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The Great Gatsby and the 'American Dream'
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In Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby the concept of the 'American Dream' appears in two ways. On the one hand Fitzgerald's view and imagination of the American Dream and on the other and, within the plot, Gatsby as the 'possible' personified American Dream come true. Francis Scott Fitzgerald practically puts the notion of the American Dream on the same level as 'human dream'. But more remarkable is the fact that Fitzgerald's concept of the American Dream corresponds with the history of America. It has to do with the history of the pioneers and their slogan 'conquer the West' with a land of 'new beginnings, hope and unlimited opportunities'. So Fitzgerald actually knows that The Great Gatsby is about the American Dream - even if the term itself hasn't been coined yet and remains the 'fragment of lost words' that Nick Carraway almost remembers as he listens to Gatsby's appallingly sentimental account of Daisy Buchanan at the end of Chapter VI. Jay Gatsby repesents two ideals or aspects of the American Dream. First, there is the myth to make it 'from rags to riches'. On the other hand, there is Gatsby's dream of 'preserving the idyllic moment'. To enlighten the purpose of distinguishing between these two concepts, I have to mention that Gatsby's materialistic dream, the rags-to-riches- myth has really come true. He has a great 'white palace' for the fabulous parties he throws. But those parties serve for the sole purpose of regaining the 'green light', which means Daisy. A negative aspect of Gatsby's dream is that he has acquired his possessions by illegal means. he pays dearly for the efforts to regain the 'fairy-tale princess', namely with his life. To conclude my chain of thought, I would like to say that the American Dream in this novel never reaches total fulfillment, since Gatsby's personal dream, the dream of regaining his lost love Daisy, never comes true in contrast to Gatsby's materialistic dream. 2)The Great Gatsby and The American Dream The Great Gatsby is one of Fitzgerald's greatest works. Many seem to be puzzled by the questions about the 'American Dream'. Yet students have been presented with this concept throughout their school years, every textbook has got at least some text or chapter about this topic, and your presidents seem to refer to it in regular intervals (Clinton being the last one a couple of weeks ago on CNN). Various critics see The Great Gatsby clearly connected with the American Dream; M.Bewley writes that "The Great Gatsby is an exploration of the American Dream as it exists in a corrupt period". He points out that "critics tend to agree that The Great Gatsby is somehow a commentary of that elusisve phrase, the American Dream." He, too, sees that The Great Gatsby presents "some of the severest and closest criticism that our literature affords." And Fitzgerald is seen as the very 'poet and celebrant' of the American Dream (A.Hook). Perhaps one agrees with R.H.Fossum's statement about the American Dream: "To some people, the term is a joke, an object of satire, derison, or contempt". He further argues that "few terms are defined in so many different ways". Then again, perhaps all of this is mere simian chatter. One might ask fellow classmates and find a quick definition of the concept: American dream = from rags to riches. More sophisticated definitions refer to the American Constitution: Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It's the immigrants' dream about religious and political freedom, the search of better living conditions, the freedom to develop one's innate abilities, equality of opportunity, realizing one's own potential. The question arises then - with this very broad definition, whether this 'dream' is only - or so specifically American. Is there not an African Dream or an Asian Dream? Clearly, matters of this order are so vague and slippery, they seem poor frames for investigation. Throughout the history of the world all immigrants' have had the dream of religious and political freedom, the search of better living conditions, the freedom to develop one's innate abilities, equality of opportunity, realizing one's own potential. This 'dream' is not specifically American and it would be very presumptuous at best, and racist at worst to even consider attaching the term ‘American’ to this universal dream of equality, opportunity and freedom. Here's mettle more attractive. It is more productive for one to analyze and discuss the universal elements of The Great Gatsby. One should probe the common humanity of the characters, whose circumstances - financial, psychological and geographical - are defined solely by the descriptions in the story (and reasonable inferences therefrom) and transcend generations and national borders. Any literary work worth discussing must speak to the human being, not to the American, or Asian, or African. The degree to which a novel can define the dream of a people, be they American, African, Asian, or any other, is the degree of its literary mortality. 