But Then Again That Might Have Been a Dream

The Bang-up Gatsby is a tragic love story on the surface, but it's well-nigh commonly understood equally a pessimistic critique of the American Dream. In the novel, Jay Gatsby overcomes his poor past to gain an incredible corporeality of money and a express amount of social cache in 1920s NYC, only to be rejected past the "old money" oversupply. He and then gets killed after being tangled up with them.

Through Gatsby's life, as well as that of the Wilsons', Fitzgerald critiques the idea that America is a meritocracy where anyone can ascension to the top with enough hard work. We will explore how this theme plays out in the plot, briefly analyze some fundamental quotes near it, besides as practise some graphic symbol analysis and broader analysis of topics surrounding the American Dream in The Great Gatsby.

Roadmap

What is the American Dream?
The American Dream in the Swell Gatsby plot
Key American Dream quotes
Analyzing characters via the American Dream
Common discussion and essay topics

Quick Note on Our Citations

Our citation format in this guide is (chapter.paragraph). We're using this system since there are many editions of Gatsby, and then using page numbers would only piece of work for students with our copy of the book.

To discover a quotation nosotros cite via affiliate and paragraph in your book, you can either eyeball it (Paragraph i-50: outset of chapter; 50-100: centre of chapter; 100-on: stop of affiliate), or use the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text.

What Exactly Is "The American Dream"?

The American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of race, grade, gender, or nationality, can be successful in America (read: rich) if they but piece of work hard plenty. The American Dream thus presents a pretty rosy view of American guild that ignores issues like systemic racism and misogyny, xenophobia, revenue enhancement evasion or country tax avoidance, and income inequality. It also presumes a myth of class equality, when the reality is America has a pretty well-developed course hierarchy.

The 1920s in particular was a pretty tumultuous time due to increased immigration (and the accompanying xenophobia), changing women'due south roles (spurred by the right to vote, which was won in 1919), and boggling income inequality.

The country was also in the midst of an economic boom, which fueled the belief that anyone could "strike it rich" on Wall Street. All the same, this rapid economic growth was built on a bubble which popped in 1929. The Keen Gatsby was published in 1925, well before the crash, just through its wry descriptions of the ultra-wealthy, it seems to somehow predict that the fantastic wealth on display in 1920s New York was simply as ephemeral as one of Gatsby'south parties.

In any instance, the novel, simply by existence set up in the 1920s, is unlikely to present an optimistic view of the American Dream, or at least a version of the dream that's inclusive to all genders, ethnicities, and incomes. With that background in mind, let'south jump into the plot!

The American Dream in The Neat Gatsby

Affiliate 1 places us in a detail year—1922—and gives us some background about WWI.  This is relevant, since the 1920s is presented as a fourth dimension of hollow decadence amid the wealthy, every bit evidenced peculiarly by the parties in Chapters two and 3. And as we mentioned above, the 1920s were a specially tense time in America.

Nosotros also meet George and Myrtle Wilson in Chapter ii, both working class people who are working to ameliorate their lot in life, George through his piece of work, and Myrtle through her affair with Tom Buchanan.

We learn about Gatsby'southward goal in Chapter iv: to win Daisy dorsum. Despite everything he owns, including fantastic amounts of money and an over-the-summit mansion, for Gatsby, Daisy is the ultimate condition symbol. Then in Chapter five, when Daisy and Gatsby reunite and brainstorm an affair, it seems like Gatsby could, in fact, attain his goal.

In Chapter 6, nosotros acquire about Gatsby'southward less-than-wealthy past, which not only makes him expect similar the star of a rags-to-riches story, information technology makes Gatsby himself seem similar someone in pursuit of the American Dream, and for him the personification of that dream is Daisy.

However, in Chapters seven and 8, everything comes crashing down: Daisy refuses to leave Tom, Myrtle is killed, and George breaks downward and kills Gatsby so himself, leaving all of the "strivers" expressionless and the old money oversupply safe. Furthermore, we acquire in those terminal chapters that Gatsby didn't even achieve all his wealth through hard piece of work, like the American Dream would stipulate—instead, he earned his money through crime. (He did piece of work hard and honestly nether Dan Cody, simply lost Dan Cody's inheritance to his ex-wife.)

In short, things do not turn out well for our dreamers in the novel! Thus, the novel ends with Nick'south sad meditation on the lost promise of the American Dream. You lot can read a detailed analysis of these last lines in our summary of the novel's catastrophe.

