The American Dream - Great Gatsby
In his novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald paints a vivid portrait of life in the Jazz Age. Taking place in between World War I and the Great Depression, people during this time were all trying to achieve their own version of the American Dream. If it meant becoming rich as quick as possible, or the old fashioned way, everyone had their eyes set on the same prize, money. People would do anything to get it and morals were all but lost in this frenzy to become rich. Fitzgerald uses his novel as a way to demonstrate and criticize different versions of the American Dream. He gives us a variety characters and with each of these characters he offers different means of achieving the American Dream. Although many of the characters in the novel have corrupted views of how this dream should be achieved, Fitzgerald does offer one person who goes about things the right way. His means of becoming rich being corrupt, but Jay Gatsby justifies his actions by having honorable reasons for wanting to achieve the American Dream. Fitzgerald uses Tom Buchanan to illustrate the wrong way to go about achieving the American Dream, Tom does so by surrounding himself with material possessions. Living what many would con
Gatsby like many of the other characters is affected by the corruptness of money, yet he also has the necessary reasons for wanting the American Dream that justify his actions. Jay Gatsby is extremely naive and does not realize any of this. He thinks that money is the answer to everything. Because of this Gatsby surrounds himself in money and expensive things, he feels this will bring him closer to Daisy. Nick said of Gatsby, "If personality were a series of gestures..." (6). This shows the pureness of Gatsby and of his hope for getting what he wants, Daisy. For her, he sacrificed everything he had and forged a new life. By bootlegging and illegally selling alcohol, Gatsby becomes as rich as he deems necessary to get Daisy. Gatsby tells Nick that Daisy's voice is "full of money" (127), along with his obsession of money this shows that his love of Daisy and his greed with money are one of the same. Despite his reason for loving Daisy, Gatsby still has the purest quest of every other character in the novel. He put his hopes of the American Dream in love, not a material item. The green light at Daisy's house is a symbol of Daisy, and Gatsby's love towards her, "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future" (189). With a corrupt view on things, Gatsby makes everything ok by having a love for Daisy so great he does anything to attain her. sider a perfect life Tom Buchanan seems to have everything, money, a fancy house, and a beautiful wife. Although he may have all these things, it is the mentality that goes with having them that makes you happy and not the actual ownership of them. Treating everything as a possession, Tom bases all of his happiness on what he does or does not have. Tom even treats his relationships with women as thought
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Approximate Word count = 1184
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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