The Great Gatsby Reasearch Paper

"The Great Gatsby" Research Paper

The widespread desire of Americans to live better than their parents did, has been embraced by or country for generations. In 1931, historian James Truslow Adams, was the first to coin the phrase "the American dream". Essentially, the American dream is prosperity, success, having a family and being able to provide for that family without worry. Alternatively, others place greater importance on positions, wealth and popularity. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the latter is presented in the lives of wealthy and popular individuals living in New York during the 1920's. The Great Gatsby is a criticism of the American dream which became morally corrupt in the twenties, due to the fact that Americans were driven by greed and enamored with wealth. The characters perfectly illustrate the corruption and unhappiness experienced by deserting the original intentions of the American dream.

In Truslow's book The Epic of America, he describes the American dream as "That dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement"(Truslow 1). Further he stated, "It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man...shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position"(Truslow 2). In short, the dream demands character, an education, honesty, hard work and persistence.

The 1920's was a time of new beginnings in America. After World War I ended in 1918, the United States experienced enormous economic expansion. The surging economy turned the 1920's into a " period that included easy money, hard drinking, lavishing parties and lifestyles" ("The Great Gatsby" 1). It was a decade of decadence, prosperity and great optimism. The American popular culture was obsessed with fast and easy attainment of wealth. "It tended to make heroes out of almost anyone who had become wealthy, in almost any field" (Gross 1). A reader of The Great Gatsby will see that Fitzgerald's idea on this single-minded search for wealth could