Read This Passage From the Great Gatsby and Dicuss Nicks Attitude Toward Gatsby

The Not bad Gatsby is a tragic honey story on the surface, but information technology's most unremarkably understood as a pessimistic critique of the American Dream. In the novel, Jay Gatsby overcomes his poor past to proceeds an incredible corporeality of money and a limited corporeality of social cache in 1920s NYC, only to be rejected by the "old money" oversupply. He and so gets killed later on beingness tangled upward with them.

Through Gatsby'due south life, as well every bit that of the Wilsons', Fitzgerald critiques the idea that America is a meritocracy where anyone can ascension to the top with enough hard work. We will explore how this theme plays out in the plot, briefly analyze some key quotes about it, too as practice some character assay and broader analysis of topics surrounding the American Dream in The Great Gatsby.

Roadmap

What is the American Dream?
The American Dream in the Peachy Gatsby plot
Central American Dream quotes
Analyzing characters via the American Dream
Common give-and-take and essay topics

Quick Note on Our Citations

Our citation format in this guide is (chapter.paragraph). Nosotros're using this system since there are many editions of Gatsby, so using page numbers would simply work for students with our copy of the book.

To find a quotation we cite via chapter and paragraph in your book, yous can either eyeball information technology (Paragraph 1-fifty: beginning of affiliate; 50-100: middle of chapter; 100-on: cease of chapter), or employ the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text.

What Exactly Is "The American Dream"?

The American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of race, form, gender, or nationality, can be successful in America (read: rich) if they merely piece of work difficult enough. The American Dream thus presents a pretty rosy view of American social club that ignores bug like systemic racism and misogyny, xenophobia, tax evasion or state tax avoidance, and income inequality. It also presumes a myth of class equality, when the reality is America has a pretty well-developed class hierarchy.

The 1920s in particular was a pretty tumultuous fourth dimension due to increased immigration (and the accompanying xenophobia), changing women'due south roles (spurred past the right to vote, which was won in 1919), and boggling income inequality.

The country was also in the midst of an economic boom, which fueled the belief that anyone could "strike information technology rich" on Wall Street. However, this rapid economical growth was built on a bubble which popped in 1929. The Keen Gatsby was published in 1925, well before the crash, but through its wry descriptions of the ultra-wealthy, information technology seems to somehow predict that the fantastic wealth on brandish in 1920s New York was just every bit ephemeral as 1 of Gatsby's parties.

In any case, the novel, simply by being set in the 1920s, is unlikely to nowadays an optimistic view of the American Dream, or at least a version of the dream that'due south inclusive to all genders, ethnicities, and incomes. With that groundwork in mind, permit'southward jump into the plot!

The American Dream in The Great Gatsby

Affiliate 1 places us in a item year—1922—and gives usa some background about WWI.  This is relevant, since the 1920s is presented every bit a time of hollow decadence among the wealthy, as evidenced especially by the parties in Chapters 2 and three. And as we mentioned above, the 1920s were a particularly tense time in America.

We also run into George and Myrtle Wilson in Affiliate 2, both working class people who are working to improve their lot in life, George through his piece of work, and Myrtle through her affair with Tom Buchanan.

We learn virtually Gatsby's goal in Chapter 4: to win Daisy back. Despite everything he owns, including fantastic amounts of coin and an over-the-top mansion, for Gatsby, Daisy is the ultimate status symbol. And so in Affiliate five, when Daisy and Gatsby reunite and begin an affair, it seems like Gatsby could, in fact, accomplish his goal.

In Affiliate 6, we acquire nigh Gatsby's less-than-wealthy past, which not but makes him await similar the star of a rags-to-riches story, it makes Gatsby himself seem similar someone in pursuit of the American Dream, and for him the personification of that dream is Daisy.

All the same, in Chapters 7 and 8, everything comes crashing downwards: Daisy refuses to leave Tom, Myrtle is killed, and George breaks downwardly and kills Gatsby so himself, leaving all of the "strivers" dead and the old money crowd rubber. Furthermore, we learn in those last chapters that Gatsby didn't even achieve all his wealth through hard work, similar the American Dream would stipulate—instead, he earned his money through crime. (He did work hard and honestly nether Dan Cody, only lost Dan Cody's inheritance to his ex-wife.)

