Jay Gatsby was a poor boy that turned into a very wealthy man, but did he live the American Dream? Money is actually the only thing that Gatsby had a lot of. Jay Gatsby tries to live the life of The American Dream, but fails in his battle. Gatsby certainly lacks many of the qualities and fails many of the tests normally linked with greatness, but he redeems this by his exalted conception of himself. Today society sets their goals by planning the future
The Corruption of the American Dream Around the 19th century, immigrants came to the United States in any way possible to attain the higher form of living, called the “American Dream.” For those who achieved this “dream,” money and social status became a desire. The thoughts of many individuals became twisted into materialistic views. As F. Scott Fitzgerald stated, “A dream is incorruptible as long as it remains intangible, non-material. But once that dream is put in terms of material possessions, it becomes corrupted.” The novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald is about a young man named Nick who lives in the “new-money,” West Egg. His neighbor, a man of great wealth, named Jay
The American Dream Ruined The American dream was originally supposed to be prosperity, success, having a family, and being able to provide for that family without worry. Money was acquired through hard work and honesty, but The Great Gatsby presents an entirely different perspective on this dream. One example from the book is the way Gatsby gets his money--through bootlegging. He steped completely out of the guidelines of the American Dream. The American Dream was not meant to be corrupt, but during the 1920s, people like Gatsby used organized crime and other immorally wrong ways to gain their wealth.
Gatsby, however, did not realize that with the ending of the war, his prestige would end as well. Returning to America made him realize that he would have to do everything in his power to become wealthy to be worthy of Daisy’s love. Gatsby represents the American Dream in many ways and in order to accomplish his dream he knows exactly what he desires. The existence of social class in America is very important during this time period, no rich man would marry a poor woman and no poor man would wind up marrying a rich woman. Gatsby being well aware of this tries desperately to fake his status and buy his way into a high social class.Gatsby is held at arm’s length from the people that would put him into the finest part of New York, East Egg.
In the story it said that rich girls don’t marry poor men, and that is shown in both Gatsby and fitzgerald. “the publication of this side of paradise on march 26, 1920, made the twenty-four year old fitzgerald famous almost over night, and a week later he married Zelda sayre in new york. Zelda married fitzgerald when he became famous and had a lot of money. Daisy married Gatsby when he impressed her with his big parties. “daisy is won over, oddly, by the amount of shirts that Gatsby owns” (www.geocities.com).
The novel The Great Gatsby demonstrates the wrong idea people in the 1920s had on the American Dream. The original idea of the American Dream is that each individual can get success and happiness through hard work and determination. However, after WW1 this perception has changed and people started viewing the American Dream only as something materialistic, they only striven for financial success and high social status. Fitzgerald portrays this vision of America through the characters in his novel. Firstly, he shows it through Nick.
He thinks that it is impossible to progress with the ideas of racism and social class, and that we can’t move forward until these issues are neutralized. Dalton argues that these issues are giving Americans false hope of achieving the American Dream. Dalton’s argument is based around what is currently happening in America today. Brooks, on the other hand, believes that America is a country grown and based off imagination and that progress is only achieved by looking to the future. He believes that imagination is the sole reason we have progressed as a nation in the past.
When Europe finally emerged out of the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance, Europeans despised everything about the Middle Ages. In the Middle Ages, queens and kings were decided by “divine power” which opposes the notion of rulership in Machiavelli’s The Prince. Erasmus, another key player in the Renaissance, once stated, “Men are made, not born” which totally contradicts the idea of divine power. Another new idea Machiavelli developed in The Prince that goes against Middle age thought was to use soldiers that one possesses in their state, instead of using mercenaries or auxiliary soldiers. In the Renaissance, the humility of the Middle Ages was completely thrown out, only to be replaced with people wearing extravagant clothing and consuming themselves in their image.
Gatsby puts away every other aspect Samra 2 of American Dream and focuses on earning enough money to get his Daisy to him. Fitzgerald shows that Gatsby is not enough to be with Daisy by writing, “He took what he could … he had no real right to touch her hand” (Fitzgerald 149). This tells readers the difference in the social standing between Daisy and Gatsby, and Gatsby gets motivated by the power of money Daisy holds to be the man who has same social standing and money as Daisy, so that he could cope up with the idol man of Daisy’s life. Fitzgerald even writes, “He knew that Daisy was extraordinary … into her rich, full life, leaving Gatsby-nothing” (Fitzgerald 149). This
“The Great Gatsby” The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, focuses on America in the 1920’s and an American dream based on wealth and material excess. Fitzgerald shows that in the 1920’s social and moral values were decaying because so many people were indulging in vain and unrealistic pleasures of the world. Through the mindset of conspicuous consumption among Americans, people were overly concerned about wealth and social status. All three characters are examples of this mind set and it is why Daisy is unable to sacrifice her privileged social status with Tom to be with Gatsby. Her relationship with Gatsby was defiantly closer to the definition of love, but because of where her heart really is, she’s better suited for Tom.