Skip to Main Content

Literature11 The Great Gatsby: American Dream

What was "The American Dream"

"American literature is frequently interpreted in terms of its position on the American Dream, with The Great Gatsby sometimes said to depict its wholesale failure, largely embodied in the character of Jay Gatsby. His aspirations include economic success, which is certainly achieved, and his humble origins demonstrate that there is equality of opportunity in America. However, Gatsby never gains social acceptance among the established wealthy class and his means of gaining wealth is neither hard work nor good fortune in the usual senses. Moreover, success defined in terms of the ‘pursuit of happiness’ is less secure, since the relationship with Daisy is only temporarily and partially restored." 

Source: Cross.ref-it.info https://crossref-it.info/textguide/the-great-gatsby/34/2396

In 1931, the term ‘American Dream’ was coined and defined by historian James Truslow Adams, in The Epic of America, as:

… that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognised by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.

Websites

URBANISATION AND MODERNITY

This guide looks at Population and migration, locations, technological progress, telephones, cars, cameras & movies and the stock market.

It is available via a Destiny Catalogue search.

THE AMERICAN DREAM 

This guide looks at The "Myth" of America, immigration, the pioneer mentality, sudden riches, the "Land of the Free", safety for the persecuted, the "dream' develops, corrupt ideals.

The guide, crossref-it.info can be found on Destiny Catalogue.