What could the color green represent about what it took in order for him to try and win Daisy back?

The Groovy Gatsby is a tragic love story on the surface, but it's most commonly understood as 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 corporeality of social cache in 1920s NYC, but to be rejected by the "old money" oversupply. He so gets killed afterward existence tangled upwardly with them.

Through Gatsby's life, too as that of the Wilsons', Fitzgerald critiques the idea that America is a meritocracy where anyone can rise to the height with enough hard work. We will explore how this theme plays out in the plot, briefly analyze some primal quotes virtually it, equally well as do some character 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 Great Gatsby plot
Key American Dream quotes
Analyzing characters via the American Dream
Common give-and-take and essay topics

Quick Note on Our Citations

Our citation format in this guide is (affiliate.paragraph). Nosotros're using this organization since in that location are many editions of Gatsby, so using page numbers would only work for students with our copy of the book.

To find a quotation we cite via affiliate and paragraph in your book, y'all can either eyeball it (Paragraph ane-fifty: beginning of affiliate; 50-100: middle of chapter; 100-on: stop of chapter), or use the search office if y'all're using an online or eReader version of the text.

What Exactly Is "The American Dream"?

The American Dream is the conventionalities that anyone, regardless of race, form, gender, or nationality, can be successful in America (read: rich) if they simply piece of work hard enough. The American Dream thus presents a pretty rosy view of American society that ignores bug similar systemic racism and misogyny, xenophobia, tax evasion or state taxation avoidance, and income inequality. Information technology besides presumes a myth of class equality, when the reality is America has a pretty well-developed class bureaucracy.

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

The land was too in the midst of an economic blast, which fueled the belief that anyone could "strike it rich" on Wall Street. However, this rapid economic growth was congenital on a bubble which popped in 1929. The Great Gatsby was published in 1925, well before the crash, only through its wry descriptions of the ultra-wealthy, it seems to somehow predict that the fantastic wealth on display in 1920s New York was just as ephemeral as 1 of Gatsby'due south parties.

In any example, the novel, just past being gear 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, permit'due south jump into the plot!

The American Dream in The Keen Gatsby

Chapter 1 places us in a particular year—1922—and gives united states some groundwork about WWI.  This is relevant, since the 1920s is presented as a time of hollow decadence amidst the wealthy, as evidenced especially by the parties in Chapters ii and 3. And as we mentioned in a higher place, the 1920s were a particularly tense time in America.

We too meet George and Myrtle Wilson in Affiliate 2, both working class people who are working to improve their lot in life, George through his work, and Myrtle through her affair with Tom Buchanan.

We acquire about Gatsby's goal in Chapter 4: to win Daisy back. Despite everything he owns, including fantastic amounts of money and an over-the-top mansion, for Gatsby, Daisy is the ultimate status symbol. So in Chapter 5, when Daisy and Gatsby reunite and brainstorm an affair, information technology seems like Gatsby could, in fact, achieve his goal.

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

However, in Chapters 7 and 8, everything comes crashing down: Daisy refuses to get out Tom, Myrtle is killed, and George breaks downward and kills Gatsby and and so himself, leaving all of the "strivers" dead and the quondam money crowd safe. Furthermore, nosotros learn in those terminal capacity that Gatsby didn't fifty-fifty attain all his wealth through difficult work, like the American Dream would stipulate—instead, he earned his money through criminal offence. (He did piece of work difficult and honestly under Dan Cody, only lost Dan Cody's inheritance to his ex-wife.)

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

This novel is just one very large burst bubble.

Cardinal American Dream Quotes

In this section we analyze some of the near important quotes that relate to the American Dream in the volume.

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 as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward--and distinguished nil except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock. (1.152)

In our first glimpse of Jay Gatsby, we come across him reaching towards something far off, something in sight merely definitely out of attain. This famous image of the green light is often understood equally function of The Great Gatsby 's meditation on The American Dream—the idea that people are always reaching towards something greater than themselves that is but out of reach. You can read more than nearly this in our post all about the green calorie-free.

The fact that this yearning image is our introduction to Gatsby foreshadows his unhappy terminate and also 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 so far off.

