The American Dream
The American Dream can be considered differently depending on what someone considers to be the American dream. Today, the American Dream for many people might be to be successful, whether that means making a large sum of money or not, and being able to live comfortably. Some may want to live more than just comfortable. They may want to live the lives of, for example, celebrities or other million and billionaires. In the 20's when The Great Gatsby was written, the American Dream for many people may have been similar to the American Dream of today. To live the life of the idol rich. For others back then, their dream may have been to be respected and viewed as equals and live a "normal" day to day life by working and making a living to support their families. For immigrants, their idea of the American Dream was to come to the "land of opportunity" and be able to live comfortably and freely and be able to make their own decisions. They wanted to find jobs that would pay them fairly and reasonably, they wanted to have their own businesses also. But when many actually made it to this country they found that the American Dream was all an illusion.
The Great Gatsby satirizes this idea of the American Dream by implying that the occurrences in the story are an indictment of the American Dream. Fitzgerald, focuses on Gatsby and the other rich characters and how these characters, Gatsby specifically, came about gaining so much wealth. The American Dream would be to work hard and honestly earn the money that one makes, but as Fitzgerald points out, this is an illusion because these idol rich have not made their money honesty.
Fitzgerald examines each character and how there are examples of the decay of America. These characters only seem to be concerned with money, drinking, being seen, and committing adultery because they have nothing else to do. Everything they have has been given to them and they do not have to work to acquire anything else...
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