The Declaration of Independence, a statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4th, 1776, states “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (The Declaration of Independence). But are all men truly created equal? The American dream is the idea that every U.S. citizen has equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, shows the corruption of the American dream. The American dream is supposed to stand for the ability to make something out of one 's self, but
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At one of Gatsby 's grand parties, Nick wanders into the library, and runs into a man with owl-eyed spectacles who is in awe that all Gatsby’s books are real. Owl-eyes gaped “As a matter of fact you needn’t bother to ascertain. I ascertained. They’re real.” “The books?” He nodded. “Absolutely real—have pages and everything. I thought they’d be a nice durable cardboard. Matter of fact, they’re absolutely real. Pages and—Here! Lemme show you” (Fitzgerald 45). Owl-eyes was convinced that like every other fortunato, Gatsby would’ve bought fake books that take up space because it was cheaper and less time consuming than actually reading them. Owl-eyes was so quick to assume that Gatsby was phony and dishonest. Nick is also seen with a somewhat cynical attitude when he suspected "Somehow, that seemed a despicable occupation. For all I knew he was going to rob the house in a moment; I wouldn 't have been surprised to see sinister faces, the faces of "Wolfsheim 's people," behind him in the dark shrubbery" (Fitzgerald 142). Nick was distrusting, and disparaging the motives of Gatsby due to the newfound knowledge of his illegal business. We as a country do not let people achieve the American Dream due to cynicism. We have inclinations such as every Mexican is an illegal immigrant, or every black person is a drug dealer. Marianne Bertrand, a Belgian economist, found that “changing the names on résumés to those that are traditionally white or black affects call-backs for jobs. White-sounding names were 50 percent more likely to get called for an initial interview … whites with better résumés were 30 percent more likely to get a call-back than whites with worse résumés, but for blacks, more experience only increased call-backs by 9 percent” (Huffington Post). People of color are not given equal opportunities due to inclinations ones may have about
At one of Gatsby 's grand parties, Nick wanders into the library, and runs into a man with owl-eyed spectacles who is in awe that all Gatsby’s books are real. Owl-eyes gaped “As a matter of fact you needn’t bother to ascertain. I ascertained. They’re real.” “The books?” He nodded. “Absolutely real—have pages and everything. I thought they’d be a nice durable cardboard. Matter of fact, they’re absolutely real. Pages and—Here! Lemme show you” (Fitzgerald 45). Owl-eyes was convinced that like every other fortunato, Gatsby would’ve bought fake books that take up space because it was cheaper and less time consuming than actually reading them. Owl-eyes was so quick to assume that Gatsby was phony and dishonest. Nick is also seen with a somewhat cynical attitude when he suspected "Somehow, that seemed a despicable occupation. For all I knew he was going to rob the house in a moment; I wouldn 't have been surprised to see sinister faces, the faces of "Wolfsheim 's people," behind him in the dark shrubbery" (Fitzgerald 142). Nick was distrusting, and disparaging the motives of Gatsby due to the newfound knowledge of his illegal business. We as a country do not let people achieve the American Dream due to cynicism. We have inclinations such as every Mexican is an illegal immigrant, or every black person is a drug dealer. Marianne Bertrand, a Belgian economist, found that “changing the names on résumés to those that are traditionally white or black affects call-backs for jobs. White-sounding names were 50 percent more likely to get called for an initial interview … whites with better résumés were 30 percent more likely to get a call-back than whites with worse résumés, but for blacks, more experience only increased call-backs by 9 percent” (Huffington Post). People of color are not given equal opportunities due to inclinations ones may have about