This novel is just i very large burst bubble.

Key American Dream Quotes

In this department we analyze some of the most of import quotes that relate to the American Dream in the book.

But I didn't call to him for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone--he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far every bit I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward--and distinguished nix except a single dark-green light, minute and far away, that might accept been the end of a dock. (1.152)

In our beginning glimpse of Jay Gatsby, we see him reaching towards something far off, something in sight but definitely out of accomplish. This famous prototype of the green low-cal is oft understood as function of The Great Gatsby 's meditation on The American Dream—the idea that people are e'er reaching towards something greater than themselves that is merely out of accomplish. You can read more than near this in our mail service all about the green light.

The fact that this yearning image is our introduction to Gatsby foreshadows his unhappy end and too marks him as a dreamer, rather than people like Tom or Daisy who were built-in with money and don't need to strive for anything then far off.

Over the great bridge, with the sunlight through the girders making a constant flicker upon the moving cars, with the metropolis rising up across the river in white heaps and sugar lumps all built with a wish out of non-olfactory coin. The urban center seen from the Queensboro Bridge is ever the city seen for the first time, in its outset wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.

A dead human passed us in a hearse heaped with blooms, followed by ii carriages with drawn blinds and by more cheerful carriages for friends. The friends looked out at u.s.a. with the tragic eyes and brusk upper lips of south-eastern Europe, and I was glad that the sight of Gatsby'southward first-class car was included in their somber holiday. As nosotros crossed Blackwell'due south Island a limousine passed u.s., driven by a white chauffeur, in which saturday three modish Negroes, ii bucks and a girl. I laughed aloud as the yolks of their eyeballs rolled toward us in haughty rivalry.

"Anything can happen at present that we've slid over this span," I idea; "anything at all. . . ."

Even Gatsby could happen, without any particular wonder. (iv.55-8)

Early in the novel, we go this mostly optimistic illustration of the American Dream—we see people of dissimilar races and nationalities racing towards NYC, a city of unfathomable possibility. This moment has all the classic elements of the American Dream—economical possibility, racial and religious diversity, a carefree attitude. At this moment, it does feel like "anything can happen," even a happy ending.

However, this rosy view eventually gets undermined past the tragic events later in the novel. And even at this bespeak, Nick's condescension towards the people in the other cars reinforces America's racial bureaucracy that disrupts the idea of the American Dream. There is even a little contest at play, a "haughty rivalry" at play between Gatsby's auto and the one bearing the "modish Negroes."

Nick "laughs aloud" at this moment, suggesting he thinks information technology's amusing that the passengers in this other machine run across them as equals, or even rivals to be bested. In other words, he seems to firmly believe in the racial hierarchy Tom defends in Chapter 1, even if information technology doesn't admit it honestly.

His heart trounce faster and faster as Daisy's white face up came up to his ain. He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his heed would never romp again similar the mind of God. Then he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning fork that had been struck upon a star. So he kissed her. At his lips' affect she blossomed for him like a blossom and the incarnation was complete. (6.134)

This moment explicitly ties Daisy to all of Gatsby'due south larger dreams for a ameliorate life—to his American Dream. This sets the stage for the novel's tragic ending, since Daisy cannot hold upward under the weight of the dream Gatsby projects onto her. Instead, she stays with Tom Buchanan, despite her feelings for Gatsby. Thus when Gatsby fails to win over Daisy, he as well fails to achieve his version of the American Dream. This is why so many people read the novel as a somber or pessimistic take on the American Dream, rather than an optimistic one.

...as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the sometime island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors' optics--a fresh, greenish breast of the new world. Its vanished trees, the trees that had fabricated manner for Gatsby's house, had once pandered in whispers to the final and greatest of all homo dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face up to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.

And as I sat there heart-searching on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the greenish light at the finish of Daisy's dock. He had come a long way to this blueish lawn and his dream must have seemed so shut 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 nighttime fields of the republic rolled on under the nighttime." (9.151-152)

The closing pages of the novel reflect at length on the American Dream, in an attitude that seems simultaneously mournful, appreciative, and pessimistic. It also ties back to our first glimpse of Gatsby, reaching out over the water towards the Buchanan'southward dark-green lite. Nick notes that Gatsby's dream was "already backside him" then (or in other words, it was impossible to attain). But still, he finds something to admire in how Gatsby still hoped for a better life, and constantly reached out toward that brighter hereafter.

