George part3

    I very agree wade definition of the American dream is freedom, rights, equality of opportunity and wealth. American Dream represents America's aspiration and more rich life. this man very good understanding of the documentary, he used the "Monopoly game", this is very good example for park avenue.  we can through this example understand in a capitalist society, the poor people are getting poor, the rich people are getting rich. so in such an environment ordinary people is difficult to realize the American dream.

John part3 byJoseph

I very much agree with Joseph's point of view, now the American dream is not the original American dream. The American dream now exists only in deceit and dishonesty. Most of the money in the United States is in the hands of just one per cent. Like the novel Daisy and Jordan, like the temptation to indulge in money. Even at the expense of love for the money and choose betrayal. Even Gatsby in the novel uses some dirty, unlawful means to get money. So I think Joseph's point is right.

part 1 John

The American dream was originally to express this freedom, democracy and power. But I think the American dream is not true now, and now there are many people willing to use deception in order to get more money to get. In the film, it is expressed that fifty-five percent of the economy in the United States is held by one percent of the wealthy, and only forty-five percent of the economy is in the remaining percent Ninety-nine people in the hands. So there have been rich and poor areas. In the novel, Daisy married Tom for money and then fell in love with Gatsby after Gatsby had money, but in the end she had framed Gatsby. From these two points can be seen now the American dream is not realistic.

George part2

  In my opinion, I think the American dream is dishonest. because of the American dream means everyone can realize their dreams, do you want to things and more rich life, everyone is equality and freedom. but the fact is not like this, the fact is not everyone can live a rich life and realize their dreams. each person has a different star, some people has rich life when he was born and his life is some one else wants. this is many peoples American dreams, in the eyes of other people they are think this is not fair. the equality is everyone is same star rather than different star. the American dream is everyone can realize their dreams, but this is impossible things, because everyone is different star so get the chance of success is different also. and the Great Gatsby give us show different people has different life. tom is a was born in a wealthy family, but the Gatsby is a was born a poor family. tom this main characters in the story is a rich man, he don't need hard work for life, his life in the eyes of other people is the American dream. he believes in basic inequalities of people based on birth. everyone want to become to tom cause of don't need hard work can get all and achieve the American dream. in the park avenue with inequality and the gap between rich and poor. all the residents in the park avenue have one half people life is very hard, and the other half is rich people. this is why the American dream just a dream, because it is very difficult to achieve and this gap is not hard work can fill.

 

Bill Part 2

  After I finished the book ‘The Great Gatsby” and the movie ‘Park Avenue: money, power and the American dream’, I found that the American dream is a lie, and it is also an illusion to encourage people who don’t belong to the upper class to work hard.

  In the book ‘The Great Gatsby”, Gatsby is a person who has the American dream which is marring daisy and Gatsby is the type of people who has the ‘New Money’. After the World War I, Gatsby became rich by working hard. But Daisy did not marry with Gatsby, because Gatsby is a dishonest person. This is most important reason that Daisy did choose Tom instead of Gatsby. She is afraid of Gatsby because he was making money by selling alcohol and having some underworld business. Tom is another character in the book and he is on the opposite side with Gatsby and he has the ‘Old Money’. The definition of American dream is the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. There is no doubt that the Gatsby’s American dream did not come true, even though Gatsby was working hard and rich enough.

  The three main words in the title of the movie are: money, power and dream. Obviously there is a connection between the three words; dream comes up with money and power. In today’s society, to step into the upper class is almost impossible for the normal person. So I think American dream is an illusion, just like the main character Gatsby who got money and power. Did he achieve his American dream that is getting married with daisy? No he didn’t. The reason why Gatsby is a dishonest person is he has a not very clean history even Gatsby didn’t want to talk about it. So that is the most important reason that I think the American dream is a lie.

