Similarities Between The American Dream And The Great Gatsby

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The American Dream, one of the foundations this great country was built upon, is the concept of regardless of who a person is, they can achieve what they in America if they work hard enough. This concept has been interpreted in many different ways by the millions of people who have come to this country to find their American Dream. One of America’s well known authors, F. Scott Fitzgerald was a man with a complicated life and an extraordinary talent in conveying ideas that are still relevant decades later. Through the works such as the Great Gatsby, the film adaptation based on the novel, and a letter to his daughter, Fitzgerald’s cynical opinion on the concept of the American Dream is evidently expressed. In these works, the exposition, narration, …show more content…
The characters strive for various goals but ultimately all of them end up disatisfied. Jay Gatsby, a World War Two veteran, desires for Daisy Buchanan, a woman from his past whom he loves but could not be with because of the differences in their social statuses. In fact, he devotes most of his life trying to acquire enough wealth and fame so that Daisy will be with him. In the film version, he views her as a “single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock," and eventually dies trying to gain Daisy’s love unsuccessfully. The green light symbolizes the love that Gatsby wants to relive but cannot reach. Gatsby is the embodiment of the American Dream as he symbolizes strives for an impractical goal and is defeated by it. He believes by lying and imitating the East Egg individuals, he will be able to secure Daisy. He does unethical things such as bootlegging and presumes that Daisy will leave her husband Tom for him but Fitzgerald communicates that Gatsby is delusional and is living a dream. His pursuit of the American dream is the thing that ends up killing …show more content…
Throughout the novel, the realizations that Nick Carraway, the narrator, finds reflect Fitzgerald’s opinion on the American Dream. The overall plot emphasizes how superficial society is. From the obsession of power to extravagant parties, Fitzgerald portrays the setting as an era of the American Dream decline- as an era of greed, selfishness, and immorality. In particular, the East egg and West egg convey distinct lines of wealthy- one that’s inherited and considered proper, and the other contains the people that have earned their money. Though she is in love with Gatsby, Daisy is swayed easily by money and declares, in the movie adaption, that “rich girls don’t marry poor boys,” proving that humanity is frivolous. Daisy’s want for wealth overpowers Gatsby’s love for her. One dimensional things such as economic status can impede genuine feelings like love. Fitzgerald conveys that the American Dream ideology is proven to be a deception as Gatsby isn’t able to achieve happiness no matter how hard he works for it. After Gatsby’s death, Nick Carraway figures out that disappointment is inevitable with trying to pursue impossible goals like Gatsby and most people are attempting to do. To prevent his daughter from making the same mistakes as Gatsby, Fitzgerald expresses to his daughter that “don’t worry about disappointments, don’t worry about pleasures, don’t worry about satisfactions.” Fitzgerald conveys