Inequality In The Great Gatsby

The American dream was first defined by James Truslow Adams as “dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. Many forget to point out the “everyone” aspect of the definition, as in every American should have an equal opportunity to achieve this dream. Not everyone in history has had an equal chance to achieve the American dream, whether it be discrimination, or suppression it has never been a reality for everyone in a time period, yet at least. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the novel was taken place in the 1920s and there was a character named Daisy, and because of the sexism in the 1920s towards females, she had less …show more content…
As the inequality of economic standard keep increasing, the amount of children born into the lower average income scale have far greater obstacles to overcome to achieve the so called “American Dream” than the above average income scale because of the greater opportunities they have. According to Richard over the last 15 years the middle class average income has decreased while the above average has increased. Another character in the Great Gatsby is Nick, and Nick lives in the West Egg of Long Island and compared to the East Egg, it is more of a lower income area. Daisy is wealthy because she married into wealth, but even though Nick went to Yale and got a great education, Daisy still lives in a far wealthier part of town, in a much more expensive lifestyle because she married a man that inherited money from his family. Because nick didn’t grow up in the East Egg lifestyle it was much harder for him to earn a decent income and achieve the “American Dream”. This is just another example how the American Dream has never existed because of the inequality of Americans and how each American doesn’t have an equal chance of achieving it. Also in the article “Is there an American Dream for Black Children?” it explains that people of color don’t have the same opportunities of white people because of the large rate of single motherhood, because “50% of black …show more content…
The Article “The American Dream is not dead; it never existed” has tremendous examples on why the American Dream has never existed. Examples such as Americans being discriminated, disrespected, suppressed etc., these examples have developed many new understandings of the definition because of how everyone should be able to achieve this dream, but not one era throughout American has everyone has been equal, so it has never existed. In the Novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald more examples are displayed, such as the character Daisy, and her belief of not being able to achieve the “American Dream” solely because she is a women. New ideas of Adams term gave ben brought up a great deal since 1931, but the term is likely never to have a solid