enough to ensue his success. Willy was wrong.
John Smith, Jay Gatsby and Willy Loman all spend their lives trying for something extraordinary. Gatsby and Loman seek to fulfill the very dream which brought John Smith to America, the American dream. A dream in which one comes to American and preserves themselves and " may quickly grow rich" (Descriptions of New England). However, all fail to realize that the American Dream would not be a dream if all could achieve it, and more importantly that a dream by its very nature is not real .