Great Gatsby and Changes with the American Dream

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The Great Gatsby and Changes with the American Dream
The American Dream refers to set national ethos. This dream changes from time to time with every decade having a different view of the same. The changes in the American dream makes it important to constantly keep track of the same as it tells about Americans more than anything else would do. A bigger part of the 20th century, unlike the dream as posted above, The American dream has nearly been vague, the dream measures what the citizens lack rather than what they realize or achieve. Great Gatsby and Citizen Kane, are characters that depict the emptiness of the American dream. With the dream resulting to isolation and disillusionment. The two characters show the difference between achievement and pursuit which can prove to be a matter of life and death. True dreamers do not mistake evidence of obtaining the dream with the beauty of the dream’s pursuit (Bloom and Blake 19).
The American dream plays the role of driving the society as well as motivating individuals in the society. However, a question looms on the existence of the American dream. The history of the American Dream runs back to the year 1931. This was the first text defining The American Dream done by in Epic of America by James Truslow Adams. The history of the American Dream encompasses rights, liberty, democracy, opportunity, and equality. Through Adam’s work, he teaches of a society that gives freedom an opportunity for people to move towards success as well as prosperity.

The Setting of The Great Gatsby as well as its characters reflect the American society. Through Jay Gatsby, a character in Scott’s work, the American Dream has been morphed into mere words; the dream is now an unachievable or impossible fiction which not only destroys people but also corrupts the society as well as threatens its existence. The two characters Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby depict how a dream can burn those who hang on it or hold it too closely. Unlike as the dream stated in Adam’s work where the American dream gave freedom and an opportunity for individuals to progress towards prosperity and success, the dream is now marred with corruption, selfishness, carelessness, and immorality. Through the novel, the quest for wealth, immorality, and carelessness lead to unhappiness or even death. Gatsby is a character who holds the uncorrupted form of the American dream so close to himself. However, Gatsby fares and gets along no better than those who pursue the corrupted dream. In the novel, Charles Foster, a characters in Citizen Kane pursues the corrupted version of the dream with much insensitivity and carelessness. Daisy is to meet Gatsby five years after separation in pursuit of Gatsby’s dream. However Gatsby can hardly go through the meeting, telling Nick, “who helped arrange the meeting for him, “This is a terrible mistake,” he said, shaking his head from side to side, “a terrible, terrible mistake” (p. 192). In the novel pursuing the American dream has resulted to havoc with characters learning of the surprising and unpleasant results of pursuing the American Dream. In the novel, Tom almost loses Daisy; George kills himself and Myrtle dies. The American dream motivates and at the same time wreaks destruction.
Fitzgerald envisioned that the result of great effort and achievement could be loneliness, disillusionment, and even death. In his work, a character by the name Tom can hardly reach his American dream of happiness. Tom has an enormous wealth which he has amassed through exploiting others. Tom in the book is a key figure and a product of corruption of the American dream. Driven by the belief that enormous wealth can bring happiness, Tom lands in a ditch. Despite having a huge imposing mansion, beautiful wife, polo ponies and vivacious mistress Tom is miserable. Tom spreads his being unhappy by being abusive, supercilious, bigoted and callous. His wife is unhappy as Tom has an open affair with Myrtle a married woman. Tom’s wife is disillusioned despite having a rich husband. Tom does not recognize the existence of his daughter; he rarely provides her with love, attention, affection or guidance she so much needs to flourish. Tom’s daughter misses out on the goals of the American dream as she is deprived off loving parents and a happy family. Myrtle tolerates Tom with the thought that his money and position will make her happy she ends up lonelier despite the achievement. Gatsby intends to steal Tom’s wife- Daisy, Tom immediately swings into action on realizing Gatsby’s intention. Tom goes to confront Gatsby; he tells Nick Callaway, Daisy’s cousin, and Jordan that Gatsby never went to Oxford implying that he is not who he seemed to be. While on the way he realizes George intends to take Myrtle out west he is unhappy with the thought that he is losing both his wife and his lover. Tom discredits Gatsby in Daisy’s presence which makes Daisy give up the idea of