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The American Dream In The The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby is one of the conventional American novels that utilize the Jazz Age’s veneer and its character, Jay Gatsby, to speak in the dynamic reality of the American dream. The author looks at the American dream as having independent thoughts and life and the capacity to profit from one’s hard work. Nonetheless, in the end, the American dream becomes one that is focused on materialism and attaining selfish pleasures. However, it is essential to point out that the American dream presents numerous possibilities and opportunities for choosing to pursue it. This novel is among the projects that will still root the American Dream into the individualism and self-actualization themes (Izaguirre 4) despite moving from one generation to generation to literary periods to another.
In the novel, the American society is suddenly experiencing a change in values due to the wealth they suddenly grasped and increased advertising of the American dream and its affiliation to new ideas to business people (Lindberg 13). An individual’s financial success determined the level of happiness one could feel. During the 1920s, many Americans equated an individual’s self-worth to their material possessions. This would be illustrated by the protagonists’ conduct, who have massive mansions, good clothes, and expensive cars. These materials were considered the components fundamental to their happiness. Therefore, the author utilized the American Dream to critique the uncontrollable quest for wealth demonstrated by the Myrtle Wilson and Jay Gatsby characters.
Despite Gatsby amassing immense wealth, the author conveyed that the American Dream’s materialism was not a guarantee of happiness. Each week Gatsby held grand parties for many people. These parties were full of glamor, food, drinks, and luxury. The most critical part for the attendees was to meet Gatsby. Most of these attendees were just using gatsby’s wealth and luxury to attain their American Dream. Gatsby will, however, have no meaningful or genuine relationships with the attendees. He remained focused on his dream Daisy that he lost chances to create genuine friendships until he met Nick. The author states that his extensive focus on the American Dream only distracted him from living at the moment. He needed to know that other things did matter more than money, including relationships. His friendship with Nick and Daisy that his life became fuller and happier and not his wealth.
Myrtle was an important character who represented the consumerist Dream. She was the mistress of Tom Buchanan and aspired for a better life, as shown in her character. This pursuit was similar to how Jay Gatsby pursued Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby did rise from a humble childhood background through his hard work and love as his motivator to obtain a lot of wealth through questionable strategies. Both Myrtle and Gatsby believed that the American dream was material. They also had different expectations on what it exactly meant to achieve. This Dream has a duality trait in relation to the original meaning: each man and woman being in a position of attaining it to its fullest status since they are innately capable (Lindberg 14). Conversely, it does have affiliations to financial success, which have evolved to have unrealistic expectations attached to it, leading to establishing a corrupt version of the Dream. The author, therefore, asserts that the American Dream is undergoing a decay from what it was initially supposed to be.
For Fitzgerald, the American Drem remained to be beautiful but with grotesque flaws and distortions. Regardless of the ideal image being painted about America and all the promises it holds, underneath there is a truth of inequality (Hearne 191). Despite having numerous opportunities, some people will still struggle to attain them, leading to a situation where another is falling for one to rise. Considering Gatsby’s personality, it exuded a heightened sensitivity to the promises of life. The author acknowledges both hope and vision that makes the American Dream shown by this positive side of Gatsby’s personality. However, the author does not ignore the American Dream’s inconsistencies, which was making it an odd and ugly reality. In the American dream, there are cases of massacres, slavery, dehumanization, a purported “harmony” between Indians and America, among other issues (Hearne 191). The author realized that the Americans have retracted from the horror stories that make up their history. While Americans choose to suppress these truths, it is prudent they understand that they cannot run away from them. Regardless of how the American Dream is flawed and incongruent, it will remain part of the American character, and suppressing it is only causing more harm to the original ideology.
Works Cited:
Hearne, Kimberly. “Fitzgerald’s Rendering of a Dream.” The Explicator 68.3 (2010): 189-194.
Izaguirre, John. “The American dream and literature: how the themes of self-reliance and individualism in American literature are relevant in preserving both the aesthetics and the ideals of the American dream.” (2014).
Lindberg, Lovisa. “The American dream as a means of social criticism in The Great Gatsby.” (2015).