Over the bully bridge, with the sunlight through the girders making a constant flicker upon the moving cars, with the city ascension upward across the river in white heaps and sugar lumps all built with a wish out of non-olfactory money. The metropolis seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the urban center seen for the first time, in its commencement wild promise of all the mystery and the dazzler in the globe.

A dead human being passed us in a hearse heaped with blooms, followed by 2 carriages with drawn blinds and past more than cheerful carriages for friends. The friends looked out at us with the tragic eyes and short upper lips of s-eastern Europe, and I was glad that the sight of Gatsby'due south excellent car was included in their somber holiday. Every bit we crossed Blackwell'due south Isle a limousine passed us, driven by a white chauffeur, in which sat three modish Negroes, two bucks and a daughter. I laughed aloud as the yolks of their eyeballs rolled toward us in haughty rivalry.

"Annihilation tin can happen at present that we've slid over this bridge," I idea; "annihilation at all. . . ."

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

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

However, this rosy view eventually gets undermined by the tragic events after in the novel. And even at this bespeak, Nick's condescension towards the people in the other cars reinforces America'south racial bureaucracy that disrupts the thought of the American Dream. In that location is even a petty competition at play, a "haughty rivalry" at play betwixt Gatsby's car and the one bearing the "modish Negroes."

Nick "laughs aloud" at this moment, suggesting he thinks information technology'south amusing that the passengers in this other automobile see 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 ane, even if it doesn't admit information technology honestly.

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

This moment explicitly ties Daisy to all of Gatsby's larger dreams for a amend life—to his American Dream. This sets the stage for the novel's tragic ending, since Daisy cannot concur up nether 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 also fails to achieve his version of the American Dream. This is why so many people read the novel every bit a somber or pessimistic have on the American Dream, rather than an optimistic 1.

...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, green breast of the new world. Its vanished trees, the copse that had made way for Gatsby'due south house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human 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 to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.

And as I sabbatum there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby'southward wonder when he first picked out the dark-green light at the stop of Daisy's dock. He had come up a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close 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 dark fields of the democracy rolled on under the nighttime." (9.151-152)

The endmost pages of the novel reverberate at length on the American Dream, in an attitude that seems simultaneously mournful, appreciative, and pessimistic. It also ties back to our outset glimpse of Gatsby, reaching out over the h2o towards the Buchanan's dark-green light. Nick notes that Gatsby'southward dream was "already behind him" then (or in other words, it was impossible to accomplish). But all the same, he finds something to adore in how Gatsby nevertheless hoped for a better life, and constantly reached out toward that brighter future.

For a full consideration of these final lines and what they could hateful, see our analysis of the novel's ending.

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Analyzing Characters Through the American Dream

An assay of the characters in terms of the American Dream normally leads to a pretty contemptuous take on the American Dream.

Nigh 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 discuss below, the Buchanans tin can also provide some interesting layers of word. For character analysis that incorporates the American Dream, carefully consider your chosen character's motivations and desires, and how the novel does (or doesn't!) provide glimpses of the dream's fulfillment for them.

Gatsby

Gatsby himself is obviously the best candidate for writing about the American Dream—he comes from humble roots (he'southward the son of poor farmers from North Dakota) and rises to be notoriously wealthy, but for everything to slip abroad from him in the end. Many people also incorporate Daisy into their analyses as the physical representation of Gatsby's dream.

However, definitely consider the fact that in the traditional American Dream, people attain their goals through honest difficult work, but in Gatsby's case, he very apace acquires a large corporeality of coin through crime. Gatsby does attempt the hard work approach, through his years of service to Dan Cody, only that doesn't work out since Cody's ex-married woman ends upwards with the entire inheritance. And then instead he turns to law-breaking, and only then does he manage to achieve his desired wealth.

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

George and Myrtle Wilson

This couple also represents people aiming at the dream—George owns his own shop and is doing his all-time to get business, though is increasingly worn down past 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 money at their own disposal—Myrtle certainly has admission to some of the "finer things" through Tom but has to deal with his abuse, while George is unable to leave his current life and move West since he doesn't have the funds available. He fifty-fifty has to make himself servile to Tom in an try to get Tom to sell his motorcar, a fact that could even cause him to overlook the bear witness of his wife'due south affair. So neither character is on the upward trajectory that the American Dream promises, at least during the novel.

In the terminate, everything goes horribly wrong for both George and Myrtle, suggesting that in this earth, it's dangerous to strive for more than than you lot're given.

