The Path towards the American Dream in The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, “The Great Gatsby”, is one of the few novels he wrote in 1925. The novel takes place during the 1920’s following the 1st World War. It is written about a young man named Nick, from the east he moved to the west to learn about the bond business. He ends up moving next to a mysterious man named Gatsby who ends up giving him the lesion of his life. After love circles with Gatsby and his cousin Daisy, lastly, Jordan and gossip resulting with killings end up discussed over his experience resulting going back east.
Through reading the book, it shows how the experience of selfless and World War 1 made the high social optimistic over their lives. It showed how they wanted to forget the past and build themselves back into their social class. Also, the experience of Daisy and Jordan treatment from the men in the stories allows the reader to see how time still hasn’t changed how relationships work with men. This novel is a great novel to give an example of how reality is to people even the high class. Through the discussion of the passage, poem and scholarly article will show how the path towards the American Dream can turn into a negative or positive outcome in a person’s life.
When Mr. Fitzgerald wrote “The Great Gatsby,” he described the actions of the human society. In a certain way, not only did he describe and critic the high class but also the lower class, which ended up critiquing the American Dream. The American Dream was an idea given to believe that a human being should pursue being happy, wealthy, and loved which has cause any human being to go in search of this idea.
All that is end up being found is the fact of having the illusion of having more material is to be happy than being happy by valuing what you already have. Gatsby would be a great example of not valuing his materials. He had everything he wanted – except Daisy of course – but he never used or appreciated the materials he was surrounded by. “You know, old sport, I’ve never used that pool all summer,” said Gatsby. He didn’t value anything but Daisy since the reason for everything he did was for her.
It only leaves to question whether he really loved her or wanted her wealth or maybe just even the accomplishment of having her. For all, we can know Daisy could just be trophy toward Gatsby and her husband Tom since they never considered her opinion as if she was an object. On the other hand, we had Nick chasing his American dream of learning the bond business.
Through the process, he fell for Jordan and was the observer of Gatsby’s life, which just caused him to go back home. In the end, everyone just wants the American Dream but everybody’s definition is different which just indicates that I’ll never be accomplished. Once we accomplish something, we end up being hungry for another goal. passage throughout the whole story, all we read from various characters are rumors about Gatsby.
Even after his death, only a few knew who he really was. The really close friends knew about the most important lie to cause his happiness.“He might have despised himself, for he had certainly taken her under false pretenses. I don’t mean that he had traded on his phantom millions, but he had deliberately given Daisy a sense of security; he let her believe that he was a person from much the same strata as herself—which he was fully able to take care of her.
As a matter of fact, he had no such facilities—he had no comfortable family standing behind him and he was liable at the whim of an impersonal government to be blown anywhere about the world.”Out of everything Gatsby has done, one lie influenced him the most. But then why would a high-class girl love a failure.
He was at the point where he would do anything for her, which caused him to achieve everything he could in hope to make her, his. With the use of diction, the author showed how Gatsby might have despised himself but motivated himself to work harder. As he gave “false pretense” to Daisy in order to influence his love but as to make her “believe” in something he wasn’t. Once she believed, he attempted to accomplish his once lies.
A big part of the American dream is to love, which seemed to be Gatsby’s main goal. Daisy gave him the motivation to have the dream, which caused him to chase after it. Although he reaches all that he possibly could, he still couldn’t reach what motivated him in the first place, Daisy. Scholarly Article“ However, we conclude by reminding ourselves that we should not think of Gatsby as a condemnation of America, but rather as a “wake-up call” of sorts, arguably as relevant today as when it was published.
”In the article, it reflects on the characters of the book. It shows the ability to see each character’s values, which emphasizes reasoning. The article serves as “good literature to provoke careful reflections.”The character hid behind lying, illusions, relationships and moral growth. Every character was a liar at one point in the book, which caused many illusions. It also built and broke relationships such as Mrs. Wilson’s death breaking a marriage or Gatsby losing Daisy even after lying to win her over.
In the end, the only one who grew from the chaos was Nick whom “acknowledges a new sense of perspective in his moral life.”The negative or positive characteristics were all motives by one thing: the American Values. Wealth and class have always been a big component. Daisy is a perfect example of wealth and high class while Gatsby will never leave his lower class, which still continues to be a problem for his American Dream.
Although he “invented” himself to be high class, he will never leave the lower class and get Daisy, which makes him fail to get the American Dream. Even with Tom’s dream, his American Dream is never fulfilled because if he was happy he wouldn’t lie and have a mistress. No matter the wealth and class, it still won’t helps you get your dream faster. In which this article, perfectly touched the small details that ended up equaling my theme.
The poem the poem is about having many options in our lives and how we tend to choose the one that seems the easiest or safest but we always end up wondering about the option we left behind. It also describes how a person could never choose both the options because there is no time for both since time is limited. It compares to Nick’s life because, in the end, he decided to take the safe path, to go back home. Being in the west gave him two paths to follow, the American Dream or back home.
The poem beginning which stating that he looks down and attempts to peer down his path but he couldn’t see. He wants to try both but he cannot because once a path has been chosen there is no looking back. Nick did have an advantage of choosing his path since he did get some experience from both paths but it was still a tough decision to choose. He had to decide from becoming wealthy or back into under his parent’s wing. Like any human being, he chose to go back home after his experience of trying to be wealthy. It was the safest way to live. Both paths may not be so different after all but any little difference can and will lead to something else which could be the one he wants or doesn’t want.
From attempting to be wealthy or back home is a huge choice but he knows that the first path back home is always going to be available because It is his family. The second path was too crazy for him, his experience of chasing the American Dream made him realized how selfish it would make him become and he didn’t want to change who he is. The path he takes represents who he is but he hopes one day both paths will unite.
The poem is basically a summary of Nick’s life. He has two options to choose for his life but chooses to go back home after the chaos.ConclusionThe Great Gatsby was a great book to learn by. It shows the power of love, wealth and power. It also shows what chasing the American Dream can make you do. Nick just wanted the American Dream but he found love, hatred and just decided to take the route back home. Gatsby after achieving almost his full American Dream just ended up dead.
That shows that the American Dream is just a false hope. What attracts us to it is the thrill of accomplishing that goal but it just strives us to make another goal. The Great Gatsby was written to show us our flaws. So we should all learn from it to be ourselves and never to change for any cause or anyone.
