The Great Gatsby Distortion of the American Dream
The American Dream as it is Portrayed in The Great GatsbyPicture this, a person graduates from high school with honors, goes to college and graduates at the top of his/her class. After college, he/she is offered a job in the field he/she wants with an annual salary of about $400,000 a year. He/she marries the person of his/her dreams, has two children and moves into a large, elegant house. Forty years later that person retires with a pension and lives the rest of his/her life in luxury. This is the American Dream. F. Scott Fitzgerald had this dream and worked his entire life to fulfill it, with no avail. Fitzgerald was a sensitive young man who idolized wealth and luxury. He fell in love with a beautiful young woman named Zelda while stationed at a military camp in the South. Several years after meeting Zelda, he reached a high enough social standard that she agreed to marry him. Shortly after the wedding, Fitzgerald published his first big novel. He became a celebrity and fell into a wild, reckless lifestyle of parties and decadence. Fitzgerald thought he had achieved his dream. Unfortunately, his beautiful wife was the first part of his dream to crumble. In 1930, Zelda had her first of many mental breakdowns. S
And one fine morning-----" (Fitzgerald 182). For the sake of this paper, one can assume that being a mechanic is his dream job. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, the upper class's carelessness with their money, the myth that hard work always equals success, and the lack of true love in marriage all show a distortion of the American Dream. The American Dream has always been unattainable, thus the word dream. The following quote comes from a trivia box in Russell Ash's book The Top 10 of Everything 1997. It eluded us then, but that is no matter - tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms father. It almost seems that the statement; "hard work does not always equal success" was a false statement in the 20's. The following quote is from The Great Gatsby and it gives Nick Caraway's view of George Wilson's business: The interior was unprosperous and bare; the only car visible was the dust-covered wreck of a Ford, which crouched, in a dim corner. If people would create an "American Reality" rather than an American Dream many of their goals could and would be achievable. However, if a person were to look at the other ninety-five percent, this person would see that the statement is true. Hopefully, one day, people will understand that impossible goals are impossible to reach and that is why those goals are called the American Dream. While Nick is visiting, Daisy and Tom invite him to stay for dinner. (Allen 87) Throughout the '20's, men used and disrespected many women because they felt they women were inferior.
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