Preview

Representation Of The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
686 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Representation Of The American Dream In The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is a book published in 1925 that revolves around the life of Nick Carraway and his experiences of moving to the east. The story, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is focused on showing the American Dream. Which is the notion that there is “a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone.” Though how do the characters in the book represent the notion of the American Dream? Fitzgerald uses Gatsby to represent the American Dream and that people will go to great lengths to achieve it.
Before the argument can be made about Gatsby being a representation of the American Dream there must first be a description on what the American Dream actually entails. The American Dream is the ideology that an opportunity
…show more content…
Then he meets Daisy, a rich young girl, who rejects him for being poor and wasn't willing to wait on him. Which is the main reasoning for Gatsby following the American Dream was so he could impress the people around him and therefore Daisy. In fact, the author symbolises the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock as a sort of “light at the end of the tunnel” that Gatsby is trying to reach. As a reaction to wanting Gatsby redefines himself, changing his name, the way he lives, and his background, following a path of self-definition and self-conception which are both a major part of the American Dream. In essence, Gatsby changes his whole life in order to change the way people look at …show more content…
Gatsby a man of tremendous wealth and power could have chosen anybody to be his wife he wanted Daisy. Although he failed to see that part of his attraction to her was because of what she represented for him: money and the upper class. In a way, Gatsby believes that if he can get her to love him, he can prove to himself that he belongs to the upper class. Though he learns too late that both Daisy, and, therefore, the American Dream, are unreachable goals. In conclusion, Gatsby follows the American Dream model to a point and is a perfect candidate for representing it. Though not in the storybook happy ending version, Fitzgerald wanted to show how hollow the idea of the American Dream is and how even if it is obtained its outcome would not be anything that a person would necessarily want which, in this case, was

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby, lives out the American Dream by cheating, lying, and using his personal belongings to flaunt as trophies. Gatsby’s main goal is to have Daisy in his life and shows his financial worth in order to achieve this. The American Dream is thought to be freedom, equality, and opportunity. Jay Gatsby takes these ideals and modifies them to how he wants to live them. Gatsby is extremely flashy in his lifestyle just so people believe that he was born into a wealthy family and is part of the ‘old money’ community. In this novel, Jay Gatsby corrupts the American Dream because of his suspicious business activity, his cheating ways and instead of looking forward for new opportunities, pursues the past.…

    • 509 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Gatsby builds his identity as a greater and alternate man—a man above an average man. He creates this rich yet calm and collected side of him. He's part of new money and so, worked his way to get to where he is at. Everything that lead him to become rich was all for Daisy. Like the many Americans at the time, he was more disillusioned on the idea that he could obtain his American dream—to have a house and own land. Fitzgerald suggests that the American dream is not attainable to everyone. He shows this through the valley of ashes; people like Myrtle and George who worked hard but couldn’t get rich. Even though Gatsby became rich, he ultimately couldn’t get Daisy who was his life ling dream.…

    • 502 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The American Dream is something everyone wants to conquer in life. Something that is so hard, that not much people can say they successfully did. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald took place in the1920’s. He himself is a character in the book named Nick. The book revolves around a man named Jay Gatsby and his struggles to be with the love of his life to make it perfect. It is not complete without her and he tries to win her heart back. It’s a tragic love story. Fitzgerald uses literary devices to illustrate Gatsby’s singular dream of acquiring Daisy’s love though the symbols, faith, and irony.…

    • 763 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As soon as the American dream is reached, through considerable hard work, many factors can obliterate everything that has been gained. Gatsby thinks that he has finally reached his dream, but right when he begins to feel comfortable with Daisy everything falls apart: “Gatsby, pale as death… was standing in a puddle of water glaring tragically into my eyes.”(86) Gatsby thinks that soon he will have what he has changed everything in his life to gain. Suddenly through Daisy’s change of heart Gatsby sees his life crumble again. The American dream that he devoted himself to goes from being fulfilled to lost in a matter of minutes. The American Dream can be cruel and at the best moment end. Gatsby thinks that all the people around him care for him but he finds that they are only using him: “filled with friends now gone forever.”(70) With all the parties Gatsby throws he believes that he continues to gain more friends. All the people that attend the parties are only there for entertainment not because they care about Gatsby. Gatsby believes that his dreams of having high social and economic status have finally been…

