The American Dream in The Great Gatsby and The...

One of the greatest classic novels in American history, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, lends itself to be an indispensible literary work that reinforces and challenges the core values and ideals that Benjamin Franklin expresses in his Autobiography. In the provided passage, the young Franklin arrives in Philadelphia in hopes of becoming a new self-made man and begins his journey with little money and few resources much like Gatsby. After arriving by boat, he tries to pay the people of the boat for his voyage but his payment is initially refused because he rowed the boat in order to get to Philadelphia. Franklin insists that they take his payment and says â€Å"A man is sometimes more generous when he has but a little money than when†¦show more content†¦The hero of The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby, also pursues the American Dream of becoming a self-made man like Franklin and models his actions after Franklin. Although Gatsby emulates Franklin’s attention to money, Gatsby ultimately fails in fulfilling his American Dream because his expectations can never satisfy his desires and the society he aspires to join is selfish. Jay Gatsby and Benjamin Franklin share the view that one’s affluence and one’s display of it are the measures of one’s success in achieving his goal. If one truly has the money required to be affluent, there will be no need to display that wealth because others will inherently know that one is rich. In fear of being thought to be poor, Gatsby and Franklin both try to exhibit whatever amount of money they may have even if they do not posses the wealth they truly desire. Franklin searches for items of monetary value in order to accumulate the resources necessary to make a reputation for his name, while Gatsby seeks to acquire the â€Å"old wealth† of East Egg in order to win the heart of his loved one, Daisy. The description of Gatsby’s personal library reveals that he only throws elaborate parties in order to prove to Daisy that he has acquired the money necessary to support a relationship with her, when in reality he can never achieve that status. D uring Nick’s first visit to Gatsby’s mansion for one of his lavish parties,Show MoreRelatedF. Scott Fitzgerald s The Great Gatsby 1303 Words   |  6 Pages Gatsby’s Great American Dream The American Dream in simple terms is the essence of Americanism; it is the belief that social mobility, prosperity, and financial success are attainable by hard work regardless of social class and nationality. The American Dream exemplifies what every immigrant imagines as they walk through Ellis Island or cross the border from Mexico. It is the ethos of America, the defining image of the average upper-middle class family man. This idea of prosperity begins asRead More Death of a Dream in Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby Essay1480 Words   |  6 PagesGatsby and the Death of a Dream      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald creates the roaring twenties by showing the division of society.   The Buchanans live on one side, East Egg, and Jay Gatsby lives on the other side, West Egg.   The Buchanans belong to the socialites, yet their lives have no meaning.   Gatsby tries to chase the American Dream, yet his idea is tarnished.   He throws parties to try and fit in with the socialites.  Ã‚   Gatsbys pursuit of the American Dream is doomed because he triesRead MoreThe American Dream Through Literature1496 Words   |  6 Pagesof the American Dream. That is, that any person regardless of circumstances of birth can become successful through hard work and persistence, regardless of where they came from. 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He acts in a manner of obliviousness when many of the people whom he associates with mock him, such as when and an unnamed woman in Gatsby’s house in Chapter VI gives an insincere invitation for Gatsby to come to dinner and, after Gatsby naively accepts the invitation, Tom ridicules him by asking Nick, â€Å"Doesn’t he know she doesn’tRead MoreBrief Survey of American Literature3339 Words   |  14 PagesBrief Survey of American Literature 1. Beginnings to 1700 Great mixing of peoples from the whole Atlantic basin Bloody conflicts between Native Americans (or American Indians) and European explorers and settlers who had both religious and territorial aspirations - Native American oral literature / oral tradition - European explorers’ letters, diaries, reports, etc., such as Christopher Columbus’s letters about his voyage to the â€Å"New world†. - Anglo (New England) settlers’ books, sermons