Comment:

I agree with Bill, I also think the American Dream is just a lie for the optimistic people who cannot achieve their dreams. Bill said the American Dream is an illusion, because whatever Gatsby tries his best to marry Daisy, he can’t make his dream come true. He also said the definition of the American Dream is US citizens could achieve their dreams through their hard-working. After Gatsby came back from the World War I, he did some businesses and became rich, but his dream which is being with Daisy never came true. In my opinion, Gatsby owns money and powers, he is in the top class in the society, but his dream is an illusion in the reality, he can’t make his dream come true because he cannot use his money and power to change the attitudes of Daisy. Gatsby worked hard but he didn’t make his American Dream come true even when he died, being with Daisy is just his day dreaming, and it’s like the American Dream which is just an optimistic lie.

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Wade(Liu,shiliang) Part 2 The Deteriorating American Dream

The Deteriorating American Dream

 The definition of the American Dream is full of people’s imagination about a perfect life: fairness, justice, opportunity, wealth. But in my view, I believe that it is hard to be achieved.
  The American can be achieved by dishonest, but actually most of American can not be achieved by anything. The American for everyone is not same, everyone has them own American dream. The American dream of Gatsby is Daisy. Daisy is a high society woman, Gatsby is also a symbol of the pursuit of high society. Gatsby at the expense of the pursuit of this woman, this woman is the surface of vanity, inner hypocrisy, just as Fitzgerald described the American high society. Although Gatsby is obtained by unlawful means of wealth, New York's politicians and business celebrities are still frequented the Gatsby home rave party, once Gatsby in distress, Gatsby's life on the extravagant jealousy, and Daisy also betrayed him, pushed him into the dark.
 The park avenue show us a game called “Monopoly game” but it has difference the normal Monopoly game. He lets one of the players start at least twice as much as the other player. He observed that the "rich second generation", who had more fortune in their possession, won the game more easily than the other, and they quickly generated a sense of superiority in the game, the other "poor second generation" And not the slightest sympathy.This movie use just 50 minutes from the extreme point of view the rich and the poor combined with the US political system explains why in a capitalist society, the poor people are getting poor, the rich people are getting rich.

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Jiazhen(Diana) Li - A Wild Goose Chase

The Great Gatsby, a book written by Scott Fitzgerald, discusses how people view their American Dream and how they fail to achieve it, and Jay Gatsby, the protagonist, is just one of those who get lost in the vast fantasy. His American Dream consists of two parts, money and, ultimately and more importantly, Daisy, and he tries very hard to make his dream come true. Gatsby is undoubtedly a practical person and he has many personalities that are vital in the process of realizing one’s dream. He works hard and puts in effort. In the book, Gatsby made a very successful reverse in terms of financial assets and business networking. He used to have absolutely no money and he wouldn’t accept his parents since they were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people; within a relatively brief time after the great war, he was able to make himself a household name in both East Egg and West Egg. He is even willing to achieve his dream through dishonest means. He was so into Daisy that he falsified himself an identity and a family background, he accumulated money by selling alcohol illegally and he broadened business connection by intensively associating with gangsters. Granted, he has great upward movement in social status, but he is always the outcast of the Old Money because they consider him lack the superior blood.

This concept of inequality is also revealed in the documentary, Park Avenue: Money, Power, and the American Dream, and the idea is put in a very interesting way. Our daily life is described as "a rigged game played for keeps", as every person entering the game gets a pre-determined amount of power, money and opportunities. Being born is like drawing a lottery, and getting inherent social status and wealth is only a matter of luck. Some people are raced behind even before birth, and it is very hard to pull themselves out the current situation, it almost never happened. What the documentary tries to prove here explains the reason why Gatsby won’t be accepted. James Gatz was primarily labelled the moment he was born as a child of a poor family, or born to be a New Money, and this denoted his impossibility to be with Daisy. Gatsby as a member of the nouveau riches, sees the power of money and believes that he stands equal chances as the Old Moneys, since they have similar financial power; whereas Daisy who comes from a prominent family has been educated and influenced by the sense of nobility and would never find equality between these two groups. They are different like chalk and cheese, and this enormous gap marks Gatsby’s incapability of falling love with Daisy. As described in the book, Daisy is literally the only thing that could bring Gatsby his desired life and would therefore be his American Dream. Although he is equipped with the right assets and right personalities, this Dream can only be an unreachable dream.

