Anyone and everyone can become successful with enough hard work — that was the "American Dream" as it was understood in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. With the beginning of the twentieth century, a time of great corruption was ushered in. The modern values that came along with the materialistic "roaring twenties" era transformed the ideals of the American Dream into a corrupt race for power without regard for morals. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, this degradation of the American Dream is exemplified through the character Jay Gatsby. His desire to become rich and powerful fast causes him to overlook the honest way to fulfill his dreams and enter into a world of decadence and corruption. In the end, his lack of regard for morals is his downfall. Jay Gatsby's sad story shows that without honest hard work, the American Dream is destined to fail.
             In the post World War I era of the 1920s, people began to revel in the newly mass-produced commodities like radios and motor vehicles. Automobiles became the symbol of status, something everyone needed to have. This kind of attitude led people to think that their social prestige no longer came from how hard working they were, but rather how much property they had. With these new attitudes came the death of the true American Dream. People took what they had for granted, and the emphasis of the dream was shifted to wealth and stature. The American Dream started as more than just a materialistic desire; it had foundations in spirituality about "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." When the first European colonists arrived in America, they treated the dream as an opportunity to become anything they wanted with hard work. With the decadence of the 1920s came people who disregarded the idea of hard work, people who instead of earning a place in society, believed they could purchase it. This "get rich quick" mentality spawned the dishonest and illegal businesses tha...