The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

1073 Words3 Pages

F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, is widely accepted as one of the great American novels of the 20th century. The novel follows narrator Nick Carraway through his encounters with Jay Gatsby and other affluent residents of Long Island, NY in the roaring 1920s. Gatsby lives an extravagant lifestyle in hopes of winning over Nick's cousin Daisy whom he had a short-lived romance with prior to World War I. He has crafted a near perfect image of wealth and luxury that he believes will convince Daisy to leave her husband Tom. Gatsby proves himself to be the embodiment of the American dream; both good and bad. The novel is regarded as one of the great American novels because the themes within are inherently American and represent the …show more content…

The clearest example of this in the novel is that of Gatsby's hard work to steal Daisy back from Tom. Gatsby and Daisy dated for a while before Daisy met Tom and had their romance cut short by World War I. Following this unexpected schism, Gatsby set the goal of reuniting with Daisy. Gatsby believes that his five plus years of hard work and effort building his net worth will result in his desired outcome. Gatsby says that, "[He's] going to fix everything just the way it was before," through hard work and determination (Fitzgerald 148). Ultimately Gatsby is not successful in his quest to win Daisy back from Tom. Gatsby is distraught after he fails because he believes that his hard work is guaranteed to pay off because that's how American culture approaches hard work. American culture romanticizes hard work so much that people fail to remember that success is not guaranteed. An example of this hard work actually paying off is that of Nick's family. Nick's family worked extremely hard to become successful and ultimately established a prosperous chain of hardware stores. Stories like this and many others in America convince people that if they put in the hard work they will get what they want out of it. The belief that hard work can fix anything brings out the best and the worst of

