The American Dream In The Great Gatsby And Their Eyes Were Watching God

Improved Essays
The American Dream is a broad supposition in which it varies amongst many particular individuals. Many people conceptualize it as being successful and wealthy, meanwhile others hypothesize it to be content and stable. Most of the times, the cases of which the American dream is portrayed usually is dependant on the race, ethnicity, and age of that certain individual. Some latino US citizens would say that their American dream is to buy a house and be contently stable in a state of alacrity, meanwhile some white US citizens would say it to be prosperous and well-living. It varies on whoever the specific individual is. Between the two stories, “The Great Gatsby” and “Their Eyes Were Watching God”,, in which many would say “capture” the concept …show more content…
She journeys between three marriages, one of which is with a stodgy old potato farmer named Logan Killicks. Though he treated her correctly and formed a hard-working relationship with her, the marriage was dull and didn’t have any passion. Her next marriage was with a more favorable man, who swooped Janie off of her feet, his name was Jodie Starks. He was a lovable man with a way to woo women. His only ambition with Janie was to show her off to everyone else as a trophy wife. He did not ever love her for who she is, rather than that he loved her for the status it brought upon himself. After Jody’s untimely death caused by liver-failure, Janie shows no regret, she actually feels free. Later on, she meets a charming young man named Vergible Woods, but he is mainly referred as “Tea Cake”. Tea Cake was in fact like both Logan Killicks and Jody Starks. He is as hard-working and wants Janie to work alongside him as Logan did, but he also complimented and complimented her like Jody did. He is both of them at once, except he didn’t lack passion nor respect. In a way, Janie did finally reach her American Dream because her dream was to search in conquest of a relationship pertaining to the natural …show more content…
Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby is also searching in conquest of his American Dream. His American Dream is very much similar to Janie’s American Dream, but in a way, very different. Gatsby didn’t want to go searching for love the way that Janie did amongst many people, Gatsby had his eyes set on a “special” someone. In the novel, it explains that Gatsby throws ostentatious parties, hoping that Daisy, his “special” someone, would happen to walk in there one night. She never does. Gatsby knew Daisy years before his insane wealth. He was serving in the military and attended a party that had a lot of military officers around. Daisy is known as the popular girl amongst the officers which, in many discussions, is why Gatsby ever really wanted her. He wanted the status of having the girl that every man has his eyes on. At that party, he sees Daisy and Daisy sees him. They locked eyes, and Daisy heads upstairs as Gatsby follows. As they meet up on a balcony, Gatsby thought to himself “if I kiss this girl, I will be accepting to love this girl for the rest of my life.” They soon fall in love. Later on, Gatsby has to go into war and serve for his country. He becomes missing, and people then knew him now as M.I.A. Daisy lost hope and ended up dating a malicious and cheating slob named Tom, who was wealthy doming from old money. As six years pass, he comes across this man named Nick Carraway, who is Daisy’s cousin, who just so happens to live right next

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The American Dream is an ideal of having equal opportunities to achieve success and prosperity through one 's hardwork. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick, the protagonist tries to pursue his own dreams, hoping to succeed in the ideals of the American Dream. Throughout the story, as more and more people enter Nick 's life, he realizes that the American Dream is simply an unrealistic idea, created to corrupt those trying to achieve it. In The Great Gatsby, the American Dream ruined the morality of those trying to accomplish it, and those who 'd already did. Fitzgerald symbolizes Jay Gatsby as the American Dream itself, as his morals were ruined through his selfish pursuit of unrealistic dreams, and eventually led him to his downfall.…

    • 1068 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    She holds onto her dream of being in the relationship like the bee and the blossoming pear. Her first struggles is that her grandmother forces her to married with Logan just because of his wealth and properties, not because Janie loves him and her dreams about marriage was ruined. She tries to starts her new life with Joe Starks, and she thinks she loves him but the truth is she does not loves him, she has conflict with him, her love life begins to fall apart. As the narrator says, “Sometimes she stuck out into the future, imaging her life different from what it was. But mostly she lived between her hat and her heels, with her emotional disturbances like shad patterns in the woods—come and gone with the sun.…

    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Corruption of the American Dream The American dream is defined differently by everyone. Some might say that the dream is to have whatever you want and others say it is to get a job that you enjoy and have a place to live. F. Scott Fitzgerald shows how greed corrupted the idea of the American dream in the 1920´s. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald shows this idea by using characters, especially Gatsby, when he throws numerous parties to show off what he has.…

    • 865 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As Jordan tells us the story of Daisy and Gatsby, we start to see a connection between the two characters. The first time we see the characters together is when Daisy and Gatsby are sitting in a white car in front of her house. Jordan walks over to the car and notices the way in which Jay Gatsby is looking at Daisy. She describes him looking at Daisy “in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at some time,” showing that Gatsby had true feelings for Daisy. Then when Gatsby leaves for the war rumors start to spread about Daisy, and we learn that she had packed her bags one night in order to say goodbye to a soldier before he left.…