In short, things do non plow out well for our dreamers in the novel! Thus, the novel ends with Nick's sorry meditation on the lost promise of the American Dream. You can read a detailed analysis of these last lines in our summary of the novel's ending.

This novel is merely i very large burst bubble.

Central American Dream Quotes

In this section we analyze some of the most important quotes that relate to the American Dream in the volume.

But I didn't phone call to him for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be lonely--he stretched out his arms toward the night h2o in a curious fashion, and far every bit I was from him I could take sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward--and distinguished nothing except a single green calorie-free, minute and far away, that might take been the end of a dock. (one.152)

In our first glimpse of Jay Gatsby, we see him reaching towards something far off, something in sight only definitely out of reach. This famous image of the green lite is often understood as part of The Smashing Gatsby 'due south meditation on The American Dream—the idea that people are always reaching towards something greater than themselves that is only out of attain. You can read more about this in our postal service all about the green light.

The fact that this yearning prototype is our introduction to Gatsby foreshadows his unhappy terminate and also marks him as a dreamer, rather than people similar Tom or Daisy who were born with money and don't need to strive for anything and so far off.

Over the great span, with the sunlight through the girders making a constant flicker upon the moving cars, with the city ascension up across the river in white heaps and sugar lumps all congenital with a wish out of non-olfactory money. The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is ever the urban center seen for the first fourth dimension, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the globe.

A expressionless man passed us in a hearse heaped with blooms, followed by two carriages with drawn blinds and by more cheerful carriages for friends. The friends looked out at us with the tragic eyes and short upper lips of south-eastern Europe, and I was glad that the sight of Gatsby's excellent car was included in their somber holiday. Equally nosotros crossed Blackwell's Island a limousine passed the states, driven by a white chauffeur, in which sabbatum 3 modish Negroes, two bucks and a girl. I laughed aloud as the yolks of their eyeballs rolled toward u.s. in haughty rivalry.

"Anything can happen now that we've slid over this bridge," I thought; "anything at all. . . ."

Fifty-fifty Gatsby could happen, without any particular wonder. (four.55-8)

Early on in the novel, we get this generally optimistic illustration of the American Dream—we meet people of dissimilar races and nationalities racing towards NYC, a city of unfathomable possibility. This moment has all the classic elements of the American Dream—economical possibility, racial and religious diversity, a carefree attitude. At this moment, it does feel like "anything can happen," even a happy ending.

Even so, this rosy view somewhen gets undermined by the tragic events afterward in the novel. And fifty-fifty at this point, Nick's condescension towards the people in the other cars reinforces America's racial hierarchy that disrupts the thought of the American Dream. There is even a little competition at play, a "haughty rivalry" at play between Gatsby'southward car and the one bearing the "modish Negroes."

Nick "laughs aloud" at this moment, suggesting he thinks information technology's amusing that the passengers in this other automobile run into them equally equals, or fifty-fifty rivals to be bested. In other words, he seems to firmly believe in the racial hierarchy Tom defends in Chapter 1, even if it doesn't admit information technology honestly.

His centre beat faster and faster as Daisy's white face came up to his own. He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning fork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips' affect she blossomed for him like a blossom and the incarnation was complete. (6.134)

This moment explicitly ties Daisy to all of Gatsby'southward larger dreams for a better life—to his American Dream. This sets the stage for the novel'south tragic ending, since Daisy cannot hold up under the weight of the dream Gatsby projects onto her. Instead, she stays with Tom Buchanan, despite her feelings for Gatsby. Thus when Gatsby fails to win over Daisy, he as well fails to achieve his version of the American Dream. This is why so many people read the novel as a somber or pessimistic take on the American Dream, rather than an optimistic ane.

...equally the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors' eyes--a fresh, green breast of the new world. Its vanished trees, the copse that had made way for Gatsby's house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment human being must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to confront for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.

And as I sabbatum there brooding on the onetime, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby'south wonder when he commencement picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. He had come a long way to this blue backyard and his dream must accept seemed and so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already backside him, somewhere dorsum in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night." (ix.151-152)

The closing pages of the novel reverberate at length on the American Dream, in an attitude that seems simultaneously mournful, appreciative, and pessimistic. Information technology also ties back to our showtime glimpse of Gatsby, reaching out over the water towards the Buchanan's dark-green light. Nick notes that Gatsby'due south dream was "already behind him" and then (or in other words, it was incommunicable to accomplish). Just still, he finds something to admire in how Gatsby notwithstanding hoped for a better life, and constantly reached out toward that brighter futurity.

