Examples Of Greed In The Great Gatsby
Andrew Elkins
Galloway
English 101 (1A)
8 November 2013
The Moral Declination of the American Dream as Portrayed in The Great Gatsby The American dream has long been defined as the notion that anyone, regardless of age or race, can succeed in America due to the country’s social, economic, and political systems. In the early days of the United Sates, the American Dream ensured that people would have the chance to work their way up in business and society through their own labor and ingenuity. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald addresses the shift that American dream undertook as a result of the ten-year party that ensued after the end of World War I in 1918. That party was the 1920’s. A time in which there was unprecedented …show more content…
Back in the day, the American Dream focused on discovery, individualism, and the pursuit of happiness. But this dream took a serious turn in the 1920’s when the social values began to change as a result of the easy money and material excess that overtook American society. Americans no longer wanted the things that they used to. The desire for discovery and happiness was no longer important in the 1920’s, only because people didn’t think it was anymore. Wealth corrupted the notion of the American Dream, just as it corrupted the purity of dreams all over America in the 1920’s. The only character in the novel whose dream didn’t change, was Gatsby’s, but that wasn’t necessarily a good thing, because his dream was not attainable for him. Gatsby’s views on the green light on the end of Daisy’s dock was compared to by Nick as the old American views of outstretched land back during American’s westward expansion. Gatsby gave the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, and Daisy herself, special meaning in his mind just as Americans back in the day gave special meaning to the land that they saw. The light had meaning, only because Gatsby gave it meaning. Before the 1920’s, discovery and individualism had meaning, because people had given it meaning. And then, as quickly as it had been given, the special meaning of the American Dream had been stripped away from those noble ideals, and had been placed upon less important things. Things such as money, material items, and the flamboyant lifestyles that many people lived in the
Galloway
English 101 (1A)
8 November 2013
The Moral Declination of the American Dream as Portrayed in The Great Gatsby The American dream has long been defined as the notion that anyone, regardless of age or race, can succeed in America due to the country’s social, economic, and political systems. In the early days of the United Sates, the American Dream ensured that people would have the chance to work their way up in business and society through their own labor and ingenuity. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald addresses the shift that American dream undertook as a result of the ten-year party that ensued after the end of World War I in 1918. That party was the 1920’s. A time in which there was unprecedented …show more content…
Back in the day, the American Dream focused on discovery, individualism, and the pursuit of happiness. But this dream took a serious turn in the 1920’s when the social values began to change as a result of the easy money and material excess that overtook American society. Americans no longer wanted the things that they used to. The desire for discovery and happiness was no longer important in the 1920’s, only because people didn’t think it was anymore. Wealth corrupted the notion of the American Dream, just as it corrupted the purity of dreams all over America in the 1920’s. The only character in the novel whose dream didn’t change, was Gatsby’s, but that wasn’t necessarily a good thing, because his dream was not attainable for him. Gatsby’s views on the green light on the end of Daisy’s dock was compared to by Nick as the old American views of outstretched land back during American’s westward expansion. Gatsby gave the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, and Daisy herself, special meaning in his mind just as Americans back in the day gave special meaning to the land that they saw. The light had meaning, only because Gatsby gave it meaning. Before the 1920’s, discovery and individualism had meaning, because people had given it meaning. And then, as quickly as it had been given, the special meaning of the American Dream had been stripped away from those noble ideals, and had been placed upon less important things. Things such as money, material items, and the flamboyant lifestyles that many people lived in the