Comparing The American Dream In The Great Gatsby And The Egg

In life, almost everyone pursues three simple concepts which they believe will render a perfect life; freedom, independence, and success. The three ideas are the concepts that constitute what has been named as the American dream, a beautiful dream that gives hope to people. The American dream is, therefore, a belief that anyone in America can succeed regardless of their gender, race, class, or nationality, only if they work hard. It presents an American society that disregards problems like misogyny, xenophobia, tax avoidance and evasion, racism and disparity in income. The dream also presumes equality for all. However, the dream has misled people, made them corrupt, has led to destruction and morality to and has therefore been termed as an unattainable vision by several people, inclusive of F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby and Sherwood Anderson in The Egg. The American dream led …show more content…
Anderson in his book, The Egg, gives a story concerning a chicken farm. He likens the fragility of an egg to that the vulnerability that accompanies the pursuit of the American dream. A person chasing the American dream may be destroyed just like an egg breaks. Ambition may lead to failure. The narrator’s father fails in most of his endeavors. Both the chicken farm and the restaurant he tries to operate do not succeed. I think Kane sees the narrator’s father as insane. The father does not succeed in impressing Kane with his magic tricks. The pursuit of The American dream leaves Anderson’s father unhappy. Anderson may also betray to imply that there are sacrifices that are associated with the decision to follow the American dream. The ambition related to the American dream, which possessed the narrator’s parents, did not come to pass and thus they did not succeed. This and other reasons make Anderson feel that the American dream remains an attainable dream to most people in the real sense, no matter how hardworking one tends to