For a full consideration of these terminal lines and what they could hateful, see our analysis of the novel's ending.

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Analyzing Characters Through the American Dream

An analysis of the characters in terms of the American Dream usually leads to a pretty contemptuous take on the American Dream.

Near character analysis centered on the American Dream will necessarily focus on Gatsby, George, or Myrtle (the true strivers in the novel), though as we'll hash out below, the Buchanans can also provide some interesting layers of word. For character analysis that incorporates the American Dream, advisedly consider your chosen character's motivations and desires, and how the novel does (or doesn't!) provide glimpses of the dream's fulfillment for them.

Gatsby

Gatsby himself is evidently the best candidate for writing about the American Dream—he comes from apprehensive roots (he's the son of poor farmers from North Dakota) and rises to be notoriously wealthy, just for everything to slip away from him in the end. Many people besides incorporate Daisy into their analyses every bit the physical representation of Gatsby's dream.

However, definitely consider the fact that in the traditional American Dream, people accomplish their goals through honest hard work, but in Gatsby's case, he very quickly acquires a large amount of money through law-breaking. Gatsby does attempt the hard work arroyo, through his years of service to Dan Cody, but that doesn't work out since Cody'due south ex-wife ends up with the unabridged inheritance. So instead he turns to offense, and only then does he manage to achieve his desired wealth.

Then while Gatsby's story arc resembles a traditional rags-to-riches tale, the fact that he gained his money immorally complicates the thought that he is a perfect avatar for the American Dream. Furthermore, his success obviously doesn't final—he nonetheless pines for Daisy and loses everything in his attempt to get her back. In other words, Gatsby's huge dreams, all precariously wedded to Daisy  ("He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable jiff, his heed would never romp once more like the mind of God" (6.134)) are as flimsy and flight as Daisy herself.

George and Myrtle Wilson

This couple also represents people aiming at the dream—George owns his own store and is doing his best to become business, though is increasingly worn downward by the harsh demands of his life, while Myrtle chases after wealth and status through an affair with Tom.

Both are disempowered due to the lack of money at their own disposal—Myrtle certainly has admission to some of the "effectively things" through Tom but has to deal with his corruption, while George is unable to leave his current life and move West since he doesn't accept the funds available. He even has to brand himself servile to Tom in an attempt to become Tom to sell his motorcar, a fact that could even cause him to overlook the bear witness of his wife's affair. And then neither character is on the upward trajectory that the American Dream promises, at to the lowest degree during the novel.

In the end, everything goes horribly wrong for both George and Myrtle, suggesting that in this world, information technology'due south dangerous to strive for more than you're given.

George and Myrtle's deadly fates, along with Gatsby's, help illustrate the novel's pessimistic attitude toward the American Dream. Afterward all, how unfair is it that the couple working to improve their position in society (George and Myrtle) both end upwards expressionless, while Tom, who dragged Myrtle into an increasingly unsafe situation, and Daisy, who killed her, don't confront any consequences? And on meridian of that they are fabulously wealthy? The American Dream certainly is not alive and well for the poor Wilsons.

Tom and Daisy every bit Antagonists to the American Dream

We've talked quite a chip already about Gatsby, George, and Myrtle—the iii characters who come up from apprehensive roots and effort to climb the ranks in 1920s New York. Just what about the other major characters, specially the ones born with money? What is their human relationship to the American Dream?

Specifically, Tom and Daisy accept one-time money, and thus they don't demand the American Dream, since they were born with America already at their feet.

Perhaps considering of this, they seem to directly antagonize the dream—Daisy past refusing Gatsby, and Tom by helping to drag the Wilsons into tragedy.

This is especially interesting because unlike Gatsby, Myrtle, and George, who actively hope and dream of a ameliorate life, Daisy and Tom are described as bored and "devil-may-care," and end up instigating a large corporeality of tragedy through their own recklessness.

In other words, income inequality and the vastly different starts in life the characters have strongly affected their outcomes. The mode they choose to live their lives, their morality (or lack thereof), and how much they dream doesn't seem to matter. This, of course, is tragic and antonymous to the idea of the American Dream, which claims that class should be irrelevant and anyone can rise to the meridian.

