The American Dream is the idea that anyone, with hard work and a little luck, can climb the ladder to success. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s legendary work, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is the perfect image of the American Dream, having built his way from poverty to become fabulously rich. On the other hand, Nick Carraway, as a middle class man and as the narrator, is the representative of the common man, aspiring to be atop the social ladder.
However, throughout the novel, Fitzgerald asserts that the American Dream is a mirage; a false hope meant to mask the corruption of 1920’s America and its social inequality. It is a dream that, like a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow; it appears wonderful at a distance, but is really just an empty cauldron …show more content…
At the start of the musical Merrily We Roll Along by celebrated Broadway composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, character Franklin Shepard is rich, famous, and “living the dream”, much like Gatsby from Fitzgerald’s novel. In the number “That Frank” , 1970’s party goers describe him as “the American Dream”, saying that he has “A wife who is gorgeous/And a son who’s straight/He’s the kind of guy you could learn to hate/That Frank!” Although a stark social contrast from today, as gay marriage is legal in the United States, the jealousy of a fabulous lifestyle is still present. For many, however, the American Dream is not about seeking a superfluous living, but rather a bearable and happy one. History, in their article on US immigration before 1965, details those two kinds of immigrants: those who wish to climb the ladder, and those who don’t want to fall off. From the Chinese during the gold rush, and the colonists who sought to get rich quick, to the colonists who wanted to escape religious persecution. Not mention the Jews who, during WWII, had to hide, like Anne Frank of the diary, or run, like my great-grandfathers who both got out by the skin of their teeth. On my father’s side, he was shaved and ready to be shipped to a camp, only to be bribed out by his wife, and on my mother’s, left France on the last train of May 9, 1940; the day before Hitler invaded. For them, …show more content…
GOP presidential frontrunner, Donald J. Trump, according to his campaign site, has promised to build a wall on the border between the US and Mexico as part of his immigration reform. This is a but a small part in the larger wave of hate that he has exacerbated, inciting violence on not only Mexicans, but Muslims and other minorities as well, going so far as to propose to ban Muslim travel to the US. Additionally, a report from The Guardian details much of the dissent toward allowing refugees from Syria and Iraq to immigrate to the US. Chris Christie, governor of New Jersey, says he will not take any refugees into his state, “not even orphans under the age of five.” President Obama rightfully said that these kinds of comments were “un-American”; how can Americans attempt to violate one of their country’s the core definitions, to which the oppressed have clung onto throughout the ages has a final string of hope and salvation? If this is a signal of the future of America, then the Dream has long been
However, throughout the novel, Fitzgerald asserts that the American Dream is a mirage; a false hope meant to mask the corruption of 1920’s America and its social inequality. It is a dream that, like a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow; it appears wonderful at a distance, but is really just an empty cauldron …show more content…
At the start of the musical Merrily We Roll Along by celebrated Broadway composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, character Franklin Shepard is rich, famous, and “living the dream”, much like Gatsby from Fitzgerald’s novel. In the number “That Frank” , 1970’s party goers describe him as “the American Dream”, saying that he has “A wife who is gorgeous/And a son who’s straight/He’s the kind of guy you could learn to hate/That Frank!” Although a stark social contrast from today, as gay marriage is legal in the United States, the jealousy of a fabulous lifestyle is still present. For many, however, the American Dream is not about seeking a superfluous living, but rather a bearable and happy one. History, in their article on US immigration before 1965, details those two kinds of immigrants: those who wish to climb the ladder, and those who don’t want to fall off. From the Chinese during the gold rush, and the colonists who sought to get rich quick, to the colonists who wanted to escape religious persecution. Not mention the Jews who, during WWII, had to hide, like Anne Frank of the diary, or run, like my great-grandfathers who both got out by the skin of their teeth. On my father’s side, he was shaved and ready to be shipped to a camp, only to be bribed out by his wife, and on my mother’s, left France on the last train of May 9, 1940; the day before Hitler invaded. For them, …show more content…
GOP presidential frontrunner, Donald J. Trump, according to his campaign site, has promised to build a wall on the border between the US and Mexico as part of his immigration reform. This is a but a small part in the larger wave of hate that he has exacerbated, inciting violence on not only Mexicans, but Muslims and other minorities as well, going so far as to propose to ban Muslim travel to the US. Additionally, a report from The Guardian details much of the dissent toward allowing refugees from Syria and Iraq to immigrate to the US. Chris Christie, governor of New Jersey, says he will not take any refugees into his state, “not even orphans under the age of five.” President Obama rightfully said that these kinds of comments were “un-American”; how can Americans attempt to violate one of their country’s the core definitions, to which the oppressed have clung onto throughout the ages has a final string of hope and salvation? If this is a signal of the future of America, then the Dream has long been