Examples Of Corruption Of The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

The novel The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitz Gerald embodies many themes. A major in the story is the pursuit of can be labelled the American Dream. The American Dream is defined as someone starting low on the economic or social level, and working hard towards prosperity and or wealth and fame. By having money, a car, a big house, nice clothes and a happy family symbolizes the American dream. The Great Gatsby shows what happened to the American Dream in the 1920’s, which is a time period when the dreams became corrupted for many reasons.

Over the course of the novel The Great Gatsby, the main character James Gatz, more commonly known as Jay Gatsby, lives the American Dream. Gatsby's life is filled with large- lavish parties, beautiful cars, and an enormous mansion on the Sound. Gatsby worked for this lifestyle by following his dream to better himself. This dream leads Gatsby to become corrupt. But Gatsby's American Dream has become corrupted because of a lack of reality.

The American dream has been an ideal for many generations. Yet this “dream” Is quite deceptive. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses Jay Gatsby to portray the American dream as empty, materialistic, and unattainable. Emptiness is obvious in The Great Gatsby, everyone “living the dream” is extremely unhappy. For example Gatsby throws extravagant and lavish parties that everyone attends will everyone except the one person he wants there.

The american dream is what brought everyone to this country, the dream that if they worked hard enough that they to could be rich and have everything that they ever desired. This idea brought thousands of people but how much evil is done to achieve what is desired. The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is about the chase for the American Dream and reveals the corruption that comes along with that chase and is demonstrated through the characterization of Gatsby and Myrtle, the symbolism of the yellow objects, and the setting of the Valley of Ashes. Jay Gatsby has one goal in life, one dream that he has based his whole life on accomplishing, and that is winning Daisy back. He realises that daisy is attracted to the wealth and luxuriant lifestyle.

Myrtle downright ignores her own husband, “walking through her husband as if he were a ghost” and approaching Tom with a smile on her face (Fitzgerald 25-26). Though Myrtle and her husband have been married for a long time, Myrtle never got the money and status she wanted. As soon as she met Tom, all she could see was the money that surrounded him. In fact, she even changed her clothes around Tom, “attired in an elaborate afternoon dress of cream colored chiffon, which gave out a continual rustle as she swept about the room” (Fitzgerald 30). Myrtle often tries to come off richer than she is, proven by her various outfit changes in a small party where she wants to “prove herself a woman of Daisy's status through a melange of color, fashion, and commodities” (Goldsmith).

She grew to resent her own husband for being poor and unable to provide her with the lavish things Tom gave her. When talking about why she had married her husband when she seems to dislike him so much Myrtle explained, “‘I married him because I thought he was a gentleman,’ she said finally, ‘I thought he knew something about breeding but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe. ’”(pg. 34). Myrtle assumed that her husband, George Wilson, was a man who would be able to provide for both of them and wanted to live a comfy life.

From beginning to end in the book Myrtle Before getting hit by Gatsby, Myrtle says, “Throw me down and beat me, you dirty little coward!” (Fitzgerald 146). Myrtle denies the fact that George can never be like Tom. She shows her need for George to beat her like Tom has in the past because Tom is the definition of a “real man” to her. While at Myrtle and Gatsby’s party in New York, Myrtle explains how poor her husband is, by asserting, “He borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in” (Fitzgerald 35).

The American dream is an illusion that is deeply implanted in the minds of the people, it sets a bar for life achievement and offers hope to work hard to achieve their dreams. As for Americans, they are raised in a society to where they are expected to make lots money and to have a healthy family. After all in our society success is largely based off positions of power and financial stability. For example, in The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there were multiple interpretations of the ideal American dream in the 1920s. In the 1920s, due to the growth of materialism, people advertised and fancied the power of money to fulfilling their dreams.

Francis Scott Fitzgerald once stated, “The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart and all they can do is stare blankly.” Throughout his famous work, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrayed the American Dream. Contrary to the ideology of the “Roaring Twenties” society, he described the American Dream as a delusion. People of the era focused on materialism in order to boost their wealth and status and forgot the importance of their relationships. Several characters within the novel sought to gain a higher status in society.

The Facade of the American Dream The American Dream is the opportunity for all Americans to live a life of personal happiness and material comfort, but is it actually achievable? F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, is a story of characters working hard to achieve the American Dream, but ultimately they are unable to ever realize their perfect life. The novel makes a strong naturalism argument about the rigid class system in society and the disillusionment of the American Dream.

I. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the American Dream is depicted as a mirage due to its ultimate lack of fulfillment, outsider’s inability to obtain it, and the corruption it causes. A. Those who have achieved their idea of the American Dream are ultimately unfulfilled emotionally even though they possess tremendous wealth. B. The American Dream is a mirage, and thus unattainable as it limits success of an individual by their class and ethnic origin. C. Not only is the American Dream exclusive and unfulfilling, but it also causes corruption as those who strive for the American Dream corrupt themselves in doing so and the old rich hide behind their wealth in order to conceal their immoralities.

The Great Gatsby presents its characters as having living the American Dream. However, it is only a belief; the behaviors they have and decisions they take only leave them with a false perception of life and lifestyle. The Great Gatsby relates to the corruption of the American Dream for those materialistic people who were after money. Fitzgerald reveals the idea of corruption in the American Dream through conditions such as wealth and materialism, power and social status, and relationships involving family and affairs. He uses examples of this corruption to show the reader that people are willing to lie, betray others, and commit crime to be able to live a ‘better and fuller’ life.

Extended Essay: American dream in the USA of the 1920’s, as depicted by “The Great Gatsby” by F. S. Fitzgerald Introduction The modern American literature is a topic as broad as it can be; there is, however, one novel which often appears as the one called “the greatest American novel of all times”. The novel in question is “The great Gatsby”, written by Francis Scott Fitzgerald and published in April of 1925. [1] There are a number of reasons for why it is deemed so special, with its’ current position in modern pop culture and status of a classic, compulsory for every reader. One of the major causes is the layered meaning, which leaves whole lot of room for interpretation.

The Corruption of The American Dream in The Great Gatsby In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald illustrates society in the 1920’s and the desire for the people with in it to achieve the American Dream, which embodies the hope that one can achieve power, love and a higher economic/social status through one’s commitment and effort. The novel develops the story of a man named Jay Gatsby and his dream of marrying what he describes as his “golden girl”, also known as, Daisy Buchanan, his former lover. Fitzgerald explores the corruption of the American dream through the Characters; Myrtle, Gatsby and Daisy.

The American dream stands as a symbol for hope, prosperity, and happiness. But F. Scott Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby, examines the American dream from a different perspective, one that sheds light on those who contort these principles to their own selfish fantasies. Fitzgerald renders Jay Gatsby as a man who takes the Dream too far, and becomes unable to distinguish his false life of riches from reality. This 'unique ' American novel describes how humanity 's insatiable desires for wealth and power subvert the idyllic principles of the American vision. Jay Gatsby is the personification of limitless wealth and prestige, a shining beacon for the aspiring rich.