What Is The American Dream In The Great Gatsby Prompts
The Great Gatsby (Prompt # 1) The American Dream
Introduction The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald is a tragic love story on the surface, but it is commonly known for it’s pessimistic critique of the American Dream. In the novel, Jay Gatsby overcomes his poor past to gain an incredible amount of money and a very limited social reputation to be closer to his American Dream (Daisy). He did all that only to be turned down by the “old money” crowd, he then gets killed after being tangled up with them. No amount of hard work could change where Gatsby came from. Merit and hard work aren’t enough, so the American Dream collapses just like the ballooning dresses of Jordan and Daisy when Nike first sees them. Fitzgerald uses the American Dream to show that the independence and the ability to make something of one’s self with hard work sometime ends up being more about materialism and selfish pursuit of pleasure.
Gatsby was known as a misterious wealthy man who threw luxrious parties at his mansion. No one knew who he really was, and never saw him enjoying the fruit of his own parties. One afternoon Nike saw him at the back of his mansion with his hands stretched towards the waters. “I decided to call to him. Miss Baker had mentioned him at dinner, and that would do for an introduction. But I didn't call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone—he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have …show more content…
Does this mean that the American Dream has to stay forever a dream? That it loses its meaning if we actually achieve it? Or that, once we achieve it, we find out that it wasn't so great to begin with, because after all he did to be with Daisy, she did not leave her husband to be him. He ends up getting killed in the end for taking the blame for Myrtle’s
Introduction The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald is a tragic love story on the surface, but it is commonly known for it’s pessimistic critique of the American Dream. In the novel, Jay Gatsby overcomes his poor past to gain an incredible amount of money and a very limited social reputation to be closer to his American Dream (Daisy). He did all that only to be turned down by the “old money” crowd, he then gets killed after being tangled up with them. No amount of hard work could change where Gatsby came from. Merit and hard work aren’t enough, so the American Dream collapses just like the ballooning dresses of Jordan and Daisy when Nike first sees them. Fitzgerald uses the American Dream to show that the independence and the ability to make something of one’s self with hard work sometime ends up being more about materialism and selfish pursuit of pleasure.
Gatsby was known as a misterious wealthy man who threw luxrious parties at his mansion. No one knew who he really was, and never saw him enjoying the fruit of his own parties. One afternoon Nike saw him at the back of his mansion with his hands stretched towards the waters. “I decided to call to him. Miss Baker had mentioned him at dinner, and that would do for an introduction. But I didn't call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone—he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have …show more content…
Does this mean that the American Dream has to stay forever a dream? That it loses its meaning if we actually achieve it? Or that, once we achieve it, we find out that it wasn't so great to begin with, because after all he did to be with Daisy, she did not leave her husband to be him. He ends up getting killed in the end for taking the blame for Myrtle’s