Both The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath do a great job showing peoples desires for the American Dream and the prevalence of failure rather than success that came from their efforts. The Great Gatsby tells about a time in American history where a good portion of America wants to find happiness in wealth to forget about WW1. Gatsby doesn’t care about everyone that goes to his parties. Gatsby only throws parties so he can meet his love, Daisy. Daisy’s dependence on men with wealth and status, and Gatsby’s attempts at gaining it illustrate America’s belief that money and extravagance are the easiest means of finding success and happiness.
This statement from page 149 illustrates Gatsby’s belief that his only means of captivating Daisy would be through deception. “He might have despised himself, for he had certainly taken her in under false pretenses. I don’t mean that he had traded on his phantom millions, but he had deliberately given Daisy a sense of security; he let her believe he was a person from much the same stratum as herself that he was fully able to take care of her. As a matter of fact, he had no such facilities he had no comfortable family standing behind him, and he was liable at the whim of an impersonal government to blown anywhere about the world (p. 49, paragraph 2).
” The American dream depicted from The Grapes of wrath is very different from The Great Gatsby. In The Grapes of Wrath, people only wanted to stay alive. The rich people in this book are very selfish because they want to keep their power, and this quote shows that poor people are more generous than rich people “If you’re in trouble or hurt or need—go to poor people. They’re the only ones that’ll help—the only ones. ” Ma Joad, p. 394. So the American dream in GoW for poor people is to get out of poverty and have a decent life for their selves and their family.
The Essay on Great Gatsby Analysis Of The American Dream
The Great Gatsby is a novel that illustrates the society in the 1920's and the associated beliefs, values and dreams of the American population at that time. These beliefs, values and dreams can be summed up be what is termed the "American Dream"; a dream of money, wealth, prosperity and the happiness that supposedly came with the booming economy and get-rich-quick schemes that formed the ...
The most important factor in order to achieve the American Dream in GoW is to stick together and fend for each other. “Then I’ll be all around in the dark – I’ll be ever’where—wherever you look. Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there… I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad an’—I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry and they know supper’s ready. An’ when our folk eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build—why, I’ll be there. ” Tom Joad, p. 439.
