Achieving The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

Words: 636

Pages: 3

Open Document

In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby ultimately ended up achieving the American Dream even though he didn’t fulfill his personal goal of marrying Daisy. The American Dream is loosely defined as a belief that anyone, no matter their social standing, can obtain success in society through equal opportunity. Gatsby is seen with vast riches and high social standing yet his dream of marrying Daisy never happens.
Throughout the novel, it’s shown that Gatsby has gained social status and money established by his lavish parties. Since he had accumulated so much he was considered to be from the upper crust and people from all over looked up to him because of his success. Many would consider him to have fulfilled the American Dream even though they wouldn’t have known his true humble beginnings. While many thought Gatsby threw the …show more content…
“Your wife doesn’t love you,” said Gatsby. “She’s never loved you. She loves me.”...”She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved anyone but me!” (130). This quotation ties together the American Dream and Gatsby’s goal of marrying Daisy. If Gatsby had achieved the American Dream sooner or was just richer, he would have married Daisy from the start but Tom had swooped in after Gatsby had attained the American dream.
In the end of The Great Gatsby, Gatsby is shot while is his extravagant swimming pool and dies. Even though he had amassed great riches and had people coming from all over to go to one of his parties, he wasn’t fulfilled without Daisy. Gatsby was in the crème de la crème achieving the American Dream yet he couldn’t get what he wanted more than social mobility or wealth, Daisy. He died having achieved the American Dream but not his own personal dream of marrying

The Role Of Corruption In The Great Gatsby

“ To me, the American Dream is being able to follow your own personal calling. To be able to do what you want to do is incredible freedom. ” (Maya Lin). The roaring twenties delivered times of great optimism, wealth, and corruption. In The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald, The American Dream is established as the perfect recipe for achieving wealth and success, but later on turns into a force that inspires corruption. In the book we observe that the path to great wealth is not always a linear or…

Words 723 - Pages 3

The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

The great and the gatsby by f. Scott fitzgerald, is a decline of the american dream of the 1920s set in the summer of 1922.A young nick carraway telling the story of his neighbor gatsby and how the love story of gatsby and daisy is portrayed.The great gatsby can be looked at as the american dream and the decline of the american dream.The american dream is any gender or immigrant coming to the us or living in the us in the rise of achieving success and prosperity through hard work and determination…

Words 579 - Pages 3

Everything: F. Scott Fitzgerald and American Dream Essay

A true icon of its time, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald explores the true meanings of several interesting and in-depth topics, perhaps the most controversial being that of the American dream. In being one of the main themes of the Great Gatsby, the American dream is described as it exists in a corrupt period of history, the 1920’s, often noted as the, “Roaring 20’s.” As it is described in the novel, the American dream is known as one’s only desire for money and materialism. Moreover, let’s…

Words 1109 - Pages 5

Great Gatsby Essay example

OR INDIVIDUAL(S) IN THE TEXT(S) In the novel "The Great Gatsby" by Scott.F. Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby, the wealthy protagonist portrays the image of sophistication as well as the American Dream. His character helped display the idea that as a human being, we will constantly develop a greed for many different things, in belief that happiness will be achieved through it. Through the actions which Gatsby chose to take in pursuit for the American dream, readers were able to be see that materialism, and…

Words 922 - Pages 4

Masculinity In The Great Gatsby

tear rolls down her sky-filled face. Three pearls decorate her hair as a city skyline fills the space below. This cover by Francis Cugat contrasts the glamor of the city skyline with the sorrow, excess, power, and pleasure found throughout The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The woman’s empty face on the cover of this novel signifies the empty success and consequential sorrow, represented by the tear, many characters experience in the novel. Furthermore, the pearls represent the pleasure and…

Words 1354 - Pages 6

Great Gatsby: The American Dream

The American Dream, what is it? The American Dream, as stated by Anna Wulick in the article ("The Great Gatsby: The American Dream,") is, “the belief that anyone, regardless of race, class, gender, or nationality, can be successful in America if they just work hard enough.” The American Dream was first publicly defined in 1931 coined up by James Truslow as he states, "The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for…

Words 816 - Pages 4

Essay on F. Scott Fitzgerald and Daisy

The American Dream is the happiness and material comfort earned in life which is usually yearned by citizens in the U.S. Too much money and materialistic items could lead to corruption. The 1920's or Roaring Twenties was a time of parties, drinking and having nothing but fun. Many people wished to be rich to be a part of the upper class. It was all in their American Dream. It almost seemed impossible unless being born into wealth. Although wealth doesn’t mean the American Dream has been reached.…

Words 746 - Pages 3

Examples Of Disillusionment In The Great Gatsby

Many people in this world are described as “great” but for the regular, unknown people who don’t truly know what most wealthy people do is illegal, are left to feel that they really are perfect since media describes them to be so.The interpretation of “great” is of an extent, amount, or intensity or considerably, above normal or average. Disillusionment is often the feeling many people get when they want something or someone who they is perfect but they really are not. One who feels this is always…

Words 1854 - Pages 8

Great Gatsby Obstacles

An American dream, by definition, exemplifies the epitome of an all-encompassing achievement of all life's goals. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby exemplifies the hardships that come along with achieving such a dream. Each dream, no matter how big or minute, comes with a price, at times the price outweighs the benefits. This can be seen with Jay Gatsby as he pursues the American dream. Nick is also unable to achieve such a dream due to the fact that he gets distracted by outside influences…

Words 269 - Pages 2

The Great Gatsby Timeline

p. 180). This is the last line of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is a metaphor and it is relating a boat in harsh waters to life. Fitzgerald is saying that no matter how hard you struggle to move in one direction, the current is going to set us back into where we were in the past. To sum it all up, the meaning of this quote is that life goes on, so you must keep working hard for success. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald exposes the “American Dream” successfully, but also hints at its decline…

Words 820 - Pages 4