The American Dream in The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald

The American Dream, a long standing ideal embodies the hope that one can achieve financial success, political power, and everlasting love through dedication and hard work. During the Roaring 20s, people in America put up facades to mask who they truly were. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald conveys that the American Dream is simply an illusion, that is idealist and unreal. In the novel, Gatsby, a wealthy socialite pursues his dream, Daisy. In the process of pursuing Daisy, Gatsby betrays his morals and destroys himself. Through the eyes of the narrator, Nick,

Imagine living in a world where dreams that come to mind are highly reachable and come without a struggle, a place where fantasies come into play. Americans far and beyond believe the American Dream is something as simple as owning a home or starting a family, but for Jay Gatsby, that was simply not enough. As a man with implausible dreams, Gatsby thought differently when compared to others. His American Dream was not a job or a home, but rather a married woman who is known as Daisy Buchanan. As Gatsby placed the sole focus of his life on Daisy, he became obsessed. Through a passage in The Great Gatsby, author F. Scott Fitzgerald employs personification and diction to convey the idea that Gatsby was lost in the unique distortion of his own reality with Daisy.

The American Dream was the vision that brought many people to America to start a new life in a strange and foreign land. This vision or dream is a common discussion topic by modern writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby follows a cast of characters living in the fictional town of West Egg on Long Island in the summer of 1922. On the surface, it seems that the novel is a story of the thwarted love between a man and a woman, but the masterpiece major theme is about the American dream. The author writes about a man who takes the dream too far and becomes unable to distinguish his false life of riches from reality.

The American dream can mean many different things and can be interpreted in different ways. To some people, the American dream is the belief that if a person works hard enough, he or she can be successful in America no matter what race, gender, or nationality. In the 1920’s, the concept of the American dream was very much the same, that an individual can achieve success in life regardless of family history or social status if he or she works hard enough. By having money, a car, a big house, expensive clothes, and a loving family symbolizes the American dream. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the 1920’s is a time period in which the American dream becomes corrupt and dangerous. For Jay Gatsby, a main character in the novel, his American dream is about gaining wealth and material possessions in order to find happiness. Through his decision to symbolize wealth, superficiality, irresponsibility, and foreshadowing, Fitzgerald conveys the the theme that the American dream is a perfect concept and is something that can never be accomplished, but can always be reached for.

The American Dream, is an idea that all Americans are familiar with, no matter what age they are. It is the dream that everyone has an equal opportunity, to use hard work and integrity to achieve success. The American Dream is an integral aspect of Jay Gatsby’s life in the novel, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The novel follows Jay Gatsby, as told by Nick Carraway, through the trials and tribulations that correspond with newfound wealth and the quest to find true happiness in a cynical and testing environment. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald suggests that the American Dream has the power to corrupt individuals, through his depictions of wealth, materialism, and the consequences they inflict in the character’s lives.

The Great Gatsby treats the American Dream like a real achievable goal can gain working hard and playing your cards right. The American Dream focus on money, women and the self loathing about your riches to everyone. One of the main characters Daisy was

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.

The American Dream is defined as: the belief that through hard work and thrift, all Americans can improve their social status and achieve success. The Great Gatsby is full of the loss and hope of the American Dream. Jay Gatsby is living in his own dream while reality is right around the corner. In the book The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby is trying to live his “American Dream” but really he is not living for himself. Gatsby’s American Dream consists of; buying rich things, making people happy and making himself known to the world, and most of all getting the girl of his dreams which is Daisy.

The ideal of the American Dream is based on the belief that anybody from anywhere has an equal opportunity to become prosperous and successful and reach social status through perseverance, regardless of their background or history. In the novel The Great Gatsby, Scott F. Fitzgerald portrays the American Dream as something that cannot always be accomplished or fulfilled. He shows his view of the failure of it by describing characters’ wealth, social status, and power. Specifically Tom, Daisy, and the protagonist: Jay Gatsby. The need for material wealth or things that display money and status are symbolic of the failure of the American Dream.

The main theme of the novel "The Great Gatsby" focuses on the American Dream and it is portrayed through the life of Jay Gatsby. Through Gatsby's life we see the withering of the American Dream, a tragedy that struck Jay's near finished dream. The American Dream is what many have hoped of achieving, it has existed in the past and is in the present. The American Dream gives people a goal that they can work towards, it also gives them a purpose in life. The American Dream represents luxury and wealth it believes the goodness of the quality of life. For Jay Gatsby, he was so close to achieving the American Dream. He had the wealth and the class, all he needed was his long lost love, Daisy. Gatsby truly

The American Dream is what pushes the characters in The Great Gatsby. It is the idea or belief that everybody has the opportunity to accomplish their goals and become wealthy and prosperous if they only work hard enough. There is or are some things about the American Dream that never seem to meet the expectations and needs of society. The characters in The Great Gatsby cannot grasp the concept that The American Dream is somewhat an illusion because not everybody can obtain what they would like if they work hard. Gatsby's inside look on the destroyed American Dream gives sarcasm to the novel because he is the only one that actually ‘works’ for his station. Gatsby was the only person who believed solely in the power of the American Dream. He honestly thought that his efforts and dreams would be effective in the end. Gatsby's one devastating flaw is that he believes in his ability to achieve the American Dream. His disgrace is the fact that he thinks that things can simply go back to the way they were previously.

The American Dream. A dream for an innumerable number of Americans who so desperately wants to achieve. The dream of being able to accomplish anything in life through hard work and to have a perfect family. “The Great Gatsby”, by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a satirical story of the American Dream during the Gilded Age, representing the economic and political turmoil and corruption that was all covered up by a glitzy and glamorous society and culture that appeared on the outside to be a prosperous nation. The characters that are described in this novel are shown to be corrupted by the pursuit of fame and wealth, they have never worked a single minute of their lives to earn anything on their own.

What is the American Dream? Sure, we’ve heard of it in movies or maybe a song, and maybe even read about it in a book. The American dream is the ideal life; the fact that fame can be achievable no matter race, gender, sexual orientation, or age is ideal. This is what makes the American dream just that, a dream. Yet some characters are able to achieve this dream, some character like Jay Gatsby. For the others, for those who voyaged off to America to achieve greatness, well, they were just met with failure. The failure of the American dream as well as Gatsby's dream are very prominent aspects in the novel The Great Gatsby. Both Gatsby’s dream of having Daisy once more, and the dream of going to America, working hard, and having guaranteed success,

out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was

The 1920’s was a time of great change to both the country lived in as well as the goals and ambitions that were sought after by the average person. During this time, priorities shifted from family and religion to success and spontaneous living. The American dream, itself, changed into a self centered and ongoing personal goal that was the leading priority in most people’s lives. This new age of carelessness and naivety encompasses much of what this earlier period is remembered for. In addition, this revolution transformed many of the great writers and authors of the time as well as their various works. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, perfectly symbolizes many emergent trends of the 1920’s. More importantly the