Daisy every bit a Personification of the American Dream

Every bit we discuss in our post on money and materialism in The Great Gatsby, Daisy's voice is explicitly tied to money by Gatsby:

"Her voice is full of money," he said of a sudden.

That was it. I'd never understood before. It was full of money--that was the inexhaustible amuse that rose and roughshod in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' vocal of it. . . . High in a white palace the king's girl, the golden girl. . . . (7.105-vi)

If Daisy's voice promises money, and the American Dream is explicitly linked to wealth, it's not hard to fence that Daisy herself—along with the green light at the end of her dock—stands in for the American Dream. In fact, every bit Nick goes on to describe Daisy as "Loftier in a white palace the king'due south girl, the gilded girl," he also seems to literally depict Daisy as a prize, much like the princess at the end of a fairy tale (or even Princess Peach at the end of a Mario game!).

Simply Daisy, of form, is merely human—flawed, flighty, and ultimately unable to embody the huge fantasy Gatsby projects onto her. And so this, in plough, ways that the American Dream itself is just a fantasy, a concept besides flimsy to actually hold weight, particularly in the fast-paced, canis familiaris-consume-dog earth of 1920s America.

Furthermore, you should definitely consider the tension between the fact that Daisy represents Gatsby's ultimate goal, but at the same time (as nosotros discussed in a higher place), her actual life is the reverse of the American Dream: she is born with money and privilege, probable dies with information technology all intact, and there are no consequences to how she chooses to live her life in between.

Tin can Female Characters Achieve the American Dream?

Finally, it's interesting to compare and contrast some of the female characters using the lens of the American Dream.

Permit's start with Daisy, who is unhappy in her union and, despite a cursory attempt to leave it, remains with Tom, unwilling to requite upwardly the status and security their marriage provides. At starting time, it may seem similar Daisy doesn't dream at all, so of class she ends up unhappy. But consider the fact that Daisy was already built-in into the highest level of American society. The expectation placed on her, as a wealthy woman, was never to pursue something greater, merely simply to maintain her status. She did that by marrying Tom, and it'south understandable why she wouldn't chance the doubt and loss of status that would come through divorce and spousal relationship to a bootlegger. Again, Daisy seems to typify the "anti-American" dream, in that she was born into a kind of aristocracy and merely has to maintain her position, not fight for something better.

In dissimilarity, Myrtle, aside from Gatsby, seems to exist the most ambitiously in pursuit of getting more than she was given in life. She parlays her affair with Tom into an apartment, nice apparel, and parties, and seems to revel in her newfound status. But of grade, she is knocked downwardly the hardest, killed for her involvement with the Buchanans, and specifically for wrongfully assuming she had value to them. Considering that Gatsby did have a risk to leave New York and altitude himself from the unfolding tragedy, but Myrtle was the start to be killed, you could fence the novel presents an even bleaker view of the American Dream where women are concerned.

Even Jordan Baker, who seems to be living out a kind of dream by playing golf game and existence relatively independent, is tied to her family'southward money and insulated from consequences past information technology, making her a pretty poor representation of the dream. And of course, since her end game too seems to exist marriage, she doesn't push button the boundaries of women'south roles as far as she might wish.

So while the women all push the boundaries of society'due south expectations of them in sure ways, they either autumn in line or are killed, which definitely undermines the rosy of idea that anyone, regardless of gender, can make it in America. The American Dream as shown in Gatsby becomes even more pessimistic through the lens of the female characters.

Focusing the lens on the women is predictably depressing.

Mutual Essay Questions/Discussion Topics

Now let's work through some of the more frequently brought up subjects for discussion.

#1: Was Gatsby's dream worth it? Was all the piece of work, time, and patience worth it for him?

Like me, yous might immediately recollect "of grade information technology wasn't worth it! Gatsby lost everything, non to mention the Wilsons got caught upwards in the tragedy and ended upwardly dead!" So if yous desire to brand the more obvious "the dream wasn't worth information technology" statement, you could point to the unraveling that happens at the stop of the novel (including the deaths of Myrtle, Gatsby and George) and how all Gatsby'southward achievements are for nothing, as evidenced past the sparse attendance of his funeral.

