What Are The Similarities Between The Great Gatsby And The American Dream

“The American Dream”. What is it? What is it all about? “The American Dream” by definition is; the idea that everyone should have an equal opportunity to live a successful life through hard work and dedication. In both the novel ; The Great Gatsby, as well as the film ; Catch Me If You Can, both protagonists, James Gatz (Gatsby) and, Frank Abagnale Jr demonstrate how they view their own “American Dream” as well as how they pursued it. Although they both view it differently, they both pursue it in similar ways. In the novel The Great Gatsby, James Gatz views “The American Dream”, through Daisy . When James met Daisy in Louisville before the war he knew that she would be the one to fill the “void” in his life. Daisy was everything that James

Even though both characters view “The American Dream” differently, they both pursue it in similar ways. Frank learned the lesson of not getting too caught up in “The American Dream” and came to the realization that he couldn’t live the life that he had been living over the past few years. Frank came to the realization that he could no longer run from something if nothing is chasing him. This correspondingly, is where Gatsby goes wrong. Gatsby never comes to the realization that it’s too late to achieve his “American Dream”, instead he keeps going on and on, which is just digging his own grave even deeper. At the same time, both characters chase their “dream” by committing crimes: Gatsby by bootlegging, and Frank by committing cheque fraud. The idea that crime will lead to success is both present in the novel as well as the film. Although both characters pursued their “dream” in different ways, Gatsby paid the ultimate price for his failure, which was death. This is “the American Dream” in its purest form. The hard work and dedication demonstrated by these two characters is unmatched. This is what everyone dies and lives for…“The American