George and Myrtle's deadly fates, along with Gatsby's, help illustrate the novel's pessimistic attitude toward the American Dream. Afterwards all, how unfair is it that the couple working to better their position in club (George and Myrtle) both end upward dead, while Tom, who dragged Myrtle into an increasingly unsafe state of affairs, and Daisy, who killed her, don't confront any consequences? And on peak 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

We've talked quite a flake already near Gatsby, George, and Myrtle—the three characters who come from apprehensive roots and try to climb the ranks in 1920s New York. Only 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 have sometime money, and thus they don't need the American Dream, since they were built-in with America already at their feet.

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

This is particularly interesting considering unlike Gatsby, Myrtle, and George, who actively promise and dream of a better life, Daisy and Tom are described as bored and "careless," and end upward instigating a large corporeality of tragedy through their own recklessness.

In other words, income inequality and the vastly unlike starts in life the characters have strongly affected their outcomes. The fashion they choose to alive their lives, their morality (or lack thereof), and how much they dream doesn't seem to matter. This, of course, is tragic and antithetical to the thought of the American Dream, which claims that course should exist irrelevant and anyone tin can rise to the top.

Daisy equally a Personification of the American Dream

As nosotros discuss in our post on coin and materialism in The Swell Gatsby, Daisy'due south phonation is explicitly tied to coin by Gatsby:

"Her vocalism is full of coin," he said suddenly.

That was it. I'd never understood before. It was total of coin--that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and roughshod in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' vocal of it. . . . High in a white palace the king's daughter, the gold daughter. . . . (7.105-six)

If Daisy's voice promises coin, and the American Dream is explicitly linked to wealth, information technology'south non difficult to contend that Daisy herself—along with the dark-green light 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 girl, the golden daughter," he also seems to literally describe Daisy as a prize, much similar the princess at the finish of a fairy tale (or even Princess Peach at the end of a Mario game!).

But Daisy, of course, is simply man—flawed, flighty, and ultimately unable to embody the huge fantasy Gatsby projects onto her. Then this, in turn, means that the American Dream itself is just a fantasy, a concept too flimsy to actually agree weight, especially in the fast-paced, dog-consume-dog world of 1920s America.

Furthermore, yous should definitely consider the tension between the fact that Daisy represents Gatsby's ultimate goal, just at the same fourth dimension (as nosotros discussed above), her actual life is the contrary of the American Dream: she is born with coin and privilege, probable dies with it all intact, and there are no consequences to how she chooses to alive her life in between.

Can Female Characters Achieve the American Dream?

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

Let'southward outset with Daisy, who is unhappy in her marriage and, despite a brief attempt to go out information technology, remains with Tom, unwilling to give upward the condition and security their wedlock provides. At showtime, it may seem like Daisy doesn't dream at all, so of class she ends upward unhappy. Simply consider the fact that Daisy was already born into the highest level of American society. The expectation placed on her, as a wealthy woman, was never to pursue something greater, but simply to maintain her status. She did that past marrying Tom, and information technology's understandable why she wouldn't risk the doubtfulness and loss of condition that would come up through divorce and wedlock to a bootlegger. Over again, Daisy seems to typify the "anti-American" dream, in that she was born into a kind of aristocracy and only has to maintain her position, non fight for something better.

In dissimilarity, Myrtle, aside from Gatsby, seems to be the nigh ambitiously in pursuit of getting more than she was given in life. She parlays her matter with Tom into an flat, nice clothes, and parties, and seems to revel in her newfound status. Only of form, she is knocked down the hardest, killed for her involvement with the Buchanans, and specifically for wrongfully assuming she had value to them. Because that Gatsby did have a chance to leave New York and distance himself from the unfolding tragedy, but Myrtle was the commencement to be killed, yous could argue the novel presents an fifty-fifty bleaker view of the American Dream where women are concerned.

Even Jordan Baker, who seems to exist living out a kind of dream by playing golf game and existence relatively independent, is tied to her family's coin and insulated from consequences by it, making her a pretty poor representation of the dream. And of course, since her end game also seems to be union, she doesn't push the boundaries of women's roles as far as she might wish.

Then while the women all button the boundaries of guild'south 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 brand it in America. The American Dream as shown in Gatsby becomes fifty-fifty more pessimistic through the lens of the female characters.

