The American Dream In The Great Gatsby
The American Dream is the perfect life! Everyone has it all; big house, picket fence, rose bushes, good job, and love. In the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the American Dream is represented by romance, wealth, and enjoying life. The theme of the American Dream is portrayed through the love affairs and interests of the Great Gatsby. Tom and Daisy supposedly have the perfect marriage, but only because of lies and secrets. “Tom’s got some woman in New York…” (19). Their relationship is happy, go-lucky even though he’s having an affair. Gatsby’s past relationship with Daisy shows the American Dream theme. “The officer looked at Daisy while she was speaking, in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at sometime…” (80). They were
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Gatsby threw huge parties all the time. “On week-ends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city, between nine in the morning and long past midnight…” (43). His parties lasted all night, and he was wealthy enough to transport all his party-goers. Gatsby was also frivolous with his spending. “Every Friday, five crates of oranges and lemons arrived from a fruiterer in New York…”(43). Those fruits would cost tons of money, and he was able to purchase them every weekend. He also spent money on entertainment. “By seven o’clock the orchestra has arrived-no thin five piece affair but the whole pit full of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets and piccolos and low and high drums.”(44). A large orchestra would need to be paid an awful lot more then pennies to perform for a party; Gatsby was living the American Dream with his wealth creating happiness for everyone. The people of East and West Egg lived in mansions, which is part of the American Dream concept. “The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard-it was a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool and more than forty acres of lawn and garden. It was Gatsby’s Mansion.” (9). Most people want to live luxuriously and Gatsby
Gatsby threw huge parties all the time. “On week-ends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city, between nine in the morning and long past midnight…” (43). His parties lasted all night, and he was wealthy enough to transport all his party-goers. Gatsby was also frivolous with his spending. “Every Friday, five crates of oranges and lemons arrived from a fruiterer in New York…”(43). Those fruits would cost tons of money, and he was able to purchase them every weekend. He also spent money on entertainment. “By seven o’clock the orchestra has arrived-no thin five piece affair but the whole pit full of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets and piccolos and low and high drums.”(44). A large orchestra would need to be paid an awful lot more then pennies to perform for a party; Gatsby was living the American Dream with his wealth creating happiness for everyone. The people of East and West Egg lived in mansions, which is part of the American Dream concept. “The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard-it was a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool and more than forty acres of lawn and garden. It was Gatsby’s Mansion.” (9). Most people want to live luxuriously and Gatsby