The Faded American Dream in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby

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The Faded American Dream in The Great Gatsby

THESIS: In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby", the American Dream faded away due to materialism, infidelity, and an imposing lack of solidarity.

Hope, perseverance, hard working ambition and adventure are some of the characteristics of the American Dream. However, the American Dream didn't last forever. F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby" clearly reflects how the society's life was during the roaring twenties and how it led to the American Dream's destruction. One of the American Dream's greatest causes for its death is materialism. This means that the modern values turned the American Dream's wholesome principles into materialistic ones making people lack ideals and have their appearance as a privilege. On the other hand, the American Dream also fades way due to infidelity. With this term it is meant that people were unfaithful to their respective partners showing no respect at all among them and having no principles. Finally, the destruction of the American Dream is also caused by the lack of solidarity of this society shown in the novel. Lack of solidarity reflects the extremes of careless people and their lack of values. Therefore, in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby", the American Dream faded away due to, materialism, infidelity, and lack of solidarity that suddenly emerged.

In "The Great Gatsby", materialism is one of the greatest causes of the American Dream's destruction. This society is completely full of materialistic values and only cares about what people think of their appearance. People desire to have money in order to be accepted. This shows that hope and success have been replaced by mater...

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...am is destroyed by materialism, infidelity, and an imposing lack of solidarity. People from high society have a tendency to feel supported by money in their superficial world, lacking all values, thus reflecting disrespect and egoism in their personal relationships. Upon fading, hope and perseverance can no longer viciously sustain the dream of a schematized world where human feelings and emotions are pretended to be formatted into a paradigmatic system. The American Dream is dead, and there is no way to turn back time and bring it back to life.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Simon & Schuster Inc, 1995.

2. <http://www.free-essays.us/dbase/b6/tda161.shtml> (6 April,2003).

3. The Death of the American Dream http://allfreeessays.com/student/free/The_death_of_the_American_Dream.shtml (6 April, 2004).

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