The Great Gatsby In the 1920s, America had gone mad. A person can even say that America was under a spell, fantasizing over the exact same thing. Everyone was chasing a dream: the “American Dream”. The American Dream was known to originally be the discovery of happiness through freedom and self-reliance, but by the 1920s, the definition of the American Dream became corrupt by the desire for success, believing that money will bring happiness. Not once does F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the words “American Dream”, but it is inevitable that he shows the impossibility of achieving happiness through the American Dream because the American Dream is just a form of trickery to get people to crave greater things in life.
Although it is only a light at the end of a dock, the green light brings Gatsby with the hope he needs to do other things, usually involving money, to win Daisy. Another symbol that gives Gatsby hope is his money. Gatsby uses his money to try to win daisy. Gatsby has very large and extravagant parties all because he hopes that Daisy will attend at least one. Gatsby also tries to show Daisy how rich he is by wearing expensive clothes.
This is made clear by the fact that Tom is having an affair and Daisy barely pays any mind to her daughter. Daisy and Tom’s family life shows how the American Dream has changed from people striving for a good family life to just having a family for image. Gatsby shows how the American Dream has changed from wanting to live comfortably to having the best or better things than others around him. Because of the industrial boom, there were new inventions being made and it persuaded people to compete for being the best. This boom allowed Gatsby to be better than people.
The argument or what Hobson called “the economic taproot of imperialism” was excessive capital in search of investment, and that this excessive capital came from over saving made possible by the unequal distribution of wealth. (The New Imperialism/The Latin Library, Thompson) The remedy, he maintained, was internal social reform and a more equal distribution of wealth. (New Imperialism Lecture Notes, J. Hollis & Western Heritage, pg 828). Meanwhile, Lenin and other Marxists believed imperialism resulted in the demise of capitalism. As wealth concentrates in fewer hands, the ability for investment at home is reduced resulting in foreign investments and exploit weaker nations.
The scene quickly changes to Gatsby’s mansion and in one of his parties in which Nick attends and ‘’was one of the few guests who had actually been invited’’. This also shows that Gatsby expends all this money on a party for people he may not know who have merely invited themselves and are welcomed simply for coming. One point of view is that he may be doing all this for Daisy to attract her in and show how rich and well-known he has become in New-York so that she would leave Tom and be reunited with him. At this point of the chapter we find Nick change from a spectator to a participator. During this chapter and most of the story, we see through Nick’s perspective of the party.
How does Fitzgerald portray the corruption of the American Dream in the ‘Great Gatsby?’ In Fitzgerald’s ‘Great Gatsby’ he has portrayed how the original American Dream created by the Dutch sailors clashes inevitably with the idea of materialism and greed to fuel the our desires in life, destroying our dreams along the process. The original American Dream is that if you work hard, you could succeed in life. However, our wants are the things that blind us to what is more important throughout our lives. The author has based his novels on parties; in every chapter, there is a party, using parties. Fitzgerald introduces many characters in the novel, and further shows their character to the reader.
Through Fitzgerald's dealings with high society, readers are shown how modern values have transformed the American Dream's pure ideals into a scheme for materialistic power and further, how the world of high society lacks any sense of morals or consequence. Money is clearly identified as the main culprit in the dream's betrayal. It becomes easily entangled with hope and success and replacing their positions in the American Dream with materialism. This is shown through Gatsby's use of illegal practices and underground connections to make money. The story takes place during the time of prohibition and Gatsby has profited greatly from selling liquor illegally.
Meanwhile, the richest Americans continue to expand their wealth. The middle class in this country is dying, while the millionaires and billionaires prosper. More and more people are slipping into poverty, while many Republicans oppose tax hikes for the “job creators”. Paine also describes America as a place free of conflict, and as place where “every difficulty retires and all the parts are brought into cordial unison.” This not only does not hold true today, but it contradicts one of the fundamental characteristics of America: the fact that as Americans we are entitled to disagree with each other and argue endlessly about any given subject. Argument and disagreement are huge part of what makes his country great.
A simple example of this is the concept of that evil, deceptive tax cut. That same party will tell you that the only way to make money from taxes is to raise them until every rich patron of this country is paying an arm and a leg just to stay alive. Not only does this punish the rich for being rich, it is a form of socialism though it's redistribution of money in an attempt to reward the idle for doing nothing, and punish the busy for endeavoring to make money. Doesn't make much sense does
The American Dream is undefined, but it also has false characteristics that people put on it. It’s often misconstrued for money, social status, material items, and things that serve no purpose to oneself. The Great Gatsby is a prime example of the misinterpreted version on The American Dream. In this novel, Fitzgerald conveys a false message that people idolize to be The American Dream. He talks about having big fancy houses, being fashionable, living the life that has no boundaries, where imagination is grand because the flow of cash is endless.