Corruption Of The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

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The American Dream is known as the reason of many Americans to wake up every day and strive to better themselves.” “It is the idea of the self-made man being successful; which involves self-invention, freedom, possibilities, and the value of hard work” (“Novel Reflections,” 2007, Segment 1). The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a movie that depicts this reality, in its characters. The movie shows the corruption of the American Dream by the life its characters lead. Religion is absent in the novel, creating a sense of self entitlement to its characters. Since they have no God to look up to, they feel as if they are immortal. They believe with money, they don’t have responsibilities or need morals to continue living. This is seen by the One is the mechanic which I believe is the only one with morals, for the most part. The Great Gatsby shows the corruption of the American Dream by showing us just how far a few individuals are willing to go to obtain materialistic things in search of the American Dream. “The Great Gatsby presents several of its characters as having this illusion of living the “American dream”, contrary to what they believe their behaviors and decisions they make only leave them with a false perception of this lifestyle” (“St. Rosemary,” 2015, p. 1). In the novel, the characters that are of a high social class don’t care to offend anyone in order to continue their climb to the top. One such character is Tom, he spends all day playing polo and being attended by his butlers and servants. He believes in the theory of the white man being the superior race, compared to the other races. He shares his thoughts and ideas of the literature he reads to his friends, at the dinner table. He may have read Hitler’s “Mein Kampf,” and taken it too seriously. He was born and raised rich; he believes he is at the top of the food chain, and no one can take away his throne. He shows this trait by having an affair with a woman of a lower class than him. Even though he is married,

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