Focusing the lens on the women is predictably depressing.

Common Essay Questions/Word Topics

Now let's work through some of the more frequently brought up subjects for give-and-take.

#one: Was Gatsby's dream worth it? Was all the work, time, and patience worth it for him?

Like me, you might immediately recall "of course it wasn't worth it! Gatsby lost everything, not to mention the Wilsons got defenseless up in the tragedy and ended up dead!" Then if you want to make the more obvious "the dream wasn't worth it" statement, you could point to the unraveling that happens at the end of the novel (including the deaths of Myrtle, Gatsby and George) and how all Gatsby'southward achievements are for nothing, every bit evidenced by the sparse omnipresence of his funeral.

However, you could definitely take the less obvious route and argue that Gatsby's dream was worth it, despite the tragic cease. First of all, consider Jay'due south unique characterization in the story: "He was a son of God--a phrase which, if it means anything, ways just that--and he must be about His Father's Business, the service of a vast, vulgar and meretricious beauty" (6.7). In other words, Gatsby has a larger-than-life persona and he never would have been content to remain in Northward Dakota to be poor farmers like his parents.

Even if he ends upward living a shorter life, he certainly lived a total one total of risk. His dreams of wealth and status took him all over the earth 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 Academy, and then to the fast-paced world of Manhattan in the early on 1920s, when he earned a fortune as a bootlegger. In fact, it seems Jay lived several lives in the infinite of just half a normal lifespan. In short, to debate that Gatsby'southward dream was worth information technology, y'all should indicate to his larger-than-life conception of himself and the fact that he could have just sought happiness through striving for something greater than himself, fifty-fifty if that concluded upwards being deadly in the end.

#2: In the Langston Hughes poem "A Dream Deferred," Hughes asks questions about what happens to postponed dreams. How does Fitzgerald examine this effect of deferred dreams? What do y'all think are the effects of postponing our dreams? How can you use this lesson to your own life?

If yous're thinking almost "deferred dreams" in The Great Gatsby, the big one is plain Gatsby's deferred dream for Daisy—nearly five years pass between his initial infatuation and his attempt in the novel to win her dorsum, an attempt that plainly backfires. You lot can examine various aspects of Gatsby's dream—the flashbacks to his first memories of Daisy in Affiliate 8, the moment when they reunite in Chapter 5, or the disastrous consequences of the confrontation of Affiliate vii—to illustrate Gatsby's deferred dream.

Yous could likewise look at George Wilson's postponed dream of going West, or Myrtle's dream of marrying a wealthy homo of "breeding"—George never gets the funds to go W, and is instead mired in the Valley of Ashes, while Myrtle's endeavour to achieve her dream afterward 12 years of union through an thing ends in tragedy. Apparently, dreams deferred are dreams doomed to fail.

Every bit Nick Carraway says, "y'all tin't echo the past"—the novel seems to imply there is a modest 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 you should necessarily "apply this lesson to your own life" straightforwardly. But it is worth noting that sure opportunities are fleeting, and possibly information technology'due south wiser to seek out newer and/or more accessible ones, rather than pining over a lost chance.

Any prompt similar this one which has a section of more personal reflection gives you lot liberty to necktie in your own experiences and bespeak of view, and then exist thoughtful and call back of skilful examples from your own life!

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#3: Explain how the novel does or does not demonstrate the expiry of the American Dream. Is the primary theme of Gatsby indeed "the withering American Dream"? What does the novel offer about American identity?

In this prompt, another one that zeroes in on the dead or dying American Dream, you could hash out how the destruction of three lives (Gatsby, George, Myrtle) and the cynical portrayal of the old coin oversupply illustrates a dead, or dying American Dream. Subsequently all, if the characters who dream cease up dead, and the ones who were born into life with money and privilege get to keep it without effect, is there whatever room at all for the idea that less-privileged people can work their way up?

In terms of what the novel says about American identity, there are a few threads you lot could pick up—one is Nick'due south annotate in Affiliate ix virtually the novel actually being a story about (mid)westerners trying (and failing) to become East: "I come across at present that this has been a story of the West, after all--Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan and I, were all Westerners, and perchance nosotros possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly unadaptable to Eastern life" (9.125). This ascertainment suggests an American identity that is adamant by birthplace, and that within the American identity there are smaller, inescapable points of identification.

