Want to write the perfect college application essay? AFS was a file system and sharing platform that allowed users to access and distribute stored content. Furthermore, you should definitely consider the tension between the fact that Daisy represents Gatsby's ultimate goal, but at the same time (as we discussed above), her actual life is the opposite of the American Dream: she is born with money and privilege, likely dies with it all intact, and there are no consequences to how she chooses to live her life in between. If you're addressing this prompt or a similar one, make sure to focus on the darker aspects of the American Dream, including the dark conclusion to the novel and Daisy and Tom's protection from any real consequences. The country was also in the midst of an economic boom, which fueled the belief that anyone could "strike it rich" on Wall Street. But still, he finds something to admire in how Gatsby still hoped for a better life, and constantly reached out toward that brighter future. The closing pages of the novel reflect at length on the American Dream, in an attitude that seems simultaneously mournful, appreciative, and pessimistic. Nick "laughs aloud" at this moment, suggesting he thinks it's amusing that the passengers in this other car see them as equals, or even rivals to be bested. Apparently, dreams deferred are dreams doomed to fail. Most 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 discuss below, the Buchanans can also provide some interesting layers of discussion. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of Jane Eyre and what it means. 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 breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God" (6.134)) are as flimsy and flight as Daisy herself. Team vs Team Shared Devices. . You have dozens of potential current events to use as evidence for either argument, but 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 about the current state of the American Dream. In fact, as Nick goes on to describe Daisy as "High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl," he also seems to literally describe 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!). You might be wondering about George—after all, isn't he someone also dreaming of a better life? Like me, you might immediately think "of course it wasn't worth it! SAT® is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination BoardTM. Furthermore, for those in the novel not born into money, the American identity seems to be about striving to end up with more wealth and status. . provide glimpses of the dream's fulfillment for them. However, there aren't many instances of George taking his dreams of an ideal life "too far." The American Dream in The Great Gatsby. There is even a little competition at play, a "haughty rivalry" at play between Gatsby's car and the one bearing the "modish Negroes.". 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. Read the Study Guide for The Great Gatsby…, Materialism Portrayed By Cars in The Great Gatsby, View the lesson plan for The Great Gatsby…, View Wikipedia Entries for The Great Gatsby…. AFS was launched in the mid-1990s and was … The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 4+ ACT Points, How to Get a Perfect 36 ACT, by a Perfect Scorer. Perhaps because of this, they seem to directly antagonize the dream—Daisy by refusing Gatsby, and Tom by helping to drag the Wilsons into tragedy. The way they choose to live their lives, their morality (or lack thereof), and how much they dream doesn't seem to matter. But it is worth noting that certain opportunities are fleeting, and perhaps it's wiser to seek out newer and/or more attainable ones, rather than pining over a lost chance. Read more about this crucial symbol here. In short, I think the novel disrupts the idea of a unified American identity or American dream, by instead presenting a tragic, fractured, and rigid American society, one that is divided based on both geographic location and social class. However, in Chapters 7 and 8, everything comes crashing down: Daisy refuses to leave Tom, Myrtle is killed, and George breaks down and kills Gatsby and then himself, leaving all of the "strivers" dead and the old money crowd safe. Considering that Gatsby did have a chance to leave New York and distance himself from the unfolding tragedy, but Myrtle was the first to be killed, you could argue the novel presents an even bleaker view of the American Dream where women are concerned. Gatsby is an obvious choice here—his pursuit of money and status, particularly through Daisy, leads him to ruin. All of Gatsby's hard work for Dan Cody, after all, didn't pay off since he lost the inheritance. In other words, you should discuss how the Great Gatsby seems to turn the idea of the American Dream as described in the quote on its head: Gatsby does achieve a rags-to-riches rise, but it doesn't last. So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning fork that had been struck upon a star. What SAT Target Score Should You Be Aiming For? You can read a detailed analysis of these last lines in our summary of the novel's ending. Many people also incorporate Daisy into their analyses as the physical representation of Gatsby's dream. . Great nations of Europe have fought their bloodiest wars. He locks her upstairs in their house, determined to move out west once he gets the money from the car sale he's waiting on from Tom. Again, Daisy seems to typify the "anti-American" dream, in that she was born into a kind of aristocracy and simply has to maintain her position, not fight for something better. 