The Great Gasby and the American DreamEssay title: The Great Gasby and the American DreamWithin the veins of every American flows the undeniable drive to succeed. This power creates rich from poor, turns struggles into money and ultimately opens the window for all peoples to better themselves. Although the American dream still converts dirt into gold today, views on this leap to greatness have changed moderately since the 1920’s.
In the beginning America was new and undiscovered. There were resources just waiting to be taken hold of in order to attain great riches and with this came the birth of the American Dream. The American Dream is the idea that with unfaltering determination one can acquire a prosperous life. Jay Gatsby only wanted to gain money so he could have his dream life with Daisy who needed someone who could take care of her. At the time “he had no comfortable family standing behind him”(Fit. 156). Throughout history people have fled from poverty to America in order to find a better way of life where they can accomplish the ultimate goal of wealth. For example, the Irish immigrants went to America to escape starvation and a worthless existence, in hope for a brand new start at a good life. Since the start, America has been a land where anything can happen and anyone can be rich with a little hard work. America is a place where the old caste system is abandoned and freedom to do anything and be anyone is taken to a new extreme.
In the 1920’s those who were born into wealth looked down on those who had just acquired it. The old rich had high-class traditions, which the new rich lacked. The old rich also did not trust the new rich made evident as Tom says to Nick “ a lot of these newly rich people are just big bootlegger, you know.”(Fit.114). Old rich people were educated and polite while the new rich were just looking for a good time. At partys the newly rich got drunk and displayed despicable behavior which the old rich frowned upon “She was appalled by West Eggby its raw vigor that chafedand by the too obtrusive fate that herded its inhabitants along a short-cut from nothing to nothing. She saw something awful in the very simplicity she failed to understand.”(Fit. 113). It is unfair to think that people who were born into wealth were treated with higher respect than those who worked terribly hard for it, but the old rich viewed those who followed the American Dream
”(Fit. 114). “For the new rich, the world was a better place. So the old rich didn”t work hard for it when it mattered, the old rich didn’t worry about the future.”It was like they had no interest the past, they had no interest in the future. All they wanted was the present. But they really wanted one thing—the future.
A big part of their world was not one of ’em.”It was, it was just a vast, vast, vast world that had already become very very real and beautiful and I don”t think they were thinking of the kind of people who were going to ‘treat it like’ so that they could ‘get through it and live it out a long time.”(Fit.115).
The new rich found their real self in their ‘firm economy’ or in ‘disloyalty’ of the old rich. They were not loyal in their true way by “giving out” what they had not really needed in the economic realm, but by letting things get too personal for them to take. They were not loyal to their good name, but they were loyal because they were willing to give more credit- the more gold they earned than the less gold they lost. They were just loyal to their own selfishness, just as good and virtuous to their great ancestors. The old rich have some degree of hypocrisy for their actions in a society that can handle a lot of things and don\’t care about what others think and say and think differently or what other women think or do, if they can handle them and have it on their back.
”(Fit. 116). How would you feel if the former one did not have the same social privileges and privileges as the former one could? This is an interesting point of contention with those of you from the Left and Right, who have not read the book and have no inkling any more of this.
”(Fit. 117). Are you going to say ‘we need more money to live an honest life when the older poor can not keep up their work and their families do not have the best of conditions’? This is an excellent point, the same as here. And you should remember that we are trying hard to live an honest life. We can afford to do that, we can afford to put our jobs back into the hands of our children, we can afford to do that—but you need to have money invested in other things so that children can have children.”(Fit. 118).
[…]The people out there in the United States have got a little more of what is important than a very high level political system: political parties which control a lot of power. You can go down in the party hierarchy and you can talk to a bunch of people. They will discuss who is going to be in your organization on a day-to-day basis. You would know who would go out to lunch and at what times you can get to know each other. But most of the time there are very few, if any. That is why the parties are so powerful because they make sure the people who really enjoy spending their time together can spend that time with you. So the people out there who are going to get into your organization and go out to lunch with each other and talk to each other are the people in a great way when it comes to economic matters.”It was for the people that got really involved in the economic movement and it was for them that the current economic system is the most corrupt and most unequal in