Furthermore, for those in the novel not built-in into money, the American identity seems to be virtually striving to cease upwards with more than wealth and status. Simply in terms of the portrayal of the former money fix, particularly Daisy, Tom, and Jordan, the novel presents a segment of American order that is essentially aloof—you have to be built-in into it. In that regard, also, the novel presents a fractured American identity, with different lives possible based on how much money yous are born with.

In short, I call back the novel disrupts the idea of a unified American identity or American dream, by instead presenting a tragic, fractured, and rigid American club, i that is divided based on both geographic location and social class.

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

Gatsby is an obvious choice here—his pursuit of money and status, particularly through Daisy, leads him to ruin. There were many points when maybe Gatsby ;could have been happy with what he achieved (especially after his apparently successful endeavors in the war, if he had remained at Oxford, or even after amassing a great amount of wealth every bit a bootlegger) but instead he kept striving upward, which ultimately lead to his downfall. You tin can mankind this statement out with the quotations in Chapters vi and 8 about Gatsby's past, forth with his tragic death.

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 flat, hosts parties, and gets to act sophisticated—simply these pleasures end up gravely pain George, and of grade her association with Tom Buchanan gets her killed.

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

Y'all might exist wondering nigh George—after all, isn't he someone also dreaming of a better life? Withal, at that place aren't many instances of George taking his dreams of an ideal life "too far." In fact, he struggles only to make one car sale and so that he can finally move out West with Myrtle. Also, given that his electric current situation in the Valley of Ashes is quite bleak, information technology's hard to say that striving upward gave him pain.

#5: The Corking Gatsby is, amongst other things, a sobering and even ominous commentary on the dark side of the American dream. Talk over this theme, incorporating the conflicts of East Egg vs. West Egg and old coin vs. new coin. 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 yous to consider pretty broadly the novel's attitude toward the American Dream, with accent on "sobering and even ominous" commentary. Note that Fitzgerald seems to be specifically mocking the stereotypical rags to riches story here—;especially since he draws the Dan Cody narrative almost note for note from the work of someone like Horatio Alger, whose books were nearly universally virtually rich men schooling young, entrepreneurial boys in the ways of the earth. In other words, you should discuss how the Nifty Gatsby seems to turn the idea of the American Dream every bit described in the quote on its head: Gatsby does accomplish a rags-to-riches rising, merely it doesn't final.

All of Gatsby's hard work for Dan Cody, after all, didn't pay off since he lost the inheritance. So instead, Gatsby turned to crime afterwards the war to chop-chop proceeds a ton of money. Especially since Gatsby finally achieves his great wealth through dubious ways, the novel farther undermines the classic image of someone working hard and honestly to go from rags to riches.

If you lot're addressing this prompt or a similar 1, make sure to focus on the darker aspects of the American Dream, including the night conclusion to the novel and Daisy and Tom's protection from whatsoever real consequences. (This would likewise let y'all to considering morality, and how morally broke the characters are.)

#six: What is the electric current state of the American Dream?

This is a more outward-looking prompt, that allows yous to consider current events today to either be generally optimistic (the American dream is alive and well) or pessimistic (information technology's equally dead as it is in The Great Gatsby).

You lot accept dozens of potential current events to use equally prove for either statement, but consider especially immigration and immigration reform, mass incarceration, income inequality, education, and wellness intendance in America equally skilful potential examples to use as yous argue most the current state of the American Dream. Your writing will exist peculiarly powerful if you can point to some specific current events to support your argument.

What's Next?

In this mail, nosotros discussed how important money is to the novel's version of the American Dream. You tin can read even more about coin and materialism in The Great Gatsby correct here.

Want to indulge in a little materialism of your ain? Accept a look through these 15 must-have items for whatsoever Great Gatsby fan.

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

Like nosotros discussed above, the green light is oftentimes seen as a stand-in for the idea of the American Dream. Read more near this crucial symbol hither.

Need assistance getting to grips with other literary works? Have a spin through our analyses of The Crucible, The Cask of Amontillado, and "Do not go gentle into this skilful nighttime" to meet analysis in action. You might as well 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 high school, and went on to major in English language at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English language Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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

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