Essay On The American Dream In The Great Gatsby
729 Words | 2 Pages
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.
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The American Dream in The Great Gatsby
811 Words | 2 Pages
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 pursued by anyone in the history of America is 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 throughout 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.
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Great Gatsby
742 Words | 2 Pages
The Great Gatsby is a book about Jay Gatsby’s quest for Daisy Buchanan. During the book, Jay tries numerous times at his best to grasp his dream of being with Daisy. The narrator of the book Nick Carraway finds himself in a pool of corruption and material wealth. Near the end, Nick finally realizes that what he is involved in isn’t the lifestyle that he thought it was previously, and he tries to correct his mistake.
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Character Analysis Of Nick Carraway In The Great Gatsby
1418 Words | 3 Pages
The Great Gatsby, Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, was first published in 1925. It is a tale of love, loss, and betrayal set in New York in the mid 1920’s. It follows Nick Carraway, the narrator, who moves to Long Island where he spends time with his cousin, Daisy Buchanan, and meets his mysterious neighbor, Jay Gatsby. Nick can be viewed as the voice of reason in this novel. He is a static character that readers can rely on to tell the truth, as he sees it. But not only the readers rely on him. Daisy, Gatsby, Tom, and Jordan all confide in him and trust that he will do the right thing. Nick Carraway is the backbone of the book and its main characters.
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Essay On The American Dream In The Great Gatsby
1872 Words | 4 Pages
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.
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Literary Devices In The Great Gatsby
873 Words | 2 Pages
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the reader gets a glimpse at Jay Gatsby’s lavish life and his over the top parties that are held every weekend. He’s living the American Dream. The story is told by Nick Caraway, a young man from Minnesota who moves to West Egg, Long Island for the summer to learn about the bond business. He also was Gatsby’s neighbor. Nick finds out that Gatsby is in love with his cousin Daisy, and all of the lavish parties he threw every weekend were meant for her, because he hoped she would show up. The love he had for Daisy was like no other. He would do anything for her; including, taking the blame for running over a woman. In this classic, Fitzgerald illustrates this over the top love story by using colorful imagery, symbolism, and dramatic irony to create depth and draw in readers into the book.
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Great Gatsby: Moral Decay of the Nineteen Twenties
1616 Words | 4 Pages
The Great Gatsby written by F.Scott Fitzgerald and published in 1926. The novel is set in the early nineteen twenties in the post world war one era and takes place in the New York on the west and east egg of Long Island. The novel explores the life of the central character, Jay Gatsby. Nick Carraway, the narrator of the story, tells of Gatsby's ongoing quest to win over the love of Daisy, despite her marriage with Tom Buchanan. Fitzgerald uses ideologies and marginalizes class, education, race and gender to represent the moral decay of the nineteen twenties and of society in general. Without the marginalization of these social groups than the reader would not be able to identify with certain characters and would not be able to either relate sympathetically or callous towards particular characters.
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The American Dream In The Abundant Gatsby
1558 Words | 4 Pages
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
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What Is The American Dream In The Great Gatsby
972 Words | 2 Pages
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, “The Great Gatsby” is a classic literature regarding the American dream, those who pursue it, and the impact of that pursuit. The American dream originates from the early days of the Declaration of Independence where people had hope. It was based on equality, opportunity and the pursuit of happiness. In the “Great Gatsby” those dreams were not very different. The main characters, Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker and George and Myrtle Wilson, all had the American dream of hope.
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Examples Of Nick Carraway In The Great Gatsby
632 Words | 2 Pages
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, has a host of characters who are in their own way admirable and also not so admirable. Nick Carraway finally meets his neighbor, Gatsby, after hearing numerous rumors about him at his party. They become close friends and in fact, Nick ends up being Gatsby’s only real friend. Gatsby plans events that will lead up to him rekindling and relationship between him and Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby wanted Daisy to say she never loved her husband so they could forget the past and move forward into the future. This book was a reflection of the narrator’s admiration for the character who with hope, sought to grasp their American Dream.
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The Great Gatsby and the American Dream
864 Words | 2 Pages
The freedom in self endowment has always been the fuel to the average American citizen and his drive toward success. In other words, Americans always strive to achieve the ever so revered American Dream. What is the American Dream? David Kamp describes the American Dream as "the idea rooted in the United States Declaration of Independence which proclaims that "all men are created equal" and that they are "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights" including "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."(Kamp). The dream lies deeply rooted in American society and the very mention of it lights a passionate fire in the hearts of American citizens everywhere. The idea behind the dream is that if an individual has sufficient willpower, he or she has a fair chance of achieving wealth as well as the freedom and happiness that come packaged with it. Essentially, it offers the opportunity of achieving spiritual and material fulfillment. It promises success at the cost of hard work and perseverance. Over time however, this idea of attaining success through hard work and perseverance has been skewed into one which exploits greed and carelessness and The Great Gatsby is an excellent affirmation of this. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald derides the gradual corruption of hard work and perseverance in the American Dream by utilizing the motif of driving and incorporating it with the the ideas of greed and carelessness.
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Great Gatsby Movie Vs Book
770 Words | 2 Pages
The Great Gatsby is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the 1920s. The story is narrated by Nick Carraway as he moves from the Midwest to New York City, in the fictional town of West Egg along Long Island. The story is primarily focused on the attractive, young and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his love for Daisy Buchanan. Pursuing the American Dream, Nick lived next door to Jay Gatsby, and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy, and her husband,Tom Buchanan. It is then that Nick is drawn into the striking world of the riches' lusts, loves, lies and deceits. The Great Gatsby explores themes of love, social changes, and irony, creating a image of the Golden Twenties that has been described as the tale about the American Dream.
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Research Paper On The Great Gatsby
1163 Words | 3 Pages
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
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The Results of Keeping Secrets in the Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald
1031 Words | 3 Pages
In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald published The Great Gatsby, a novel set in The Roaring Twenties, portraying a flamboyant and immortal society of the ‘20s where the economy booms, and prohibition leads to organized crimes. Readers follow the journey about a young man named Jay Gatsby, an extravagant mysterious neighbor of the narrator, Nick Carraway. As the novel evolves, Nick narrates his discoveries of Gatsby’s past and his love for Daisy, Nick’s married cousin to readers. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald develops the theme of the conflict which results from keeping secrets instead of telling the truth using the three characters – Tom Buchanan, Nick Carraway, and Jay Gatsby (James Gats).
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The Great Gatsby and the American Dream
1547 Words | 4 Pages
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, “The Great Gatsby”, is one of the few novels he wrote in 1925. The novel takes place during the 1920’s following the 1st World War. It is written about a young man named Nick, from the east he moved to the west to learn about the bond business. He ends up moving next to a mysterious man named Gatsby who ends up giving him the lesion of his life.
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The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

Essay On The American Dream In The Great Gatsby