Failure of American Dream

The American Dream is a dream that glorifies fame, the pursuit of success , and power. It is the idea if needing to have to have material goods in order to feel successful and obtain a higher status. In The Great Gatsby, The Winter Of Our Discontent, Babbitt, and Death Of A Salesman there are many similarities between the backgrounds of the main characters that attempt and fail at the American dream. In these novels, all of the characters are trying to better their lives. They do not realize that they all lead very decent lives. All of the characters live in upper-middle class towns. George Babbitt lives in a town named Zenith ( Sinclair 482). His city is set in the mid-west and is rapidly being invaded by new buildings, cars, and businesses. Ethan Hawley lives in a town his ancestors used to own called New Baytown ( Steinbeck 13) Willy Loman also lives in a city, in Brooklyn, New York ( Miller 12). Like the town of Zenith, Brooklyn is not the same as it was when Willy first moved there. It is now filled with apartments and buildings everywhere. Jay Gatsby resides in a town named West Egg in New York ( Fitzgerald 21 ).East Egg is the older rich, the ones that are sophisticated. West Egg is where the new rich of the time have settled ( Fitzgerald 21). The residents that live near Gatsby in East Egg are garish and colloquial. They seem to only care what exists on the outside of a person. Being located right near New York City, East Egg is also influenced by the hustle and bustle of the city life. All the characters are trying to keep up with the fast paced changes of their surroundings. Within their creditable towns the main character of each novel seems to have a fairly respectable job, though, the characters do not see that. Ethan works as a grocery clerk at the town grocery store ( Steinbeck 11). Another main priority to all these men that plays a large role are there families. Three out of four of them are family men. They put family before