For a full consideration of these last lines and what they could mean, see our assay of the novel'southward ending.

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Analyzing Characters Through the American Dream

An analysis of the characters in terms of the American Dream usually leads to a pretty cynical have on the American Dream.

Most character analysis centered on the American Dream will necessarily focus on Gatsby, George, or Myrtle (the truthful strivers in the novel), though as we'll talk over below, the Buchanans can also provide some interesting layers of discussion. For character analysis that incorporates the American Dream, carefully consider your called character'southward motivations and desires, and how the novel does (or doesn't!) provide glimpses of the dream'southward fulfillment for them.

Gatsby

Gatsby himself is patently the all-time candidate for writing well-nigh the American Dream—he comes from humble roots (he's the son of poor farmers from Due north Dakota) and rises to be notoriously wealthy, only for everything to slip away from him in the stop. Many people also incorporate Daisy into their analyses every bit the physical representation of Gatsby's dream.

Nonetheless, definitely consider the fact that in the traditional American Dream, people achieve their goals through honest hard work, but in Gatsby's case, he very quickly acquires a large amount of money through crime. Gatsby does endeavour the difficult work approach, through his years of service to Dan Cody, just that doesn't work out since Cody's ex-wife ends up with the entire inheritance. And then instead he turns to crime, and only then does he manage to achieve his desired wealth.

So while Gatsby'due south story arc resembles a traditional rags-to-riches tale, the fact that he gained his money immorally complicates the thought that he is a perfect avatar for the American Dream. Furthermore, his success obviously doesn't last—he still pines for Daisy and loses everything in his endeavor to get her back. In other words, Gatsby'southward huge dreams, all precariously wedded to Daisy  ("He knew that when he kissed this daughter, and forever wednesday his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his listen would never romp again like the mind of God" (6.134)) are equally flimsy and flying as Daisy herself.

George and Myrtle Wilson

This couple also represents people aiming at the dream—George owns his own store and is doing his best to get concern, though is increasingly worn down by the harsh demands of his life, while Myrtle chases after wealth and status through an affair with Tom.

Both are disempowered due to the lack of coin at their ain disposal—Myrtle certainly has access to some of the "effectively things" through Tom but has to deal with his abuse, while George is unable to exit his electric current life and move West since he doesn't take the funds bachelor. He fifty-fifty has to make himself servile to Tom in an effort to get Tom to sell his car, a fact that could even cause him to overlook the prove of his wife's affair. So neither character is on the upwards trajectory that the American Dream promises, at to the lowest degree during the novel.

In the finish, everything goes horribly incorrect for both George and Myrtle, suggesting that in this world, it'south dangerous to strive for more than than you're given.

George and Myrtle'southward mortiferous fates, forth with Gatsby'south, help illustrate the novel's pessimistic attitude toward the American Dream. After all, how unfair is information technology that the couple working to improve their position in order (George and Myrtle) both end upward expressionless, while Tom, who dragged Myrtle into an increasingly dangerous state of affairs, and Daisy, who killed her, don't face any consequences? And on acme of that they are fabulously wealthy? The American Dream certainly is non live and well for the poor Wilsons.

Tom and Daisy as Antagonists to the American Dream

Nosotros've talked quite a flake already about Gatsby, George, and Myrtle—the three characters who come up from apprehensive roots and attempt to climb the ranks in 1920s New York. But what about the other major characters, especially the ones built-in with coin? What is their human relationship to the American Dream?

Specifically, Tom and Daisy accept old coin, and thus they don't need the American Dream, since they were built-in with America already at their feet.

Perhaps because of this, they seem to directly antagonize the dream—Daisy by refusing Gatsby, and Tom past helping to drag the Wilsons into tragedy.

This is peculiarly interesting because unlike Gatsby, Myrtle, and George, who actively hope and dream of a better life, Daisy and Tom are described every bit bored and "careless," and end up instigating a large amount of tragedy through their own recklessness.

In other words, income inequality and the vastly different starts in life the characters have strongly afflicted their outcomes. The way they choose to live their lives, their morality (or lack thereof), and how much they dream doesn't seem to matter. This, of class, is tragic and antithetical to the idea of the American Dream, which claims that form should be irrelevant and anyone tin ascension to the height.

Daisy as a Personification of the American Dream

Equally we discuss in our mail service on coin and materialism in The Great Gatsby, Daisy'due south vox is explicitly tied to money by Gatsby:

"Her voice is full of coin," he said all of a sudden.

That was it. I'd never understood before. It was full of coin--that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and roughshod in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of information technology. . . . Loftier in a white palace the king'south daughter, the golden girl. . . . (7.105-half-dozen)

If Daisy's voice promises coin, and the American Dream is explicitly linked to wealth, it'southward not difficult to fence that Daisy herself—along with the light-green lite at the end of her dock—stands in for the American Dream. In fact, as Nick goes on to describe Daisy as "Loftier in a white palace the king's daughter, the gold girl," he also seems to literally describe Daisy equally a prize, much like the princess at the terminate of a fairy tale (or even Princess Peach at the stop of a Mario game!).

But Daisy, of grade, is just human—flawed, flighty, and ultimately unable to embody the huge fantasy Gatsby projects onto her. So this, in plough, means that the American Dream itself is merely a fantasy, a concept too flimsy to actually hold weight, specially in the fast-paced, domestic dog-eat-dog earth of 1920s America.

Furthermore, you should definitely consider the tension betwixt the fact that Daisy represents Gatsby'due south ultimate goal, merely at the same fourth dimension (as nosotros discussed higher up), her bodily life is the reverse of the American Dream: she is born with money and privilege, likely dies with it all intact, and there are no consequences to how she chooses to live her life in between.

Can Female Characters Achieve the American Dream?

Finally, it's interesting to compare and dissimilarity some of the female characters using the lens of the American Dream.

Let'southward start with Daisy, who is unhappy in her wedlock and, despite a brief attempt to exit information technology, remains with Tom, unwilling to give up the status and security their wedlock provides. At commencement, it may seem like Daisy doesn't dream at all, so of course she ends upwardly unhappy. But consider the fact that Daisy was already born into the highest level of American society. The expectation placed on her, every bit a wealthy adult female, was never to pursue something greater, only but to maintain her condition. She did that by marrying Tom, and it'southward understandable why she wouldn't risk the dubiety and loss of status that would come up through divorce and spousal relationship to a bootlegger. Over again, Daisy seems to typify the "anti-American" dream, in that she was built-in into a kind of aristocracy and just has to maintain her position, not fight for something better.

In contrast, Myrtle, aside from Gatsby, seems to be the almost ambitiously in pursuit of getting more she was given in life. She parlays her matter with Tom into an apartment, nice wearing apparel, and parties, and seems to revel in her newfound status. Simply of class, she is knocked down the hardest, killed for her involvement with the Buchanans, and specifically for wrongfully bold she had value to them. Because that Gatsby did accept a risk to exit New York and distance himself from the unfolding tragedy, but Myrtle was the first to exist killed, you could argue the novel presents an even bleaker view of the American Dream where women are concerned.

Even Jordan Baker, who seems to be living out a kind of dream by playing golf game and being relatively independent, is tied to her family'due south money and insulated from consequences by information technology, making her a pretty poor representation of the dream. And of class, since her end game likewise seems to exist marriage, she doesn't button the boundaries of women's roles as far equally she might wish.

And then while the women all push the boundaries of society's expectations of them in certain ways, they either fall in line or are killed, which definitely undermines the rosy of idea that anyone, regardless of gender, can make it in America. The American Dream as shown in Gatsby becomes even more pessimistic through the lens of the female characters.

Focusing the lens on the women is predictably depressing.

Mutual Essay Questions/Word Topics

Now let's work through some of the more than often brought upwardly subjects for discussion.

#1: Was Gatsby's dream worth information technology? Was all the work, time, and patience worth information technology for him?

Like me, you might immediately call back "of course information technology wasn't worth it! Gatsby lost everything, non to mention the Wilsons got defenseless upwardly in the tragedy and concluded upwardly dead!" And then if you lot want to make the more obvious "the dream wasn't worth it" argument, you could bespeak to the unraveling that happens at the end of the novel (including the deaths of Myrtle, Gatsby and George) and how all Gatsby's achievements are for nix, as evidenced by the thin attendance of his funeral.

However, y'all could definitely take the less obvious route and argue that Gatsby'south dream was worth it, despite the tragic end. Outset of all, consider Jay's unique characterization in the story: "He was a son of God--a phrase which, if it means anything, means simply that--and he must be nigh His Father's Business, the service of a vast, vulgar and meretricious beauty" (half dozen.7). In other words, Gatsby has a larger-than-life persona and he never would have been content to remain in North Dakota to be poor farmers similar his parents.