leaving Tom for him (Fitzgerald 33). Tom also misleads George to thinking Gatsby has an affair with Myrtle; George shoots Gatsby then shoots himself. Despite their pursuit of happiness, they ended up dead. Myrtle dreams of wealth status and possession this, however, leads to her early demise. After leaving her dumb, poor and lifeless husband, George, and marries fabulously wealthy Tom she now feels superior. She treats workers below her as her inferiors. “I told that boy about the ice… These people! You have to keep after them all the time” (p.36). Tom mocks Myrtle and brutally breaks her nose for defying him. Myrtle having tasted the good life cannot accept George’s offer to take her west. Myrtle is finally struck and killed while running thinking he saw his lover Tom.
According to Kael et.al (p.83), Gatsby ignored the reality of an illusion in a dream, handing credence to the belief that the dream is rarely realized. Gatsby and Kane are similar and different at the same time. Both are tragic figures and are ought rightly ill fated. Gatsby and Kane are similar and different at the same time. Both are tragic figures and are ought rightly ill-fated. Gatsby is patient, graceful and sensitive while pursuing his dreams on the other side Kane is impatient, cruel, and insensitive in pursuit of his dreams. Both Kane and Gatsby use power and wealth to achieve their dreams. They both also share a dream of recapturing lost love. Gatsby aimed to recapture Daisy whom he lost during a war however he failed Kane miserably on the other hand never went close to recapturing his love. Kane dreamt of recapturing his lost youth as well as his mother’s love. Though both Gatsby and Kane shared a dream, Gatsby’s dream remained pure while Kane’s dream was corrupted in the course of pursuing it. Gatsby pursued wealth with the aim of getting back Daisy. He spends his life acquiring wealth for men who were willing to break the law. Kane wanted to love; he was destined for wealth and power; he thought he could use his power to win people’s love and be their champion. Kane built a communication empire and professed that he could use it to protect the interests of common man. Kane imposed his dream on everyone with disregard of the people’s feelings or desires. “Kane’s life was corrupted and ultimately self-destructed by a lust to fulfill the American dream of success, fame, wealth, power, and immortality” (p.1). While Kane had no capacity to love Gatsby was true. Kane cheated on Emily while Gatsby wished Daisy could love him. Gatsby and Kane hurt others as they pursued their dreams. While Kane tortured people, Gatsby accumulated wealth illegally. Gatsby capacity to love made him four words close to attaining his dream but Kane had no capacity to love hence never went close to achieving his dream (Carringer 22).
However corrupt, the modern version of the American dream is still attainable. The dream encompasses rights, liberty, democracy, opportunity, and equality. The dream gives freedom an opportunity for people to move towards success and prosperity. Further, the dream is rooted in the declaration that all men are equally created; thus life ought to be richer and fuller for every person. An opportunity should be given to all despite the social class or birth circumstances. The dream is as attainable as securing the above ingredients. The American dream is however not measurable by any tangible measures. The immeasurable nature of the American dream is due to how it relates to an inner quality of the person to whom the dream belongs to. The thought that one can measure a dream is an outright misunderstanding of the dream, further; pursuing the measurability of a dream is a deviation from the true pursuit of the same. The American dream is an illusion that can only be envisioned, but the dream cannot be grasped, neither can it be measured. The belief that the dream has been morphed into mere words is misleading the dream is attainable; it is rewarding and builds a society as opposed to threatening its existence (Johnson, Heather Beth 36).In conclusion, the American dream is lethal whenever an individual thinks or holds the belief that another person or object holds the beauty and satisfaction of a dream. Accumulation of wealth and power with the aim of achieving the American dream is in vain. Further, using wealth and position to earn satisfaction leaves one disillusioned and lonely. The American dream is immeasurable and can only be felt by the owner of the dream. The dream is attainable despite its current nature of being corrupt.

Work Cited
Bloom, Harold, and Blake Hobby. The American Dream. Infobase Publishing, 2009.
Carringer, Robert L. The Making of Citizen Kane. Univ of California Press, 1996.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. “The great Gatsby.” (2004).
Johnson, Heather Beth. The American dream and the power of wealth: Choosing schools and inheriting inequality in the land of opportunity. Routledge, 2014.
Kael, Pauline, Herman J. Mankiewicz, and Orson Welles. Raising Kane. Methuen, 2002.