    • 260 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Daisy as the Unattainable American Dream The American Dream is what most people would associate with the epitomes of liberty, equality, reward for hard work, and money – lots of it. The question is, does it really exist or is it just a mythos which attracts people to believe that the United States is a land of opportunity and immense wealth?…

    • 1390 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    This definition is the most common one and it says that the American Dream, is “[..] that 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. [..] It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." 7 For Adams, the core principle of the American Dream is a better life not just wealth, material possessions, and power. It is about self-development and fulfilling dreams.8 Also, the connotation of the phrase rags-to-riches is based on the idea of the American Dream.…

    • 1942 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Everyone has an American dream, it might not be planned out precisely but almost everyone knows what they want for themselves. For some it’s wealth and popularity, for others it’s happiness and an enjoyable life. Whatever the case is, the American dream is broad and it is not going away. In the novel The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald Grant, Gatsby’s true American dream is to be with the love of his life, Daisy. The American dream that Gatsby is chasing is a possibility in today’s world because Gatsby is chasing love, which doesn’t change throughout the different time periods.…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Tears of sorrow run down the aged face of Uncle Sam as he yet again mourns the death of the American Dream. It has been dead for many years and some people claim it never even existed. Those people held onto the belief that the American Dream was nothing but a thin veil that covered the endless problems that America is plagued with. F. Scott Fitzgerald was one of those people and he portrayed his thoughts in his book "The Great Gatsby". His message about the American Dream aligns with the harsh reality of today 's American Dream.…

    • 1109 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Deterioration of the American Dream The American Dream is characterized by the social ideal that every individual must have an equal opportunity to achieve their personal definition of success, prosperity, economic independence, freedom, fame, etc. People accomplish the American Dream through diligent work and determination regardless of how low on the economic or social level an individual is. The American Dream is defined by achieving success, independence, and being able to reinvent one’s self through hard work, however, the tragic ending of the Great Gatsby influences the reader to pause and contemplate about the possibilities and the limitations of the American Dream. The author portrayed the collapse of the American Dream by implying…

    • 1313 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The theme of the American dream plays a major role in The Great Gatsby. In the novel, the American dream ends in tragedy and death and old money prevails without guilt. Old money is represented by Tom and Daisy, who both survive and move away after Gatsby is killed. Myrtle and Wilson,who were poor, die at the end. Jay Gatsby’s misguided illusion of the American dream and Daisy led to his death.…

    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    F. Scott Fitzgerald shows many weakening points in the idea of the American Dream using the book The Great Gatsby through the topics of American being a land of bounty and beauty, the belief in progress and optimism, and triumph of an individual. He disproves the idea of America being a beautiful land with unlimited opportunities by showing the reader the hardships of the people living in the Valley of Ashes. Fitzgerald denies the belief of progress and that everything eventually getting better and easier, by showing the separation of the people who are working hard and trying to accomplish the American Dream, compared to the people who have already attained wealth through their family. There is a lot of optimism contained in the concept…

    • 1635 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Evidently without Logan she was poor, and alone, but on top of these crushing factors Janie was a negro woman, someone who is already viewed as the mule of the world. It was safe to say that without Logan there wasn’t much left in her life, these factors all contribute to Janie's desperation and lack of choice. This lack of opportunity, however, leads to something more significant it is the foundation for her relationship with Joey Starks, and for these very same reasons the relationship was doomed from the start and eventually disintegrated. The marriage begins after Janie leaves Logan for the promises made by this stranger in hopes that her life with Joey would be at the very least better. “You ain’t never knowed what it was to be treated lak a lady…

    • 1823 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Janie’s dream starts off to be a life with true love, but is change when she marries into a relationship where she is not treated as an equal. With Janie’s first husband she was beaten and verbally abused. One day when she was doing the laundry she meet a man named Joe Starks, which she later ran off with to marry. She was certain that her and Joe’s relationship was based on true love, but as she got to known his true personality she no longer wanted to repeat what happen in her first marriage. The narrator describes Janie’s feelings; “ Everyday after that they managed to meet in the scrub oaks across the road and talk about when he would be a big ruler of things with her reaping benefits.…

    • 1206 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Great Gatsby revolves a lot around the American Dream. “During the 1920s, the perception of the American Dream was that an individual can achieve success in life regardless of family history or social status if they only work hard enough” (The Demise of the 1920’s). During the story Gatsby represents the American dream, he rises above his father and becomes the rich man he wanted to be. The novel also shows the condition of the American Dream in the 1920s. The topics of dreams, wealth, and time relate to each other in the novel’s exploration of the idea of America.…

    • 1034 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    During Janie’s lifetime, she experiences many different kinds of love with several different people, whom have made her journey to independence possible. Evidently, there is a progression of love in her marriages between Logan, Jody, and Tea Cake, which have allowed her to partake in her search for freedom. With these different martial relationships, Janie is also able to experience the various aspects of life and grow upon her experiences until she reaches her ultimate goal of obtaining independence and true…

    • 1486 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays