Great Gatsby And The American Dream Essay

450 WordsSep 25, 20112 Pages
On the outside, The Great Gatsby seems to be a story about a twisted love affair and nothing else. In reality, though, Fitzgerald is subliminally showing the many changes happening during the 1920s socially, and how it affected the idea of the “American Dream.” In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the strives for wealth and status, which defined the American Dream during the roaring 20s, and which continues to be defined as a desire for wealth, success, and status today. The Great Gatsby was written soon after World War II. After World War II, there was a great economic boom which left many people suddenly rich, people referred to as “new money.” There quickly came to be a distinct difference between the “new money” group of people and people who were previously wealthy. What used to be “the pursuit of happiness” turned into a pursuit of money and greed. The love story that seems to be going on is actually a comparison between east and west egg, which represent new and old money. Daisy, coming from new money is a tasteful, elegant person, who lacks heart. She doesn’t show consideration for other people, which is evident when Daisy and Tom simply get up and leave town after Gatsby is tragically killed. Gatsby, on the other hand, lacked the social graces and gained his wealth illegally, but he was still a sincere and loyal person. Both groups of people, though different, slowly terrorized the American Dream. Historically, the idea of the American Dream originates from the Declaration of Independence, in the words, “All men are created equal… endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights… Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Today, all the American Dream means is the ability for everyone to achieve prosperity through the society and economy. For every generation, it gets increasingly difficult to achieve the dream when it comes to
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