A Response to: F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Art
Settlement in North America has been filled with arrogance and a certain self-satisfaction since it's beginning. Religious dissenters, original colonist, believed they were creating a 'new Jerusalem' in the woods. The United States Constitution claims to be based on 'self evident' truths. Americans believed that it was their 'Manifest Destiny' to take up the entire continent. American's religious fervor matched with its greediness to expand explains American arrogance and worship of material wealth. The 'American Dream' is nothing more than the claim that any individual can become fabulously wealthy and that fabulous wealth, in turn, produces great happiness. Immorality is embedded is these assumptions. How a person accumulates the frills of the 'American Dream' seems to be less important than that person has. The restless pursuit of wealth and the popularity of the 'American Dream' are key themes in American literature. They are present in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. In the case of Death of a Salesman the preeminence of the American Dream is immediately stated in the title. The tragic hero, who is Wille Loman, in Death of a Salesman, watches his life collapse around him. His
Tom Buchanan is an Ivy League man with great wealth. His wealth is inherited and/or legitimately earned. Tom is a perfect example of the 'American Dream'. He is actually similar to Gatsby. Gatsby is trying to pursue his wife and at the same time chase his own interest. Going farther, Buchanan, after being confronted with trouble proves to be as immoral and self-serving as Gatsby. In Death of a Salesman Miller portrays capitalism, the fundamental process of the American Dream, destroying an individual's humanity and moral sense. On the other hand, Fitzgerald damages the grounds of the "American Dream" in many ways by his tale of loss and betrayal. Through the portrayal of Tom Buchanan, Fitzgerald demonstrates the fundamental oddness of the American Dream. There is no positive co-relationship between wealth and happiness. Buchanan is fabulously wealthy. He is also unhappy, aggressive and violent. In a crisis it is also revealed that he is immoral and self-centered. His character and behavior disproves the claim that diligence, commitment and honesty are the keys to successfully achieving the American Dream. In fact, Tom Buchanan's character reveals that the fabulously wealthy are as immoral and self-centered as anyone. Hard work and diligence claims to be the way to success under the "American Dream". Both Gatsby and Buchanan possess the trappings of success in the American Dream. However, this reflects in no way upon them as individuals. Overal
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Approximate Word count = 984
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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