From my point of view, the American Dream is unattainable to all and has no connection to one’s personality, since it is essentially an ideology that can only exist in perfect conditions. In broad definition, the American Dream is said to guarantee every dweller of the United States a happier, richer and fuller life as long as they work hard, regardless of race, gender, background, etc. This dream has encouraged those diligent people for decades, keeping them totally soaked in their livelihood. However, in reality, the idea of the American Dream is corrupted, because the said better off can only be reached if race, gender, background, etc. are taken into no consideration, but situations in which such parameters are in no regard, or even in little regard, are not achievable at all.

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Yuan zhaoming(John) part2

I think the American dream is no longer the original American dream. Now the American dream is fundamentally dishonest, and there are many deceptions. Like Jordan in the novel, she is dishonest, and she uses deceit to make herself more profitable. For example, in the novel Jordan quietly change the ball in the game position, you can show her dishonesty and for their own interests can choose to cheat. And in the novel when Daisy received a letter from Gatsby to her, Gatsby asked Daisy to wait for him in the letter, and that he would soon be back from the front. Is that Jordan took out the necklace that Tom gave to Daisy and put the necklace on Daisy's neck so that Daisy married Tom. And in the beginning of the novel or Michael Jordan will Gatsby's name cleverly told Daisy; not only that, she went to Gatsby personally organized the party to explore Gatsby's situation, and Gatsby's desire Conveyed to Daisy. From these two things you can see Jordan's dishonesty.

Daisy in the novel for the money to abandon the Gatsby to marry Tom, but after marriage, Daisy is not happy. Daisy later discovered that Gatsby had become rich and had been with Gatsby. But Daisy found Gatsby's property after the accidentally killed Tom's lover accidentally, and then Daisy and Tom will be killed in the matter of people who blame Gatsby. This series of events map out Daisy's cold-blooded ruthless, as the money for all, a "worship the golden woman" image.

Yue Hu (Ray) Part 2-Nearly no chance for the poor in the American Dream make them dishonest in the market

    It is the American Dream which force common American like Gatsby to be dishonest. In my opinion, American Dream is more likely to be a propaganda which keep the ‘no money’ group in market and lose their money to the rich. Simultaneously, American Dream also provide much more opportunity to the rich people than the poor. Once the ‘no money’ group wanted to become the ‘new money’ group like Gatsby, it is extremely hard for them to catch the chance in market and gain the profit with normal competition. For instance, Gatsby in the movie is a man with strong desire to success; people like him in society may tried various ways to achieve the goal, obviously, doing something illegal is one much more easier way to get success. Even though Gatsby was said to be rich by trading something illegal, he is not deceitful throughout the whole book. He is kind in mind, but he need to be dishonest since he desires the money strongly. Once Gatsby came back from the battlefield, Daisy became the American Dream of his. He thought it is only the money which could make him to be with Daisy again, and being wealth became his only desire later. Similarly, since many things could be reached in America if you are rich enough, American Dream truly become the dream of being wealthy. Gatsby was driven to reach his goals, and just because he believes in the equalizing power of wealth, he tried to gain the profit by hook or by crook. The monoplay in the documentary “Park Avenue: Money, Power, and the American Dream” could be an excellent example-you have nearly no chance to get the profit in the market if you are the ‘no money’, and you could only tried something common people do not want to do which may provide you enough money if you are in real life.

Gatsby's only desire-Daisy

wang jieyun(owen) part 2

In my opinion, American Dream is unattainable for people to achieve, only a little people can realize the American Dream. The original purpose of the American Dream is stimulating people to work harder for a better life but now the situation is that the rich become richer, the poor become poorer. The reason lead to this result it that American Dream is unrealizable. All the people want to have a job which has high salaries, and own a huge house and luxury car. And the fact is that if the person is a normal person and nobody help him, it is almost impossible for him to realize the American Dream.