All the same, yous could definitely have the less obvious route and argue that Gatsby'southward dream was worth it, despite the tragic end. Get-go of all, consider Jay'southward unique label in the story: "He was a son of God--a phrase which, if it means anything, ways just that--and he must be near His Father's Concern, the service of a vast, vulgar and meretricious beauty" (6.7). In other words, Gatsby has a larger-than-life persona and he never would have been content to remain in North Dakota to be poor farmers like his parents.

Even if he ends upwards living a shorter life, he certainly lived a full one total of adventure. His dreams of wealth and status took him all over the world on Dan Cody's yacht, to Louisville where he met and fell in love with Daisy, to the battlefields of WWI, to the halls of Oxford University, and so to the fast-paced world of Manhattan in the early on 1920s, when he earned a fortune as a bootlegger. In fact, it seems Jay lived several lives in the space of but half a normal lifespan. In curt, to argue that Gatsby'south dream was worth it, yous should point to his larger-than-life conception of himself and the fact that he could take just sought happiness through striving for something greater than himself, even if that ended upward being deadly in the cease.

#ii: In the Langston Hughes poem "A Dream Deferred," Hughes asks questions almost what happens to postponed dreams. How does Fitzgerald examine this issue of deferred dreams? What do y'all think are the effects of postponing our dreams? How can you apply this lesson to your own life?

If you're thinking well-nigh "deferred dreams" in The Great Gatsby, the big one is manifestly Gatsby's deferred dream for Daisy—most 5 years pass between his initial infatuation and his attempt in the novel to win her back, an attempt that obviously backfires. You can examine various aspects of Gatsby's dream—the flashbacks to his first memories of Daisy in Chapter viii, the moment when they reunite in Affiliate v, or the disastrous consequences of the confrontation of Chapter 7—to illustrate Gatsby's deferred dream.

Y'all could also await at George Wilson's postponed dream of going West, or Myrtle's dream of marrying a wealthy man of "breeding"—George never gets the funds to become Due west, and is instead mired in the Valley of Ashes, while Myrtle'southward attempt to achieve her dream after 12 years of marriage through an affair ends in tragedy. Apparently, dreams deferred are dreams doomed to fail.

As Nick Carraway says, "you can't repeat the past"—the novel seems to imply there is a small window for certain dreams, and when the window closes, they tin no longer be attained. This is pretty pessimistic, and for the prompt's personal reflection attribute, I wouldn't say you should necessarily "apply this lesson to your own life" straightforwardly. Merely information technology is worth noting that sure opportunities are fleeting, and perchance it's wiser to seek out newer and/or more than attainable ones, rather than pining over a lost chance.

Whatsoever prompt like this one which has a section of more personal reflection gives you liberty to necktie in your ain experiences and betoken of view, so be thoughtful and think of good examples from your ain life!

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#3: Explicate how the novel does or does not demonstrate the death of the American Dream. Is the main theme of Gatsby indeed "the withering American Dream"? What does the novel offer most American identity?

In this prompt, some other i that zeroes in on the expressionless or dying American Dream, you could hash out how the destruction of iii lives (Gatsby, George, Myrtle) and the cynical portrayal of the erstwhile money crowd illustrates a dead, or dying American Dream. After all, if the characters who dream end up dead, and the ones who were born into life with money and privilege get to proceed it without consequence, is there whatever room at all for the idea that less-privileged people tin work their mode up?

In terms of what the novel says well-nigh American identity, there are a few threads you could selection upwards—one is Nick's comment in Chapter 9 almost the novel really being a story about (mid)westerners trying (and failing) to go Due east: "I meet now that this has been a story of the West, after all--Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan and I, were all Westerners, and perhaps nosotros possessed some deficiency in mutual which fabricated u.s.a. subtly unadaptable to Eastern life" (9.125). This observation suggests an American identity that is determined by birthplace, and that inside the American identity there are smaller, inescapable points of identification.

Furthermore, for those in the novel not born into money, the American identity seems to be about striving to cease upward with more than wealth and status. But in terms of the portrayal of the old money ready, specially Daisy, Tom, and Hashemite kingdom of jordan, the novel presents a segment of American society that is essentially aristocratic—you have to exist born into it. In that regard, too, the novel presents a fractured American identity, with different lives possible based on how much coin you are born with.

In short, I think the novel disrupts the idea of a unified American identity or American dream, past instead presenting a tragic, fractured, and rigid American guild, 1 that is divided based on both geographic location and social class.

