“The city that was once thriving with middle-wage earning blue-collar workers is now home to frightening statistics on homeless, joblessness, and poverty.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kim-carter/the-failed-american-dream_b_1154832.html
If you don’t feel like reading this article, it’s basically about San Bernardino (a Southern California city) who was ‘living the American dream,’ and unconsciously gloating with success, but now is currently second in poverty next to Detroit (as of 2011). 34.6% of the city’s residents (about 72,000 people) fall below the poverty line. Or perhaps you already knew this because we all picked the same article since it was the first to show in results.
Anyway,
We’ve already mentioned in class how the American Dream is to reach some point of success through hard work; and the only way this is possible is because we have “equality” in the United States. Well from the beginning of The Great Gatsby, the first things Nick speaks of is how his father said (and now what he says) everyone isn’t born with the same opportunities. Really to me, this is like a thesis statement to the whole book. To my understanding, he’s basically implying that the American Dream is dead/dying; and then the rest of the story is his proof.
It’s a kind of weird proof though because while usually one would want to be supported with straight-forward evidence, everything in this book is a symbol for the reflection of American society in the 1920s…or should I say just Gatsby.
{Spoiler Alert} If you’ve read to at least chapter 7, it appears that Gatsby’s dream is officially dead. Once in poverty, now filthy rich, Gatsby has mixed his feeling for daisy and his lust for wealth; they’re basically one is his mind. Since daisy has rejected him, it’s evident that his dream was only for materialism and not love, but of course he’s going to be in denial (chapter 8) and try to keep it alive. This shows how the American dream has lost its goal of happiness, and deteriorated to just the interest of greed & money.
Wow, i agree mostly Zainab except that Gatsby lusts for wealth. i feel that that was a part of his rights of passage to life if he wants to be rich and wealthy so be it. i also feel that he is one of the few charters in the book that don't always use their money for negative influence, though you do have to question his motive of means of getting the money and why is relationship with others (esp. his family) is so strained
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