3) The Great Gatsby: The American Dream Every character in the Great Gatsby fulfilled his or her part of the "American Dream". It didn't always make the person better, in most cases worse. It made the characters see life I an unnatural light that they would not of other wise seen. First I need to make clear what the "American Dream really" is. The "American Dream" is to have a lot of money and material objects. The average person from a third world country thinks that the streets America are "paved in gold" and that there is no poverty at all. Millions of people who live in America think that because they are American they must have money to be happy with life. They can't even imagine not having money and that's all they think and talk about. They also talk/brag about the things they buy with there money. This is just like the way that Gatsby acts. He's always bragging about his nice house, his nice car, and every aspect of his life. He makes his life out to be "perfect" getting educated at a high class institution. He thinks that the only people who are meant to have a lot of money are well educated people who have led the "perfect" life. He can not except the fact that he got all his money from bootlegging. All this money has not made him a good person at all in fact it has made him a worse person. He lies to everyone about his whole life and who he really is. He thinks that now that he has all this money the only way to be happy is to use it. Nick has fulfilled his version of the "American Dream" by living the life he was expected to live. He is not rich and does not need money to be happy. He is just living life to the fullest and happy the way his life is going. The problem with Nick is that he is getting pulled by Gatsby into this world ware money a prestige is all that creates happiness. He is starting to think that his life is not as complete as it could be because he dose not have the money Gatsby does. Daisy is in love with Gatsby. She thinks that just because he has money and she has money they will be happy. This is not the case. The main thing about the twos wealth that is different is that Daisy inherited hers and Gatsby got his from bootlegging. Daisy has no idea what being poor is like but Gatsby does. Daisy is in a dream world that is once you have money you will always have money. Gatsby knowing what it is like to be poor has the power to tell her what it is like to be poor. I think that Daisy should know what it is like to be poor so that she can do things to help people who are poor and just so she realizes that not everyone has money and that there are other ways to find happiness then money. Tom is like Nick in that he is living the life that he is expected to live. He is happy just the way he is. He dose not need money or anything else to make his life acceptable to him. To me he is the character that has most fulfilled his own dream not the general "American Dream" I believe that one should live there life to the fullest and never put all of there happiness into one thing because if that one thing goes away the person isn't happy. Especially money because now a days money can be gained and loosed with in seconds and if all your happiness depends on money and that goes away then you aren't happy. Life should be about hard work and striving to reach a ultimate goal. None of the characters in this book did this so I think that everyone of them led a life that could have been much more fulfilling. 4) Danger of the American Dream Exposed in The Great Gatsby I have read many books during my life. The Great Gatsby was the only novel that I found to be magnificent. F. Scott Fitzgerald has made me realize that there are many aspects in life that need to be taken seriously. The Great Gatsby has struck me emotionally as well as physically - it contains both physical and emotional pain. All of Fitzgerald's characters had a Dream, however, Jay Gatsby’s dream stood out above the others. Jay Gatsby was the only character throughout the whole novel that I found to experience both emotional and physical pain. Continuing with the emotional pain, Jay Gatsby exaggerates it. His American Dream is to go after a lost love, a love that he thought would love him and stay with him until death will break them apart, but it didn't end like that. This dream, his love, left him, and ran off with another, her husband. This left Jay Gatsby alone, tormented, miserable, and devastated. His American Dream left him, destroyed him and ruined his life, his whole entire life I also found in Jay Gatsby an injury, a physical pain that tormented him day and night. It is the pain of Denial. However, Jay Gatsby was not the only one that had an American Dream and got hurt, there were others, others that died because they thought that their American Dream was real. Take for instance, a young lady named Myrtle. She was a wife and at the same time a lover of another.
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