The American Dream is an idea that all people have the same opportunities to reach their goals. People leave everything behind in their homelands to come to America to live a better life. Unfortunately that dream is no longer obtainable for people. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author shows us through characters and people’s homes that the American Dream is now just a dream and nothing more. The American Dream can not be achieved by all people because people can not make it out of where they came from. In the beginning of the book Nick describes the other place where people live: “This is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms
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Gatsby is looking at a green light that is off in the distance when Nick says, “[Gatsby] had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night” (Fitzgerald 149). What once felt so close to him, was now such a distant thought that had left Gatsby before he even realized that it was gone. Fitzgerald makes many references to the green light, which symbolizes Gatsby’s hopes and dreams. And just like Gatsby, the people of America can never fully grasp their dreams and have life pass them up before they know it. Another reference to the light is made when Nick says, “[Gatsby] stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward--and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away” (Fitzgerald 152). Gatsby now sees his hopes and dreams further and further away. People also have the same effect because they fail to realize that their dreams fade away, get darker, and become more distant than they realize. The American Dream seems reachable, but before people realize what has happened, the dream is past
Gatsby is looking at a green light that is off in the distance when Nick says, “[Gatsby] had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night” (Fitzgerald 149). What once felt so close to him, was now such a distant thought that had left Gatsby before he even realized that it was gone. Fitzgerald makes many references to the green light, which symbolizes Gatsby’s hopes and dreams. And just like Gatsby, the people of America can never fully grasp their dreams and have life pass them up before they know it. Another reference to the light is made when Nick says, “[Gatsby] stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward--and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away” (Fitzgerald 152). Gatsby now sees his hopes and dreams further and further away. People also have the same effect because they fail to realize that their dreams fade away, get darker, and become more distant than they realize. The American Dream seems reachable, but before people realize what has happened, the dream is past