Analysis Of The American Dream In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

As of now, more than half of the total world population, which is relatively three billion people, are living on under $2.50. Shockingly enough, roughly 80 percent of humanity live on less than $10 a day. In the United States alone there is a poverty rate of 14.8 percent that equates to approximately 50 million people. America is the land of immigrants and upon immigration, America is seen as the land where streets are made of gold as dictated by the American Dream. Today, the American Dream is mainly a lower class mentality that encourages them to go from rags to riches but it is all a figment of their imagination. Because it is a figment of their imagination, they create a romanticized ideal for what they aspire, but it is unlikely to be attainable due to the nature of their origin; economically and socially. To obtain the dream is to consciously accept the corruption of one’s morals. Intensive focus on the bright light of the future will leave them to aimlessly continue forward and as dark and lifeless as the shadow being cast in their foreground. The only way to …show more content…
In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, a majority of the characters are have blurred the lines. Gatsby is corrupt because he gained his wealth associating with Wolfshiem who is also morally unstable. Upon introduction he shows Nick cufflinks made of human molars seemingly hinting towards the idea that he might have kill a person and retrieved their teeth. To add salt to the injuries, Gatsby, Daisy, Tom and Myrtle all participate in affairs with or while being married. Despite such despicable behavior, somehow each character received a taste of what they strived to achieve before it was taken away from them. This is Fitzgerald’s way of telling his readers that success acquired by illegal mean will result in a loss of ourselves and the hollow shells that remain are not worth enough to enjoy