Gatsby and the American Dream Have you ever wondered who could ever live the American dream? In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby is the main character and in love with something he does not have, but lives a dream to others. He has all the money he needs to throw parties and have fancy things. Gatsby is considered to be living the American Dream. In the book by F. Scott Fitzgerald shows how Gatsby represents and lives the American dream. In the book The Great Gatsby, it shows how Gatsby lives the American Dream.
In the book Gatsby uses Dan Cody to help become the American Dream. Gatsby showed the American dream by being relatively unselfish in his life and his primary flaw was a naive idealism. He could be constructed as the character in the book as fulfilling the author’s vision of the American dream. In the book, Gatsby is quiet and laid back, even though he has his flaws of anger issues, he tries hard to do good. During his parties in the book he sits back and watches people, have fun and make false accusations of him. People never know what he looks like because he’s behind the scenes in everything. Throughout the novel, there are also many references to Gatsby’s tendency to dream, but in fact his world rests insecurely on a fairy wing ("Themes and Construction" [Page 231]).
Gatsby's mentor, Dan Cody, was the ultimate self-made man who influenced Gatsby in his tender, impressionable youth. When Gatsby found he could not win Daisy's love, he pursued the American Dream in the guise of Cody. This shows how Gatsby is not truly confident and found who he truly is. He has the American dream unlike Dan Cody, but does not have the personality and influence on people like Dan Cody does (Gale Research [Page 230]).
Meyer Wolfsheim's enterprising ways to make money are criminal; Jordan Baker's attempts at sporting fame lead her to cheat; and the Buchanans' thirst for the good life victimize others to the point of murder. Only Gatsby, who was relatively unselfish in his life, and whose primary flaw was a naive idealism, could be construed as fulfilling the author's vision of the American Dream. This summarizes the idea of Gatsby fulfilling the total American Dream. With Dan Cody’s guidance, and the inherit of wealth,
In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, the principle character, Jay Gatsby makes an exhaustive effort in his quest for the American Dream. The novel is Fitzgerald's vessel of commentary and criticism of the American Dream. “Fitzgerald defines this Dream, he depicts its’ beauty and irresistible lure”(Bewley 113). Through Gatsby's downfall, Fitzgerald expresses the futility and agony of the pursuit of the dream.
Gatsby had no home and no money for food, so, he would try to get any job he could find so he had food and somewhere to sleep for the day. Gatsby was also an emotional wreck to a point that it would haunt him in his sleep. After, when the two met, Gatsby’s world changed in front of his eyes, “To young Gatz, resting his oars and looking up at the railed deck, that yacht represented all the beauty and glamour in the world…At any rate Cody asked him a few questions and found that he was quick, and extravagantly ambitious”(Fitzgerald 106). At this moment, a new world flash in Gatsby’s eyes and showed him the world of the rich. After the five years with Dan Cody, Gatsby became a new man with riches and this began his journey of his personal ambition of the American Dream.
The Great Gatsby, a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a story of misguided love between a man and a woman. Fitzgerald takes his reader through the turbulence and trials of Jay Gatsby’s life and of his pining for the girl he met five years prior. The main theme of the novel, however, is not solely about the love shared between Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. The main purpose is to show the decline and decay of the American Dream in the 1920’s. The American Dream is the goal or idea which suggests that all people can succeed through hard work, and that all have the potential to live happy, successful lives. While on the surface, Gatsby
The idea of American Dream as presented by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the Great Gatsby novel involves rising from poverty or rags to richness and wealthy. The American Dream exemplifies that elements such as race, gender, and ethnicity are valueless as they do not influence the ability of an individual to rise to power and richness. This American Dream makes the assumption that concepts such as xenophobia are non-existent in America a concept that is not true and shows vagueness of the American Dream. In his novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the Great Gatsby to demonstrate the overall idea of living the American dream. Gatsby leaves his small village of farmers and manages to work his way up the ladder although some of the money he uses to climb the ladder is associated with crime “He was a son of God and he must be about His Father's Business, the service of a vast, vulgar and meretricious beauty” (Fitzgerald 6.7). This phrase shows that Gatsby wasn’t meant for a life similar to that of his father but rather destined for greatness. However, his dream his short-lived and he doesn’t make it to the top as Daisy who is a symbol of his wealthy rejects her and a series of events transpire that result in his death before he could live his American Dream alongside everyone else who was working up the ladder to live the American Dream.
