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American Dream In Great Gatsby - Term Papers

American Dream In Great Gatsby

What is the "American Dream"? How does the characterization of Gatsby in the Great Gatsby represent and undermine it?
Although "The Great Gatsby" is filled with multiple themes such as love, money, order, reality, illusion and immorality, no one would probably deny that the predominate one focuses on the American Dream and the downfall of those who attempt to reach its illusionary goals. The attempt to capture the American Dream is the central of this novel. This can be explained by how Gatsby came to get his fortune. By studying the process of how Gatsby tried to achieve his own so-called American Dream, we could have a better understanding of what American dream is all about, in those ...

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hard work and self-reliance. A product of the frontier and the west, the American Dream challenges people to have dreams and strive to make them real. Historically, the dream represents the image of believing in the goodness nature. However, the American Dream can be interpreted in many different ways. While some may strive for spiritual goodness and excellence, other take the dream to represent purely materialistic values, which the majority perceive at that time. This is also the case of Jay Gatsby. We will later discover such a materialistic interpretation of the American Dream is the main cause of Gatsby's downfall.
Gatsby himself indeed is a complex symbol of the corruption of the American Dream. He is a romantic dreamer who seeks to fulfill his life by earning his wealth as a gangster. Gatsby does not change much in the course of the novel because his whole life is devoted to the fulfillment of a romantic dream created that is inconsistent with the realities of society. At a ...

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American Dream In Great Gatsby. (2007, June 27). Retrieved January 31, 2026, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/American-Dream-In-Great-Gatsby/67098

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 6/27/2007 07:35:06 AM
Category: English
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 900
Pages: 4

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