In my opinion, American Dream is essentially dishonest and unattainable.If a person wants to achieve it, he must be dishonest. However, American Dream cannot be truly achieved.
In The Great Gatsby, the main character Gatsby became extreme rich within a short period by doing illegal business. He changed his social class, he went to the upper class from lower class, but the price was the sacrifice of morality. Although Gatsby became very rich, he still felt inferior about his origin, which was presented by his lie. He made up a fake story of his origin and educational background to make people believe that he was the same as other people in the upper class, not a man who came from the lower class and became be rich over night. Gatsby got money from illegal business, and he had to tell lies to keep his image of someone who belonged to the upper class. Everything he had came as the result of dishonesty, which indicate that American Dream is dishonest.
The original meaning of American Dream is that everyone can be successful by working hard. However, in the mind of people who from the upper class, Gatsby is totally different from them. Because he did not have old money blood. Even he had become a wealthy man, he cannot gain acceptance from old money people. Gatsby was a idealistic person, he thought that money can fix everything, even the relationship between Daisy and him.He did not understand a fact——No matter how much money he had, he would not have second chance. Because his past determine who he is forever. He can never change it, which shows that American Dream is unattainable.
In the film Park Avenue: Money, Power And American Dream, it mentioned a idea that the wealth of rich people is not just a result of hard work. They use money to play politics, and make rule favorable to them, so they can get more money. This is an irony of American Dream, because the people in the top do not get money by doing something dishonest, instead of working hard. It also proves that American Dream is dishonest from another perspective.
I commented Katherine's part 2.
In The Great Gatsby, the main character Gatsby became extreme rich within a short period by doing illegal business. He changed his social class, he went to the upper class from lower class, but the price was the sacrifice of morality. Although Gatsby became very rich, he still felt inferior about his origin, which was presented by his lie. He made up a fake story of his origin and educational background to make people believe that he was the same as other people in the upper class, not a man who came from the lower class and became be rich over night. Gatsby got money from illegal business, and he had to tell lies to keep his image of someone who belonged to the upper class. Everything he had came as the result of dishonesty, which indicate that American Dream is dishonest.
The original meaning of American Dream is that everyone can be successful by working hard. However, in the mind of people who from the upper class, Gatsby is totally different from them. Because he did not have old money blood. Even he had become a wealthy man, he cannot gain acceptance from old money people. Gatsby was a idealistic person, he thought that money can fix everything, even the relationship between Daisy and him.He did not understand a fact——No matter how much money he had, he would not have second chance. Because his past determine who he is forever. He can never change it, which shows that American Dream is unattainable.
In the film Park Avenue: Money, Power And American Dream, it mentioned a idea that the wealth of rich people is not just a result of hard work. They use money to play politics, and make rule favorable to them, so they can get more money. This is an irony of American Dream, because the people in the top do not get money by doing something dishonest, instead of working hard. It also proves that American Dream is dishonest from another perspective.
I commented Katherine's part 2.
Your opinion is American Dream is dishonest because Gatsby is dishonest that expresses from his lie about his background and he did illegal activities to get his money. I agree with this part of your opinion. Gatsby did dishonest things to get Daisy, so his American Dream is dishonest.
ReplyDeleteAnd you also wrote that American Dream cannot be achieved. Because Gatsby is different from Daisy which is ‘old money’; although he became a wealthy man, he still doesn't have old money blood. So his past determines his future. I like this part that you wrote and I also think Gatsby's illegal past which sent ‘old money’ man into jail that made Daisy scared. Gatsby is naive and he cannot face the reality. So his American Dream is an illusion and unattainable.
For the concept that you wrote from Park Avenue which is rich people use money make rule favorable to them. I think that shows how rich people use the money to make more advantages for themselves. I think the more adaptable concept for American Dream is the people at the top of society and the people at the bottom of society have different start lines. The people at the bottom of society do not have any opportunity to win. Just as Gatsby, because of his past, he does not have the chance to get Daisy.
Commented by Katherine