The American Dream in The Great Gatsby
In today�s society, many Americans want to achieve the American dream through money, love, or the pursuit of happiness. The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the dirge for the American dream. The novel takes place in the 1920�s centered in New York surrounding three main characters, Gatsby, Nick, and Daisy. They all want to strive towards the American dream and each have their own way of doing so. The novel The Great Gatsby, depicts the 1920�s as a time of social decay and moral values, evidenced by the greed and the pursuit of pleasure to achieve the American dream. The novel is about what happened to the American dream in the 1920s as time period when the dream had ...
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was content to be alone - he stretched out his arms towards 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 nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock. (20-21)
When we first encounter Gatsby with the green light he is reaching out to it, almost worshipping it. We later find out that the green light is on the end of Daisy�s dock. There are a few meanings of what the color could mean in this text. One is envy because Gatsby envies Tom, Daisy�s husband. The other meanings are promise, hope, and renewal for a future with Daisy and its fitting to be represented physically in the novel. In the end, though, Gatsby�s dream is not accomplished. The reason for his dream not coming true is because Daisy is not the same person he fell in love with years ago. As much as Gatsby thinks he can repeat the past, in reality it is proven to be ...
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"The American Dream in The Great Gatsby." Essayworld.com. March 20, 2011. Accessed April 25, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-American-Dream-in-Great-Gatsby/96347.
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