Interpretation of the American Dream in the Jungle, the Great Gatsby and Death of a Salesman

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research paper will examine the interpretation of the American Dream in literature between the Progressive Era at the start of the twentieth century and the 1950s economic and social boom. In order to do this the paper will examine the novels The Jungle, The Great Gatsby and Death of a Salesman. These three novels all examine the American Dream in different decades.

Written in 1906 by Upton Sinclair The Jungle is a novel that portrayed the life of immigrants and the working class in early-twentieth century America. The novel was published during the muckraking decade and its depiction of poverty, unpleasant living and working conditions and the corruption of those in power led it to be called “the Uncle Tom’s Cabin of wage slavery.”

A socialist Sinclair believed that by the start of the twentieth century the concept of the American Dream had become hollow and hypocritical. In order to portray this Sinclair uses the character of Jurgis Rudkus and his extended ...

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