The American Dream in The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald
The American Dream is the fantasy of complete independence andself-reliance mixed with the opportunity to attain wealth throughone’s labours. On the surface, this dream seems almost enchanted,offering people the unique prospect of achieving success regardless ofone’s race, religion or family history. “The Great Gatsby” by F. ScottFitzgerald is an immortal illustration of the American Dream.Fitzgerald analyses the 1920s and expresses ideas of the AmericanDream being distorted from a pure ideal of security into an idea ofmaterialistic power. Fitzgerald incorporates the aspects of both theold dream and the new dream in his tragic story to depict how theAmerican Dream has been corrupted and lost forever.
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The main qualities of the American Dream presented in “The GreatGatsby” are perseverance and hope which are relevant to the life ofJay Gatsby. This is shown through the eyes of Jay Gatsby, who focusedall his attention on living the American dream and becoming a hero.Ever since he was a young, Gatsby worked hard on becoming a great man.This is documented in Gatsby’s copy of the adventures of HopalongCassidy, who was an American figure. While showing this journal toNick, Mr Gatsby professed “Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always hadsome resolves like this or something. He was always great for that”.Jay Gatsby’s connection to the American dream is relevant to hisprogram for self-improvement. The content of the schedule containedexamples such as “no smoking, study electricity and be better toparents”. This shows the qualities of being an American hero and ahar…
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Through the tragic story of Jay Gatsby and his failed attempt to reachhis dream, F. Scott Fitzgerald describes the need for hopes and dreamsto give meaning and purpose to a man’s efforts. Striving towards someideal is the way by which a man can feel a sense of involvement, asense of his own identity. Fitzgerald goes on to state that thefailure of hopes and dreams, the failure of the American dream itselfis unavoidable, not only because reality cannot keep up with ideals,but also because the ideals in any case are too fantastic to realise.Gatsby is naive, impractical and sentimental, which makes him attemptthe impossible, to repeat the past. Therefore “The Great Gatsby” isnot about the life and death of Jay Gatsby, but about what Jay Gatsbystood for. It is about the life and death of the old American dream.