“The idea of American Dream is that everyone got an equal opportunity, but in fact there is a large group of people that experience the game as unfair, the opportunity is not there, all the rules have been decided. The property has already bought up and the money is already in the hands of other players”. This quotation is from the documentary Park Avenue. The experiment shows that the richer player can win the game easier than the poor player. It means that poor people is hard to achieve their goal by their hard-working, including the American Dream. The documentary also shows that why the poor people become poorer. It is because that the richer make the government reduce the education funds, then the poor could not attend school, after that no employer wants to hire them and the result is that they become poorer. If the poorer could not earn money, the American Dream could not be realized.

In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby also shows that American Dream is unattainable for people to achieve. For Gatsby, the American Dream is that getting rid of humble origin and enter the upper class, own money, status and woman. Firstly, Gatsby earn huge amount of money but he still could not own Daisy completely, it equal to the failure of American Dream. Secondly, the way that Gatsby earn money is illegal, it means his American Dream represents the death of conscience and the loss of morality, it also is a unsuccessful American Dream.

To sum up, American Dream is unattainable for people to achieve, no matter you are rich or poor. The only thing is that rich people can achieve a little bit easier, but it may not in a legitimate way.

American Dream is unattainable

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Chen Qiuyan (Vivent) Part 2 The Illusion of American Dream

The Illusion of American Dream

After reading the book the Great Gatsby and watching the documentary Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream, I strongly believe that  the American Dream is totally a lie for the public and an illusion from the society which Gatsby cannot attain at all.

In the Great Gatsby, Gatsby is the one that always works hard to realize his American Dream, which is marrying Daisy and being rich. He works hard everyday and tries his best to become a man who is attractive enough for Daisy who actually motivates Gatsby’s American Dream. However, in the 1920s, he earns money in the corrupted and dishonest way: selling alcohol and doing underground business. Somehow, Gatsby, as a person who has an underprivileged childhood, has already reached his goal for money. But his illusion about Daisy makes him lose himself completely just like the American dream is so illusory that Gatsby cannot recognize that the indelible social status itself can distinguish Gatsby from Daisy at all . In order to have Daisy, he is dishonest about his past and becomes greedy that he always wants more. No matter in the past or in these days, what the public are told by the government is that if one works hard, they can achieve all their dreams. However, there are lots of disparities between “new money” people and “old money” people that the society never illustrates to Gatsby just like the government never tells the public about the fact that it is extremely hard for us to reach the top of the society. Throughout the book, Gatsby is so naive and innocent that he thinks money can change his past and win Daisy’s heart. While the point is that, no matter how rich he is and how hard he works, he still cannot reach Daisy from “old money”, his American Dream. For Gatsby, Daisy is idealistic that he cannot reach no matter for what reasons and this ideal makes Gatsby ignore the social gap and how different between him and “old money” people.

  As Jacob S. Hacker said in Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream: “this extraordinary accumulation of wealth of the top isn't just about hard work, it's about wealthy interests using the political system to rig the rule in their favor. There's been a reinforcing, a cycle that those at the top who have done well, they've invested in policies that are favorable to them and they've done even better and then they've turned a lot of money back into the politics.” “Old money” people, like Tom, has the ability to rig the game they are interested in, influence the politics and the government easily and also, they own the upper class blood that “new money” people, like Gatsby doesn’t have. Therefore, American Dream, which is Daisy, for Gatsby is just an illusion that is unattainable inevitably. Daisy’s family, Daisy’s blood of “old money” and the distinct society that they are living in are all the reasons for the lost of Gatsby’s American Dream and Gatsby cannot change by money. As the narrator of the documentary said at the beginning: “ this street is about a lot more than money. It’s about political power. The rich haven’t just used their money to buy fancy cars, private jets and mansions. They also used it to rig the game in their favor.” Gatsby does not have the ability to fight against people like Tom at all and this political power that Gatsby cannot earn no matter how he strives shows the impossibility of his American Dream about Daisy. American Dream is such a lie and illusion that the society, which has the brutal and sledgehammer property, impressed us through the Great Gatsby and Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream.