#4: Most would consider dreams to be positive motivators to attain success, just the characters in the novel often take their dreams of ideal lives too far. Explain how characters' American Dreams cause them to have pain when they could have been content with more than minor ambitions.

Gatsby is an obvious choice here—his pursuit of coin and status, particularly through Daisy, leads him to ruin. There were many points when maybe Gatsby ;could have been happy with what he achieved (peculiarly after his apparently successful endeavors in the war, if he had remained at Oxford, or even after amassing a great amount of wealth as a bootlegger) merely instead he kept striving upward, which ultimately lead to his downfall. You can flesh this statement out with the quotations in Chapters half dozen and viii about Gatsby's by, along with his tragic decease.

Myrtle would be another skillful option for this type of prompt. In a sense, she seems to exist living her platonic life in her affair with Tom—she has a fancy NYC apartment, hosts parties, and gets to act sophisticated—but these pleasures end up gravely hurting George, and of course her association with Tom Buchanan gets her killed.

Nick, too, if he had been happy with his family unit's respectable fortune and his girlfriend out west, might take avoided the pain of knowing Gatsby and the general sense of despair he was left with.

You might be wondering well-nigh George—afterward all, isn't he someone also dreaming of a better life? Yet, in that location aren't many instances of George taking his dreams of an ideal life "also far." In fact, he struggles but to make ane car sale then that he can finally move out West with Myrtle. Besides, given that his electric current situation in the Valley of Ashes is quite bleak, it's hard to say that striving upward gave him pain.

#5: The Smashing Gatsby is, amidst other things, a sobering and even ominous commentary on the dark side of the American dream. Talk over this theme, incorporating the conflicts of East Egg vs. West Egg and one-time money vs. new money. What does the American dream mean to Gatsby? What did the American Dream hateful to Fitzgerald? How does morality fit into achieving the American dream?

This prompt allows you to consider pretty broadly the novel'southward mental attitude toward the American Dream, with emphasis on "sobering and fifty-fifty ominous" commentary. Notation that Fitzgerald seems to be specifically mocking the stereotypical rags to riches story here—;especially since he draws the Dan Cody narrative almost note for annotation from the piece of work of someone similar Horatio Alger, whose books were about universally near rich men schooling young, entrepreneurial boys in the means of the globe. In other words, you should hash out how the Great Gatsby seems to plough the idea of the American Dream as described in the quote on its head: Gatsby does achieve a rags-to-riches rise, merely it doesn't last.

All of Gatsby's hard work for Dan Cody, after all, didn't pay off since he lost the inheritance. And then instead, Gatsby turned to law-breaking subsequently the war to apace gain a ton of money. Especially since Gatsby finally achieves his great wealth through dubious means, the novel further undermines the classic image of someone working hard and honestly to go from rags to riches.

If yous're addressing this prompt or a similar ane, brand certain to focus on the darker aspects of the American Dream, including the night conclusion to the novel and Daisy and Tom's protection from any real consequences. (This would also permit y'all to considering morality, and how morally bankrupt the characters are.)

#6: What is the current state of the American Dream?

This is a more outward-looking prompt, that allows you to consider current events today to either be generally optimistic (the American dream is alive and well) or pessimistic (it's as dead as it is in The Slap-up Gatsby).

You have dozens of potential current events to utilise every bit evidence for either statement, only consider especially immigration and immigration reform, mass incarceration, income inequality, education, and health care in America as good potential examples to use as you argue near the current land of the American Dream. Your writing will exist especially powerful if you can point to some specific current events to support your argument.

What's Adjacent?

In this mail service, nosotros discussed how important money is to the novel'south version of the American Dream. You can read even more about money and materialism in The Dandy Gatsby right here.

Desire to indulge in a footling materialism of your own? Accept a await through these 15 must-have items for whatever Peachy Gatsby fan.

Become complete guides to Jay Gatsby, George Wilson and Myrtle Wilson to go fifty-fifty more background on the "dreamers" in the novel.

Like nosotros discussed in a higher place, the green light is often seen as a stand up-in for the idea of the American Dream. Read more almost this crucial symbol here.

Demand assistance getting to grips with other literary works? Take a spin through our analyses of The Crucible, The Cask of Amontillado, and "Practise non go gentle into this good night" to see analysis in action. You might also find our explanations of betoken of view, rhetorical devices, imagery, and literary elements and devices helpful.

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About the Writer

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English language Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to college education.

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