Dylan Blake
American Literature
Mr. Young
7 May 2018
The American Dream… Realistic or Unrealistic? The American dream is the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/american-dream?s=t). It is the stereotypical ideology that is inferred upon the American people despite the reality of it. The concept infers a myth of social and financial equality; when the reality is, America is well defined by a social hierarchy. It is continuously exemplified throughout the story, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it is a desire that people seek for an entire lifetime; fulfilling the “American Dream” is the essence …show more content…
Jay Gatsby is wealthy, opulent, and is portrayed by that excessive wealth. James Gatz is rather the opposite, a man who descends from absolutely nothing to everything. Ultimately, he is distinguished by a low class “wanna-be” who wants a life of significance. After encountering a drunken yahter, Dan Cody, who in turn chooses alcoholism and needs someone to look after him, James decides to follow the pursuit of a new path...“James Gatz—that was really, or at least legally, his name. He had changed it at the age of seventeen and at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career—when he saw Dan Cody's yacht drop anchor over the most insidious flat on Lake Superior ( ).” James at the time was a nobody, he had met his soon to be role model, Dan Cody-- a drunken man of extensive wealth who could not even take care of himself, so Gatsby does. Unfortunately, when Cody dies, Gatsby loses his inheritance to his lover, therefore only fueling a drive for Jay to pursuit the “American Dream.” Although, Gatsby does eventually achieve wealth, like the American Dream stipulates, his methods are questionable. Instead, he earns his money through shady affiliations with men like Wolfsheim through inferred …show more content…
He is a yearning for a woman of his past, also known as Daisy Buchanan of the East Egg. Despite their failed love affair during the war, he continually desires the ultimate status symbol. She is a woman of social grace, eloquence, and defined by the connotation of the East Egg which is repleted by the “old money” rather than the “new money” of the West Egg (Home of Gatsby). Regardless of how much money one has, without the status, in regards to the story, you are a nobody, “Why they came East I don't know. They had spent a year in France for no particular reason, and then drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together ( ).” When one is born with money, they are imparted with it; that is what differentiates Gatsby and the Buchanans. Daisy is forever a dream of Mr. Jay Gatsby, simply emulated by the green light at the end of her dock. In all actuality, that green light is the American Dream-- it is the idea that people are always reaching for something even better than themselves. It foreshadows Gatsby as a continual dreamer, rather than people like Tom or Daisy, who are born and bestowed by money. They do not need anything from anyone, they ultimately live the American Dream; defined by class, wealth, and status most of all… A life without
American Literature
Mr. Young
7 May 2018
The American Dream… Realistic or Unrealistic? The American dream is the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/american-dream?s=t). It is the stereotypical ideology that is inferred upon the American people despite the reality of it. The concept infers a myth of social and financial equality; when the reality is, America is well defined by a social hierarchy. It is continuously exemplified throughout the story, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it is a desire that people seek for an entire lifetime; fulfilling the “American Dream” is the essence …show more content…
Jay Gatsby is wealthy, opulent, and is portrayed by that excessive wealth. James Gatz is rather the opposite, a man who descends from absolutely nothing to everything. Ultimately, he is distinguished by a low class “wanna-be” who wants a life of significance. After encountering a drunken yahter, Dan Cody, who in turn chooses alcoholism and needs someone to look after him, James decides to follow the pursuit of a new path...“James Gatz—that was really, or at least legally, his name. He had changed it at the age of seventeen and at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career—when he saw Dan Cody's yacht drop anchor over the most insidious flat on Lake Superior ( ).” James at the time was a nobody, he had met his soon to be role model, Dan Cody-- a drunken man of extensive wealth who could not even take care of himself, so Gatsby does. Unfortunately, when Cody dies, Gatsby loses his inheritance to his lover, therefore only fueling a drive for Jay to pursuit the “American Dream.” Although, Gatsby does eventually achieve wealth, like the American Dream stipulates, his methods are questionable. Instead, he earns his money through shady affiliations with men like Wolfsheim through inferred …show more content…
He is a yearning for a woman of his past, also known as Daisy Buchanan of the East Egg. Despite their failed love affair during the war, he continually desires the ultimate status symbol. She is a woman of social grace, eloquence, and defined by the connotation of the East Egg which is repleted by the “old money” rather than the “new money” of the West Egg (Home of Gatsby). Regardless of how much money one has, without the status, in regards to the story, you are a nobody, “Why they came East I don't know. They had spent a year in France for no particular reason, and then drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together ( ).” When one is born with money, they are imparted with it; that is what differentiates Gatsby and the Buchanans. Daisy is forever a dream of Mr. Jay Gatsby, simply emulated by the green light at the end of her dock. In all actuality, that green light is the American Dream-- it is the idea that people are always reaching for something even better than themselves. It foreshadows Gatsby as a continual dreamer, rather than people like Tom or Daisy, who are born and bestowed by money. They do not need anything from anyone, they ultimately live the American Dream; defined by class, wealth, and status most of all… A life without