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 Great Gatsby). Chapter 1 places us in a particular year—1922—and gives us some background about WWI. Copyright © 1999 - 2021 GradeSaver LLC. This moment explicitly ties Daisy to all of Gatsby's larger dreams for a better life—to his American Dream. #6: What is the current state of the American Dream? For character analysis that incorporates the American Dream, carefully consider your chosen character's motivations and desires, and how the novel does (or doesn't!) This moment has all the classic elements of the American Dream—economic possibility, racial and religious diversity, a carefree attitude. So while the women all push the boundaries of society's expectations of them in certain ways, they either fall in line or are killed, which definitely undermines the rosy of idea that anyone, regardless of gender, can make it in America. He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. Get professional help from PrepScholar. The novel is also famous as a description of the "Jazz Age," a phrase which Fitzgerald himself coined. Discuss this theme, incorporating the conflicts of East Egg vs. West Egg and old money vs. new money. In contrast, Myrtle, aside from Gatsby, seems to be the most ambitiously in pursuit of getting more than she was given in life. Myrtle would be another good choice for this type of prompt. Gender Roles (page 6) (example 1) “Ladies bathed before noon, after their three o’clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.” (Women stayed home, took naps in the afternoon, then got dressed up to greet their husbands coming home from work.) In fact, it seems Jay lived several lives in the space of just half a normal lifespan. Both are disempowered due to the lack of money at their own disposal—Myrtle certainly has access to some of the "finer things" through Tom but has to deal with his abuse, while George is unable to leave his current life and move West since he doesn't have the funds available. So this, in turn, means that the American Dream itself is just a fantasy, a concept too flimsy to actually hold weight, especially in the fast-paced, dog-eat-dog world of 1920s America. General. A Comprehensive Guide. How can you apply this lesson to your own life? What is their relationship to the American Dream? Team mode. Despite everything he owns, including fantastic amounts of money and an over-the-top mansion, for Gatsby, Daisy is the ultimate status symbol. After all, if the characters who dream end up dead, and the ones who were born into life with money and privilege get to keep it without consequence, is there any room at all for the idea that less-privileged people can work their way up? See how other students and parents are navigating high school, college, and the college admissions process. Instead, she stays with Tom Buchanan, despite her feelings for Gatsby. The Great Gatsby is typically considered F. Scott Fitzgerald's greatest novel. This observation suggests an American identity that is determined by birthplace, and that within the American identity there are smaller, inescapable points of identification. This is relevant, since the 1920s is presented as a time of hollow decadence among the wealthy, as evidenced especially by the parties in Chapters 2 and 3. That was it. . At his lips' touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete. This is relevant, since the 1920s is presented as a time of hollow decadence among the wealthy, as evidenced especially by the parties in Chapters 2 and 3. As 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 suddenly. So if you want to make the more obvious "the dream wasn't worth it" argument, you could point to the unraveling that happens at the end of the novel (including the deaths of Myrtle, Gatsby and George) and how all Gatsby's achievements are for nothing, as evidenced by the sparse attendance of his funeral. Our team of PrepScholar admissions experts have compiled their knowledge into this single guide to planning out your high school course schedule. In this section we analyze some of the most important quotes that relate to the American Dream in the book. High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl. Gatsby's life is largely based on illusion and perhaps even delusion: Though he claims to descend from a prominent Midwestern family, when Nick asks him which Midwestern city he comes from, Gatsby hesitates, then says "San Francisco." How does morality fit into achieving the American dream? Gatsby does attempt the hard work approach, through his years of service to Dan Cody, but that doesn't work out since Cody's ex-wife ends up with the entire inheritance. (4.55-8). So in Chapter 5, when Daisy and Gatsby reunite and begin an affair, it seems like Gatsby could, in fact, achieve his goal. This famous image of the green light is often understood as part of The Great Gatsby's meditation on The American Dream—the idea that people are always reaching towards something greater than themselves that is just out of reach. The Question and Answer section for The Great Gatsby is a great In our first glimpse of Jay Gatsby, we see him reaching towards something far off, something in sight but definitely out of reach. Chapter 1 places us in a particular year—1922—and gives us some background about WWI. "Prohibition" made millionaires out of bootleggers like Gatsby and owners of underground salons, called "speakeasies." Although, of course, Fitzgerald could have no way of foreseeing the stock market crash of 1929, the world he presents in The Great Gatsby seems clearly to be headed for disaster. Gatsby himself is obviously the best candidate for writing about the American Dream—he comes from humble roots (he's the son of poor farmers from North Dakota) and rises to be notoriously wealthy, only for everything to slip away from him in the end. So instead he turns to crime, and only then does he manage to achieve his desired wealth. How does it change from when she is at the garage to in New York? America in the 1920s marked a time of great post-war economic growth, and Fitzgerald captures the frenzy of the society well. Download it for free now: hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(360031, '688715d6-bf92-47d7-8526-4c53d1f5fe7d', {}); hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(360031, '03a85984-6dfd-4a19-93c8-5f46091f5e2b', {}); 