Carraway's View Of The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

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The “American Dream” was the pursuit of happiness every American was striving for. This thought of the “American Dream” dominates the Novel The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald as two characters Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway chase after their Dream and realize that their views of the “American Dream” is becoming the reality that haunts them the most. This pursuit of happiness also finds itself in the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck in which the character Lennie has his view of the American Dream working hard to achieve it, but falls short as his obstacles become too large for him to overcome. Jay Gatsby was a man's man. A man that was looked up to a man that everyone knew his name but nobody really knew who he was. As the story goes …show more content…
Nick graduated from Yale and was a soldier in World War One. When he came back he wanted to live a more fashionable lifestyle in the east to live a wealthier life selling bonds to once again become that “well-rounded man” he once was. Nick’s idea of living the American Dream was destroyed by the people he so knew. Nick was a neighbor of Mr. Gatsby, a cousin of Daisy Buchanan, and her husband Tom. Nick’s dream was destroyed by the carelessness, cold heartedness, and dishonesty of the people around him. Nick witnessed the affair Tom had with Myrtle Wilson, and the dishonesty Tom had with Daisy. Nick also heard the stories surrounded the mystery behind Gatsby and the lies he told to portray himself as the man he wanted to be seen as. After the tragic death of Gatsby Nick truly saw the betrayal of all the people Gatsby thought he knew as people like the Buchanans, Klipspringer, Wolfshiem, and the owl-eyed man all betrayed Gatsby and never cared about his death. This made Nick feel as his dream was useless as everything he thought he wanted became the thing that haunted him. New York became a place of lies and failure for Nick as his life seemed to wash away like the the memories he had …show more content…
The search for this dream finds itself in the book Of Mice and Men. Lennie is a man who had a dream close to Nick Carraway. Lennie's dream was to work on farms to eventually have enough money to buy his own ranch with George who he traveled with. Lennie was a man who had a serious mental disability who fixates on his thoughts and his dream of getting their own ranch and tending the rabbits. George describes their dream over and over that Lennie knows it by heart. After taking away a dead mouse from Lennie George describes their dream once more “ O.K. Someday-we’re gonna get jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs and-” “ An’ live off the fatta the lan’,” Lennie shouted “An’ have rabbits.” (Steinbeck 14). This shows the excitement Lennie has to achieve his idea of the American Dream. Lennie and George were two itinerant farm workers, looking for work wherever they could. Like Nick they worked for their achievements and worked for their money as Nick used his education and skills to sell bonds Lennie used his strength and fixated determination for money and work. Lennie spent his life working on farms and trying to make George happy so one day he could achieve his dream of owning his own farm and tending the rabbits. Lennie’s dream becomes unrealistic and out of reach as his disability creates problems too big for him to overcome. Lennie’s dream ends when he
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