Fifty-fifty if he ends up living a shorter life, he certainly lived a total one total of take chances. His dreams of wealth and condition took him all over the globe on Dan Cody's yacht, to Louisville where he met and fell in love with Daisy, to the battlefields of WWI, to the halls of Oxford University, and then to the fast-paced world of Manhattan in the early 1920s, when he earned a fortune every bit a bootlegger. In fact, it seems Jay lived several lives in the infinite of just one-half a normal lifespan. In curt, to debate that Gatsby'southward dream was worth it, y'all should betoken to his larger-than-life conception of himself and the fact that he could have simply sought happiness through striving for something greater than himself, even if that concluded upward being deadly in the end.

#2: In the Langston Hughes poem "A Dream Deferred," Hughes asks questions nigh what happens to postponed dreams. How does Fitzgerald examine this issue of deferred dreams? What do yous call back are the effects of postponing our dreams? How tin you apply this lesson to your own life?

If yous're thinking about "deferred dreams" in The Great Gatsby, the large ane is obviously Gatsby's deferred dream for Daisy—nearly five years pass between his initial infatuation and his attempt in the novel to win her back, an try that obviously backfires. Y'all can examine various aspects of Gatsby's dream—the flashbacks to his kickoff memories of Daisy in Affiliate 8, the moment when they reunite in Chapter 5, or the disastrous consequences of the confrontation of Chapter seven—to illustrate Gatsby's deferred dream.

Yous could also look at George Wilson'south postponed dream of going West, or Myrtle'southward dream of marrying a wealthy human being of "breeding"—George never gets the funds to become West, and is instead mired in the Valley of Ashes, while Myrtle'southward attempt to accomplish her dream afterward 12 years of matrimony through an affair ends in tragedy. Apparently, dreams deferred are dreams doomed to fail.

As Nick Carraway says, "you can't repeat the by"—the novel seems to imply there is a pocket-size window for certain dreams, and when the window closes, they can no longer be attained. This is pretty pessimistic, and for the prompt's personal reflection aspect, I wouldn't say yous should necessarily "apply this lesson to your own life" straightforwardly. But information technology is worth noting that certain opportunities are fleeting, and perhaps it'southward wiser to seek out newer and/or more than attainable ones, rather than pining over a lost adventure.

Any prompt like this one which has a section of more personal reflection gives you freedom to tie in your own experiences and point of view, so be thoughtful and recall of good examples from your own life!

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#iii: Explain how the novel does or does non demonstrate the death of the American Dream. Is the main theme of Gatsby indeed "the withering American Dream"? What does the novel offering virtually American identity?

In this prompt, another ane that zeroes in on the expressionless or dying American Dream, you could hash out how the devastation of three lives (Gatsby, George, Myrtle) and the cynical portrayal of the old money crowd illustrates a expressionless, or dying American Dream. After all, if the characters who dream end upwards dead, and the ones who were born into life with money and privilege become to go on it without consequence, is in that location any room at all for the thought that less-privileged people can work their way up?

In terms of what the novel says near American identity, there are a few threads y'all could pick up—one is Nick's annotate in Affiliate 9 about the novel actually being a story well-nigh (mid)westerners trying (and failing) to go E: "I see now that this has been a story of the West, afterward all--Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan and I, were all Westerners, and perchance we possessed some deficiency in common which made usa subtly unadaptable to Eastern life" (9.125). This observation suggests an American identity that is adamant by birthplace, and that within the American identity at that place are smaller, inescapable points of identification.

Furthermore, for those in the novel not born into money, the American identity seems to exist most striving to end upwardly with more wealth and condition. But in terms of the portrayal of the old money ready, particularly Daisy, Tom, and Jordan, the novel presents a segment of American order that is essentially aristocratic—yous take to be born into it. In that regard, too, the novel presents a fractured American identity, with different lives possible based on how much coin you lot are built-in with.

In short, I think the novel disrupts the idea of a unified American identity or American dream, past instead presenting a tragic, fractured, and rigid American society, one that is divided based on both geographic location and social form.

#4: Near would consider dreams to be positive motivators to achieve success, but the characters in the novel often accept their dreams of ideal lives too far. Explain how characters' American Dreams cause them to accept pain when they could have been content with more than small ambitions.