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 Literature at Columbia. Gender roles in society. Write a thematic statement for your assigned chapter (Chapter 4). It has since become a staple of the canon of American literature, and is taught at many high schools and universities across the country and the world. I can give you a general coment. It also presumes a myth of class equality, when the reality is America has a pretty well-developed class hierarchy. She did that by marrying Tom, and it's understandable why she wouldn't risk the uncertainty and loss of status that would come through divorce and marriage to a bootlegger. The expectation placed on her, as a wealthy woman, was never to pursue something greater, but simply to maintain her status. Lobby music. Player vs Player 1:1 Devices. After all, how unfair is it that the couple working to improve their position in society (George and Myrtle) both end up dead, while Tom, who dragged Myrtle into an increasingly dangerous situation, and Daisy, who killed her, don't face any consequences? Check out our top-rated graduate blogs here: © PrepScholar 2013-2018. (6.134). I'd never understood before. Then, provide one quote to back up your thematic statement and explain Fitzgerald’s purpose in developing this theme. Fitzgerald glamorizes the noveau riche of this period to a certain extent in his Jazz Age novel. (7.105-6). The American Dream certainly is not alive and well for the poor Wilsons. But I didn't call to him for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone--he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling. . How does Fitzgerald examine this issue of deferred dreams? Early in the novel, we get this mostly optimistic illustration of the American Dream—we see people of different races and nationalities racing towards NYC, a city of unfathomable possibility. In short, to argue that Gatsby's dream was worth it, you should point to his larger-than-life conception of himself and the fact that he could have only sought happiness through striving for something greater than himself, even if that ended up being deadly in the end. Get the latest articles and test prep tips! "The Great Gatsby Study Guide". You could also look 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 go West, and is instead mired in the Valley of Ashes, while Myrtle's attempt to achieve her dream after 12 years of marriage through an affair ends in tragedy. Ask questions; get answers. Ross, Jeremy. And of course, since her end game also seems to be marriage, she doesn't push the boundaries of women's roles as far as she might wish. Randomize order of answers. Gatsby lost everything, not to mention the Wilsons got caught up in the tragedy and ended up dead!" But what about the other major characters, especially the ones born with money? As we crossed Blackwell's Island a limousine passed us, driven by a white chauffeur, in which sat three modish Negroes, two bucks and a girl. But Daisy, of course, is only human—flawed, flighty, and ultimately unable to embody the huge fantasy Gatsby projects onto her. It also ties back to our first glimpse of Gatsby, reaching out over the water towards the Buchanan's green light. ...as 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. First of all, consider Jay's unique characterization in the story: "He was a son of God--a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that--and he must be about His Father's Business, the service of a vast, vulgar and meretricious beauty" (6.7). In terms of what the novel says about American identity, there are a few threads you could pick up—one is Nick's comment in Chapter 9 about the novel really being a story about (mid)westerners trying (and failing) to go East: "I see 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 we possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly unadaptable to Eastern life" (9.125). Thus, the novel ends with Nick's sad meditation on the lost promise of the American Dream. At this moment, it does feel like "anything can happen," even a happy ending. But consider the fact that Daisy was already born into the highest level of American society. In a perfect world, this would be true; however, there are countless examples of lawsuits that determined that a person was passed over for a job because of their race, gender, or economic status. Find out more about PrepScholar Admissions now: hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(360031, 'f20994d3-fd87-4c1e-988d-22ad8d920c1a', {}); #3: Explain how the novel does or does not demonstrate the death of the American Dream. If you're thinking about "deferred dreams" in The Great Gatsby, the big one is obviously Gatsby's deferred dream for Daisy—nearly five years pass between his initial infatuation and his attempt in the novel to win her back, an attempt that obviously backfires. He even has to make himself servile to Tom in an attempt to get Tom to sell his car, a fact that could even cause him to overlook the evidence of his wife's affair. To find a quotation we cite via chapter and paragraph in your book, you can either eyeball it (Paragraph 1-50: beginning of chapter; 50-100: middle of chapter; 100-on: end of chapter), or use the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text. Its vanished trees, the trees 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 man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder. The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points, How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer, Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? 8 For our own country, it has been a time of recurring trial. All rights reserved. How to use graphic organizers to help explain and organize There were many points when perhaps Gatsby ;could have been happy with what he achieved (especially 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) but instead he kept striving upward, which ultimately lead to his downfall.