Tyler Hall
Mrs. Krapels
3/18/15
The Great Gatsby/Winter Dreams Essay
The American Dream is the idea that every United States citizen should, and does have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. This thought has been used countless time throughout American Literature. A few times the American Dream is used are in the stories The Great Gatsby and Winter Dreams by F. Scott Fitzgerald. However, Fitzgerald doesn’t say good things or talk about how voluble the American Dream is, instead, he writes how unattainable it really is.
Fitzgerald creates two characters, Jay Gatsby and Dexter. In both stories there is sort of a reoccurring theme, the lead character is driven to be successful, …show more content…
He did everything he could in attempt to re-kindle the relationship he had with Daisy 5 years prior before he went off to fight in war. He believed he could accomplish this by means of his wealth and position; he even threw outrageous parties every night, and drove expensive cars into town all so he can impress her. However, Gatsby failed to realize that the one thing he desired most was completely unrealistic. This is proven in the story on more than one occasion. After Gatsby’s tragic death, Nick Carraway, Gatsby’s neighbor, and go-to man in the story even notices this himself, saying “He (Gatsby) had come such a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close he could hardly fail to grasp it. But what he did not know was that it was already behind him, somewhere in the vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.”(Fitzgerald 180). This basically emphasizes the central idea that The American Dream is just not possible, Nick is saying that Gatsby hoped and planned for a future life with Daisy that was only possible in the past; the best he could have hoped for was a repeat of their old relationship. Gatsby’s material success was actually a failure in the big picture, it seemed to put his dreams within reach, but actually became to the point that his “American Dream” was
Mrs. Krapels
3/18/15
The Great Gatsby/Winter Dreams Essay
The American Dream is the idea that every United States citizen should, and does have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. This thought has been used countless time throughout American Literature. A few times the American Dream is used are in the stories The Great Gatsby and Winter Dreams by F. Scott Fitzgerald. However, Fitzgerald doesn’t say good things or talk about how voluble the American Dream is, instead, he writes how unattainable it really is.
Fitzgerald creates two characters, Jay Gatsby and Dexter. In both stories there is sort of a reoccurring theme, the lead character is driven to be successful, …show more content…
He did everything he could in attempt to re-kindle the relationship he had with Daisy 5 years prior before he went off to fight in war. He believed he could accomplish this by means of his wealth and position; he even threw outrageous parties every night, and drove expensive cars into town all so he can impress her. However, Gatsby failed to realize that the one thing he desired most was completely unrealistic. This is proven in the story on more than one occasion. After Gatsby’s tragic death, Nick Carraway, Gatsby’s neighbor, and go-to man in the story even notices this himself, saying “He (Gatsby) had come such a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close he could hardly fail to grasp it. But what he did not know was that it was already behind him, somewhere in the vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.”(Fitzgerald 180). This basically emphasizes the central idea that The American Dream is just not possible, Nick is saying that Gatsby hoped and planned for a future life with Daisy that was only possible in the past; the best he could have hoped for was a repeat of their old relationship. Gatsby’s material success was actually a failure in the big picture, it seemed to put his dreams within reach, but actually became to the point that his “American Dream” was