In my opinion, the American Dream is essentially dishonest and it is unattainable for all. And the meaning is not pure as original that people can achieve their goal through hard work, which means the American Dream is a lie. In the book The Great Gatsby, Gatsby was poor when he fell in love with Daisy in five years ago, then he went to war and Daisy married with Tom. After five years, Gatsby became wealthy and lived in a magnificent house where opposites to Daisy’s. He spent money like water to had Daisy’s attention and get her back which is his American Dream. But Gatsby is dishonest about his past life that he had a wealthy family, he traveled to Europe and he went to Oxford. He lied to Nick about his past because in his mind the son of wealthy people could get Nick’s trust easier and he wanted to make Nick think that he could worthy of Daisy. He wanted to stand at the same social class as Daisy to make Daisy come back to him. Except this, the way that Gatsby got his fortune also expresses his dishonesty. He lied that his family all died and he came into a good deal of money until Tom exposed Gatsby’s past that he was a bootlegger. He bootlegged alcohol and sent Old Money men into jail. Daisy scared of Gatsby’s past because the past exactly means the old money blood for her. He persistently thought that they were loving each other and they could go back to the past, but now Daisy loses confidence in him because of his past. He is unrealistic that he was actually loving the illusion of Daisy. Although he tried hard to attain his goal, he cannot get back Daisy’s love. His American Dream is only an illusion. For instance, in the movie Park Avenue, a social psychologist Paul Piff did an experiment about the game of Monopoly. The rules have being changed to advantaged for some players. They have the bigger opportunity from they born. It is similar as Gatsby that he never got the chance to get Daisy from the past. That was certain all the way from the past whatever he did after to fix that. So, the American Dream is a lie that people cannot attain their goal through their hard work.
I commented Lily's part 2
ReplyDeleteI agree with your opinion that the American Dream is dishonest. American Dream lost its original meaning. Gatsby got a great amount of money by using some illegal way, and he lied about his family in order to get Nick’s trust. However, Daisy was scared by his past. He was too unrealistic to understand that they cannot come back. Gatsby’s American Dream was just a illusion. And you gave a example, in Park Avenue, a social psychologist Paul Piff did a experiment, rich people have great advantages. The game is unfair, people who belong to lower class almost have no chance to win, so Gatsby never had chance to get Daisy back.
I generally agree with you, but I cannot agree with your example about the experiment. In this experiment, the psychologist wanted to indicate that people who belong to lower class are hard to get wealth and change their social class. But Gatsby already got a great amount of money, he had become a rich man. The purpose of this game was to get money, however, his problem was not money, he just cannot get Daisy.
Commented by Lily