The American Dream in the Great Gatsby
In Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby a few ideas are expressed throughout the story. The story
took place during the roaring 20's. During this time certain things were desired by people. Most people
wanted to live the American Dream. People would do anything back then just so they could have
enough money to live this so called American Dream. In fact people nowadays still do crazy things just so
they can have an opportunity of living the American Dream. The American Dream is a great thing to get
and achieve but in order to get to this one may need to get their hands dirty just because of the desire
of “The Dream”. The American Dream is when someone starts from a low economic or social level, and
works hard towards prosperity and or wealth and fame. Part of this dream is that people, no matter who
they are, can become successful in life by his or her own work. The desire to strive for what one wants
can be accomplished if they work hard enough. The dream is represented by the ideas of a self-sufficient
man or woman, who works hard to achieve a goal to become successful. The Great Gatsby is a novel
that shows what happened to the American Dream in the 1920’s, which is a time period when the
dreams became corrupted for many reasons. The American dream not only causes corruption but has
caused destruction. Myrtle, Gatsby and Daisy have all been corrupted and destroyed by the dream.
Myrtle is an example of corruption in the novel. This decision harms her marriage with George,
which leads to her death and loss of true happiness. Myrtle has the hope and desire for a perfect,
wealthy and famous type life. She enjoys reading gossip magazines which represent her hope for the
life of “the rich and famous”. This shows how the one reason she wants to be with Tom, is because he
represents the life of “the rich and famous”. When Myrtle first got married to George Wilson, she
thought that she was crazy about him and thought that they were happy being together. Myrtle says,
“The only crazy was when I married him. I knew right away I made a mistake. He borrowed somebody’s
best suit to get married in, and never told me about it, and the man came after it one say when he was
out…” This example here shows that the only thing Myrtle really cares about is money and material
Commented [L1]: This could be more creative, but it’s ok.
Commented [L2]: Boring. Where’s the hook? Look at the essay
template for the intro.
Also, the first time you refer to an author, you use his whole name.
Commented [L3]: Your intro is too long with too many
sentences saying mostly the same thing. Revise, clarify, look at the
template for help.
Commented [L4]: You have two sentences that almost make a
thesis here. REvise
things. She was more cautious about the suit than George himself. Myrtle is not rich but actually
considered lower-class and one of the reasons she has an affair with Tom is the same reason Daisy is
with Tom. They want Tom’s sta...