    • 1475 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    For many, The American Dream is linked to gaining wealth and achieving all in life, if one works hard enough. For others, it is a matter beyond materialism. The American Dream is one of the most recurring theme in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby, follows Jay Gatsby, a man who sculpts his life around one desire; the love of Daisy Buchanan. In this novel Daisy is the most puzzling character. Her true characteristics were revealed towards the end of the book: shallowness and selfishness, despite her charm and beauty. Gatsby’s life escalates from poverty to wealth which leads him to his love.Although Gatsby was involved in illegal parganings the hope to win over his love's heart grew even stronger. This resulted…

    • 190 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fitzgerald makes Gatsby a character who never settles for less, he always wants more in his life. It is because of this trait the disables Gatsby from reaching his American Dream which was Daisy, because he always wanted more from her. Once Jay killed myrtle wilson and lost Daisy his life was over he thought, he spent his life getting all these nice things so he could get Daisy rather than trying to get her with personality he used his money as power to get. That plan backfired on Gatsby because she choose Tom over Gatsby like the Beatles song “Money Can’t buy me love” Gatsby could not use his money to get Daisy. Like all the great things America did like the with the huge stock market increase. It all can Crashing when the stock market collapsed in 1929. Also, Gatsby and Daisy relationships shows that the American dream can never be reached. Gatsby and Daisy both of each as better than they actually were. Gatsby thought Daisy was the most amazing women in the world, really she was just an awkward and attractive women who just had a lot of money. Gatsby thought that the money she had translated into love which does not. Daisy is not that great just like the American dream is not great because it is going to turn its back on you just like Daisy turned her back on Gatsby. Daisy thought that Gatsby was also the most amazing person in the word. Daisy was able to be woed only on the nice things that Gatsby had. She never got know him on a personal level. Again Gatsby was not as great as Daisy thought he was. Gatsby was Just a man with money who threw huge parties, who never really showed himself. Gatsby too may seem great like…

    • 1816 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Great Gatsby Paper

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Jay Gatsby, the main character of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby symbolizes the American dream. The American dream offers faith in the possibility of a better life. From the beginning, he appears to be a self-made, wealthy man, and is a good example of how hard work can lead to material success. Although he is the child of unsuccessful farmer, he manages to cross a social barrier and overcome his lowly childhood. He is able to raise himself to his high social class through hard work and perseverance. The one reason that Gatsby is determined to achieve material wealth is to recapture the love that he once shared with Daisy. Gatsby’s perception of the American Dream is where the appealing hero himself, becomes extremely successful and wealthy and wins the love back of Daisy. Gatsby’s dreams prevent Nick from witnessing the moral corruption in Gatsby that he sees in Tom and Daisy. Before Nick leaves to return home, he yells out “They’re a rotten crowd! You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together!”…

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Since the beginning, Gatsby knew that to attain the American Dream he would have to create the persona of Jay Gatsby from James Gatz. Jay Gatsby is a rich, successful man from West Egg in New York while James Gatz is the penniless son of unsuccessful farm people. Evidently, Gatsby grasps that to attain the American Dream he absolutely can not be a lower class laborer and must be born affluent. In addition, Gatsby is revealed as a hard worker when his father presents a schedule that exhibits, “‘Jimmy was bound to get ahead’” (Fitzgerald 173). He refers to the anal schedule of self-improvement Gatsby grinded himself through. However, it is also revealed Gatsby earned his money through illegal activities when Meyer Wolfsheim, a mob leader, tells the narrator, “‘Start him! I made him’” (Fitzgerald 173). This exposes that Gatsby believs that in order to create the American Dream from nothing, integrity is impossible. In the end of the novel, everything is taken away from Gatsby when he is murdered by another victim of the hopeless American Dream, Wilson. Evidently, Daisy and her husband, Tom Buchanan, two people of privilege, can be linked to the intricate events leading to Gatsby’s downfall. Therefore, Fitzgerald reveals that all of Gatsby’s hard work and his own life was obliterated by the elite who were born into the American…