Gatsby is an obvious pick here—his pursuit of coin and status, specially through Daisy, leads him to ruin. There were many points when perhaps Gatsby ;could accept been happy with what he achieved (specially after his apparently successful endeavors in the war, if he had remained at Oxford, or even afterwards amassing a corking amount of wealth equally a bootlegger) just instead he kept striving upward, which ultimately lead to his downfall. You lot tin flesh this argument out with the quotations in Chapters half dozen and eight about Gatsby's by, forth with his tragic expiry.

Myrtle would exist another good choice for this type of prompt. In a sense, she seems to be living her ideal life in her affair with Tom—she has a fancy NYC apartment, hosts parties, and gets to act sophisticated—merely these pleasures end upward gravely hurting George, and of course her association with Tom Buchanan gets her killed.

Nick, too, if he had been happy with his family unit's respectable fortune and his girlfriend out west, might have avoided the pain of knowing Gatsby and the general sense of despair he was left with.

You might be wondering about George—after all, isn't he someone besides dreaming of a amend life? However, at that place aren't many instances of George taking his dreams of an ideal life "too far." In fact, he struggles just to make 1 auto auction so that he tin finally motion out West with Myrtle. Also, given that his current situation in the Valley of Ashes is quite bleak, it'south hard to say that striving upward gave him hurting.

#v: The Great Gatsby is, amid other things, a sobering and even ominous commentary on the night side of the American dream. Discuss this theme, incorporating the conflicts of East Egg vs. Westward Egg and old money vs. new money. What does the American dream mean to Gatsby? What did the American Dream hateful to Fitzgerald? How does morality fit into achieving the American dream?

This prompt allows you to consider pretty broadly the novel's attitude toward the American Dream, with emphasis on "sobering and even ominous" commentary. Note that Fitzgerald seems to be specifically mocking the stereotypical rags to riches story here—;particularly since he draws the Dan Cody narrative nearly note for annotation from the work of someone like Horatio Alger, whose books were almost universally about rich men schooling young, entrepreneurial boys in the ways of the world. In other words, you should discuss how the Great Gatsby seems to turn the thought of the American Dream as described in the quote on its head: Gatsby does reach a rags-to-riches rise, but it doesn't last.

All of Gatsby'due south hard work for Dan Cody, later all, didn't pay off since he lost the inheritance. So instead, Gatsby turned to crime after the war to quickly proceeds a ton of money. Especially since Gatsby finally achieves his great wealth through dubious means, the novel further undermines the archetype image of someone working hard and honestly to go from rags to riches.

If you lot're addressing this prompt or a like i, make sure to focus on the darker aspects of the American Dream, including the night decision to the novel and Daisy and Tom'south protection from whatever real consequences. (This would also allow you to considering morality, and how morally bankrupt the characters are.)

#6: What is the current state of the American Dream?

This is a more outward-looking prompt, that allows you lot to consider current events today to either be generally optimistic (the American dream is alive and well) or pessimistic (it'due south every bit dead as it is in The Corking Gatsby).

You have dozens of potential current events to employ every bit show for either argument, but consider especially immigration and immigration reform, mass incarceration, income inequality, education, and health care in America as expert potential examples to utilize as you contend most the current land of the American Dream. Your writing will be especially powerful if yous can point to some specific current events to support your argument.

What'due south Side by side?

In this post, nosotros discussed how important money is to the novel's version of the American Dream. You tin read even more nearly money and materialism in The Great Gatsby right here.

Want to indulge in a little materialism of your own? Take a look through these 15 must-have items for any Great Gatsby fan.

Get consummate guides to Jay Gatsby, George Wilson and Myrtle Wilson to get fifty-fifty more background on the "dreamers" in the novel.

Like we discussed in a higher place, the green calorie-free is often seen as a stand up-in for the idea of the American Dream. Read more about this crucial symbol here.

Need help getting to grips with other literary works? Take a spin through our analyses of The Crucible, The Cask of Amontillado, and "Exercise non go gentle into this skilful dark" to see analysis in action. You might also find our explanations of signal of view, rhetorical devices, imagery, and literary elements and devices helpful.

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About the Author

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in loftier school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate nearly improving student access to higher didactics.

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Source: https://blog.prepscholar.com/the-great-gatsby-american-dream

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