The American Dream is said too idealized
and has been shattered long ago. The American Dream be mentioned is if people
work hard, then they would achieve what they want. It means this American Dream
can drive people to try their best and achieve something. However, they cannot achieve
everything.
In The Great Gatsby, many people in west egg
work hard every day. Some of them
succeeded and got a lot of wealth, but they somehow feel empty. Every weekend,
they participate in Gatsby’s party, which full of alcohol and carnival. It is
strange because If they achieved what they really want, they would not need
alcohol and carnival to make them happy. In fact, they have not achieved their
American Dream. They gave everything to work, but in the end, they chose to
drink alcohol to anesthetize themselves. It is ironic because they have not
achieved what they really want and pretend they got it.
Gatsby achieved wealth after several
years of hard work. However, his American Dream is obtaining Daisy. He did lots
of things for achieving this dream, such as attended war, made his business
successful, and cost several years to build a castle for attracting Daisy. He
wants to use his wealth, which is got by his hard-working,
to change Daisy’s mind. He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go
to Tom and say: “I never loved you.” (6.117)
He wanted to refresh Daisy’s thought of her
husband like applying a new layer of paint to the walls even she has married
Tom several years. It is absurd and unrealistic because the relationship could
not be disappeared by his money. “Can’t repeat the past?” he cried
incredulously. “Why of course you can!” (6.117) He thinks that he can use his
achievement which from his hard-working
to buy the past time and repeat it
because the American Dream told him that he can achieve whatever he wants after
he worked hard. However, it obviously
cannot change the time by money.
These two cases reflect the American Dream
cannot be achieved indirectly. Gatsby believed American Dream and implemented
it, but he eventually cannot get Daisy. It shows that American Dream is just a
lie, and Gatsby is one of the victims of
American Dream. On the other hand, Tom gets
Daisy easily, who has lots of wealth when he was born. This further proves that
the American Dream is false. As a result, Gatsby’s American Dream is empty because
whatever he wants to get and change is impossible. It also shows that the
American dream has been destroyed.
Not only in the novel, the process of
Gatsby wants to get Daisy and Tom got Daisy can present the American Dream is
not true. But also, this false is reflected in the current society.
Furthermore, this unequal problem originated from the American Dream is also
divided into more parts, such as gender and ethnicity discrimination. And
American Dream is also more like a lie than before.
Reference:
1.
“Daisy Buchanan from The Great Gatsby.” DeviantArt,
lap12.deviantart.com/art/Daisy-Buchanan-from-The-Great-Gatsby-374022766.
2.
Fitzgerald, F.Scott. The
Great Gatsby. Penguin Books, 1950.
PART 3-- ALEX WAS HERE
ReplyDeleteHi Jason. this is hank.I'll give you some advice on the second part. First of all, you make it clear in the first paragraph that your idea of the American dream is unattainable. And you chose Gatsby and Daisy as your argument. But in the second paragraph, you mention the Gatsby party and the irony. I think you should explain how Gatsby's party showed irony. Throughout the second paragraph, you've been telling us about this point, but it's never explained why, so it's hard for me to understand.
ReplyDeleteIn the third paragraph, you mention of Gatsby's American dream. You mentioned Daisy as the American dream in Gatsby's mind. This is a good start, but you spend a lot of time summing up the plot in the novel, and the whole paragraph is almost a description of how Gatsby wants to change Daisy's mind and lacks a connection to the American dream.
At the end of the part 2, you didn't answer the question as required by handout. Whether society needs to change or the individual needs to change.
In conclusion , your views on the American Dream are very clear, but your example lacks relevance to your point of view.There are too much summary in your part 2.
Hi, Jason. Here are my comments to your part 2. Firstly, in my view, American Dream means equal opportunities for pursuing better life. Actually, according to your paragraph 2, those guys do become wealthy and I think drinking and joining parties are common entertainments. The proof is not strong enough, because it's common for successful people to entertain like them. Besides, these guests cannot represent the American Dream as old money.
ReplyDeleteThere are too much summary in the following paragraph. I think it will be better to combine the 3rd and the 4th paragraphs and reduce the summary. More analysis is also needed.
In the 5th paragraph, you make a comparison between Gatsby and Tom. But the analysis is too simple. In my opinion, you can probe into the difference between their classes here, and compare the fact and what is promised by the American Dream. Here is also better to mention the idealization of American Dream in your thesis."empty" and "destroyed" cannont be explained well.
Last but not least, some grammar mistakes in you part 2 need to be corrected.
By Leo