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Niuniu Du. part 2

American dream has changed obviously and I suppose that individuals who are dishonest could reach their goals through some illegal methods.What is more,American dream is not fair for everyone as the precondition of American dream is people get opportunities equally and chances are open to everyone while nowadays it is not like that and the rich almost control everything.However,the poor could hardly have chance to succeed because they do not have any opportunities to approach their goals although they work hard they also could not make their dreams come true,it is ridiculous for people to be rich through their hardworking and personality.In America’s contemporary society, the rich is much richer while the poor could not change their present conditions.  According to ‘Park Avenue’,it reveals that the rich controls everything,they only cares about themselves and they give money to the government in order to change the laws,which are beneficial for them.Additionally,the rich uses dishonest methods to be more successful and they do not care about the poor even though some poor people might not get education.Both the rich and the poor live in the avenue and it is only 60 minutes’ drive from one side to the other,in the previous time it encouraged people to work harder so that they could move from the poor side to the rich side.On the contrary,the rich people’s tax decreased by 20% in the twenty years and it brings the rich a large number of benefits but the poor is still suffering.As from ‘The Great Gatsby”,Gatsby is a symbol of people who believes American dream because on his funeral his father brought his timetable and personal rules,which demonstrate he is a hard-working and positive young people.However,the fact is cruel and he can not get money and be rich through normal ways so he decided to connect with Sam to do something illegal things and he become rich in only a few years.In fact,only the people like Gatsby who is crafty and dishonest become wealthy.In order to get wealth and status,Gatsby changes from a positive guy to the people only care about profit and result.  From above analysis,we could draw a conclusion that American dream does not exist anymore and only the people who are dishonest could achieve it.

Geyuchun STEVEN(absolute fake dream)

  American dream, which  supposed to be wonderful and justice, is actually a fake and dishonest illusion for people to achieve. People who reach the goal must be injustice and deceptive because that is the only way to get huge wealth and so-called success. From my point of view, whether people can arrive at American dream has a strong connection with the personalities of the people themselves. What is more, only those who has false and dishonest characteristics are more easily to attain the dream. Otherwise, it will be really hard and tough for people who are justice and decent to reach their goals.
  When we see one specific character from The Great Gatsby, the opinion can be proved by Gatsby who is the main character in the story, chasing for his "American dream" continuously and showing a typical characteristic a successful man should have. As we can see from the novel, Gatsby is poor when he is young so he keeps working and making himself richer and earn more reputation until he becomes famous through the east egg and west egg. However, the approach he gets to wealthy is illegal which is doing drug business. Also, Gatsby once sent the old money person into the jail which is revealed by Tom until the end. Through the novel, we can find that Gatsby is trying to get over and hid his past but he cannot seal up the fact, which illustrates his aspect of dishonest. In Gatsby's mind, he does not want anyone know his past experience because he is self-abasement for his past and he cannot deal with that period of time face to face. Last but not least,  Daisy, who is  the American dream for  Gatsby, is seen as merely wealth. Gatsby compares the woman with wealth, and he is pleased to see many people chasing for Daisy because that can add more value to the woman. It is undeniable that the man loves Daisy so much but he just relates the woman to his wealth, which he thinks is the most significant thing a successful man should own. Therefore, we can get to know the American dream is all about wealth and it is absolute fake and dishonest.
  We can also see one example from Park Avenue which manifests that American dream is ideal and the reality is against the original dream. It is shown that the government published the policy that rich people can have fewer tax which literally destroy the equality of making money. The behaviour of government is definitely injustice which enlarges the gap between the rich and the poor and eliminates the opportunities for poor men to earn money and pursue happiness. The dishonest rule help part of the people who are wealthy to achieve the American dream easily but make the dream impossible for some poor to attain. To conclude, the American dream is an entirely sham and completely lie for the whole people to reach as people can only touch it by dishonest actions.

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