Even though Gatsby was born James Gatz on a small farm in North Dakota, he was motivated by Dan Cody and Daisy to dedicate his life to the achievement of wealth and love. Some people might claim that Gatsby was able to achieve his dream because he succeeded in becoming a fabulously wealthy man in West Egg. However, this is only partially true, for Gatsby’s genuine American Dream was to attain Daisy Buchanan. Therefore, this novel portrays both the power and deleterious result of the American Dream (C. J. Dawson).
Gatsby was a man who did not wish to live his family's life, a man who wanted to go above the level of his parents. Jay Gatsby's legal names was James Gatz, "he had it changed at the age of seventeen at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career"(Fitzgerald 104). By doing this Gatsby was trying to put as much space between him and his parents who were shiftless and unsuccessful farmers. To escape his family’s life of poverty hr became the right hand man of Dan Cody. He managed to accomplish this feature by earning his trust slowly throughout the five years that Gatsby was with Cody. Dan Cody was a man made of money. His family was there for every metal rush since the seventy- five, and from him Gatsby learned the proper education of a high society man. Gatsby by doing this left his parents behind to become a new
One of the most influential writers of the early 20th century was a man named F. Scott Fitzgerald. The biggest topic that he wrote about was the American Dream. Fitzgerald uses many different aspects of writing to get his opinion across, such as the outcome of stories like The Great Gatsby and “Winter Dreams”. He also uses the setting and to explain his beliefs. Based of his work, Fitzgerald believes the American dream is not only unrealistic, but also unattainable.
Gatsby represents the true American Dream because he is motivated by love, while the other characters in the novel are not. Gatsby is the only character that is actually motivated to be wealthy by something that means to him, love. While the other characters only want to be rich and wealthy, Gatsby wants to be wealthy so he could attain Daisy and her love.
The American dream is an ideology, a vision that’s form varies from individual to individual, based upon one’s own experiences. Although the one thing that remains constant in every single definition is that this ideology, just as the name states, is only a dream. It is meant to merely drive people to unlock their hidden potential and become their best self, for the sole purpose of living one’s out one’s own definition of success. In “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the American Dream is Jay Gatsby’s inspiration and his opportunity, however, as the book progresses it becomes more evident that not all people share the same opportunity.
The disillusionment of the American Dream is a frequent but important written theme in the American literature. Fitzgerald’s famous book The Great Gatsby is one of the most important representative works that reflects this theme. F. Scott Fitzgerald is best known for his novels and short stories which chronicle the excesses of America's Jazz Age during the 1920s. His classic twentieth-century story of Jay Gatsby examines and critiques Gatsby's particular vision of the 1920's American Dream. The Great Gatsby can be seen as a far-reaching book that has revealed many serious and hidden social problems at that time. As one of the most popular and financially successful
Throughout The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald shows a theme of the American Dream. Gatsby is a dreamer and will do whatever it takes to accomplish his goals.
Gatsby is passionate, hopeful, ambitious and is dedicated to reach his dreams. These characteristics are important to achieve the American dream because they keep the person motivated and hopeful for the better life along with hard work and effort.
Will people do anything to achieve their American Dream? Some people will do anything to achieve their dream. They will lie, cheat, steal and will work hard. Some people think money can buy happiness and love. The extreme measure one might go to is immense to achieve their dream. The experiences which one might go through can lead to achieving their dream or having it fail. F. Scott Fitzgerald displays the American Dream in The Great Gatsby by trying to win back the dream girl, lavish lifestyle, and being wealthy.
In the 1920’s there was a fine line between the poor and the rich. Gatsby was dirt poor during these times, luckily he meets a man who changes his life forever. This man, named Dan Cody, a very wealthy man during these times helps shape Gatsby into the guy he later becomes at the end of the novel. Dan Cody wasn't the only person to change Gatsby’s life though, he later meets a guy named Meyer Wolfsheim as well, “He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter” (pg 133). This may not sound over board but it is what he does to ultimately fulfill his dreams. A man, coming from a dirt poor background overcomes diversity, sets aside his ego, and gets the job done, and that’s one of the reasons why Gatsby is truly great.
The American Dream: three simple words that many individuals long to live by. A majority of the characters in The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, portrayed different ideas of what the American Dream is. Jay Gatsby, the main character, was the most prominent example of the American Dream throughout the novel. He represented a great deal of things including starting from scratch and achieving prosperity, the opportunities of the American Dream, the title of power, and he ultimately represents Fitzgerald's point.