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.
(I commented on Eric's blog)
From Eric
ReplyDeleteForm author’s perspective, there is no possibility for individuals to reach their American Dream even they use dishonest approach to achieve it. However, I would say I disagree with this.
In my opinion, the American Dream is reachable if people use illegal ways to find the shortcut. Like the example that author listed in the blog: “he earns money in the corrupted and dishonest way: selling alcohol and doing underground business.” As we all know, he lost Daisy in the competition with Tom. But it is also not doubt that he became one of those riches in society, and achieve the dream in every poor youth’s mind, which means people have opportunity to partly achieve their American Dream only if they are willing to be dishonest.
I am not being offensive but the main mistake author made is that she thinks Daisy is the whole part of Gatsby’s American Dream, and he is too obsessed with her even making money for her. Generally speaking, being one of high class is also a part of Gatsby’ Dream which is just the foundation of pursuing Daisy. We can observe his happiness of being rich from the describe of his enjoyable parties. Form this it is not hard to get the result that using dishonest approaches be able to partly achieve the American Dream.