    • 773 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The definition of the American dream is different for everyone. Many have just bits and pieces of their entire dream. Which this makes it very to succeed with their dreams. This is seen in the novel The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, as George Wilson realizes his dream will always be crushed and unable to obtain. George Wilson an ordinary everyday type of person, who was not known for being luxurious or elegant.…

    • 824 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gatsby seems to realize that his idea and the pursuit of Daisy is rewarding even though it seems it will never be what he desires it to become. In this instance, money can’t buy happiness and living a life based on lies will not make you happy. Gatsby recognizes that he has created an ideal for Daisy to live up to. Even so, Gatsby remains in pursuit of Daisy until his death. The reality of Gatsby’s “American Dream” proved to be unattainable. Gatsby did not seem to care or not if he would actually win Daisy over, it seemed that the thrill of the chase was enough to keep him going. The American Dream is unattainable. The dream can never become reality because the dreamer always wants…

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When we think of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby and people who try to encompass it, we automatically think of Jay Gatsby. Throughout the book we find that Gatsby, formerly a poor boy, works hard to become rich and influential in order to impress his childhood sweetheart, Daisy Buchanan. He knew that while he was poor there was no chance of them ever uniting as a couple. “I was poor”, Gatsby had no money and he thought that Daisy “was tired of waiting around for me” (pg 131). Gatsby felt that the only way to win Daisy back was to reach for what many people had considered the “American Dream.” “However glorious might be his future as Jay Gatsby, he was at present a penniless young man…eventually he took Daisy one night-took her because he knew he had no real right to touch her hand” (pg 156). Gatsby lies and does illegal things to make his way to the top, such as bootlegging. He based his whole self-being on how much money he earned and the possessions he had. He felt that with money came many other advantages to life. Gatsby’s constant parties also encompass the corruption of the American Dream. All these examples show how the…

    • 633 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The novel the great Gatsby tells a story about Gatsby’s " American dream "is a dream out of experience and its tragic ending. The root of the tragedy is that Gatsby didn't realize his dream, also did not see Daisy's true nature. Many people see gates than dream as the bursting of the "American dream", in fact, Gatsby’s dream and not a real "American dream".…

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Great Gatsby

    • 987 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Craig McCaw who Pioneered Telecommunications once claimed, “the American Dream is all about what people will do if you allow them the open opportunity. .. they have the desire, the toughness, the willingness to work, and the education, and then they do something with it, and it is extraordinary to see.” This illustration is demonstrated in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Gatsby, the main character, achieved success and wealth, the American Dream, by planning and working hard. He came from nothing and gained extraordinary wealth. The driving force behind his dedication was his love interest, Daisy. He wanted Daisy to leave her husband ,Tom, and marry him. Unfortunately, Gatsby’s wealth and promise did not bring what he desired. Instead, American Idealism brought corruption and moral decay to his life and his true quest, Daisy’s love, never materialized.…

    • 987 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    He spent his entire life only wanting two things, money and Daisy. Unfortunately, Gatsby only got to have one of those things. He spent his entire life working as hard as he could, for something that was only a dream. Sometimes, dreams outstretch what can actually become reality. But that is why they are called dreams, because they do not have to be realistic. But there is one dream that unites everyone. The American…

    • 919 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It was only through living up to the American Dream did Gatsby believe he could accomplish what he truly dreamed for, which was his gateway to Daisy’s heart. This led him to base his entire self-worth purely on his wealth and prosperity, yet failed him to look past the American Dream. Gatsby was portrayed as what seemed to be a successful, picture perfect man…

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays