Connections Essay
Horatio Alger’s American dream is the idea that in the United States of America, if a person wants something, they can make it happen. It’s the attitude that no-one or nothing can hold a person back from their personal dreams. Regardless of race, religion, background or sex, this dream can be reached. If you want to start a company, you have to work hard to get there. This alone is why thousands immigrate to the US every year to live a life of freedom with endless opportunities. But the American dream has become more difficult to achieve, with changes in society that make wealth the end point, this begs the question; where does happiness come in?
Over the past four months, I have been studying four texts that all share …show more content…
Thompson takes stabs at American consumerism and their cultural, overwhelming need to indulge. This is also a big part of American Beauty, where Carolyn gets overly obsessed with the appearance of success. “This isn 't life, it 's just stuff. And it 's become more important to you than living. Well, honey, that 's just nuts.” Do people care too much about material possessions over experiences? In both my opinion and the writers behind these texts, yes. If I were to ask people if they would rather have their favourite car or travel around various foreign countries for 4 weeks, most would choose the car. Hunter S. Thompson believes that this is due to capitalism and its dependency on selling us material goods. The economy wouldn’t operate at the same level if they tried selling experiences.
Put simply, experiences are more valuable than material possessions, Money does not equal happiness. This is shown in one of the main themes of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. In which Gatsby has large amounts of wealth, with this wealth he buys a castle-like mansion and invites the entire town of west-egg to come and party every weekend. With all of this, Gatsby still isn’t happy. This is because he still lusts after the girl he met 5 years ago. …show more content…
Has this changed though? Even when we look into a fairly modern representation of this (American beauty) we see that this concept is outdated. This is why the fear and loathing went on a quest to find the modern day’s equivalent. Of mice and men shows the American dream as an illusion created by the rich for the rich to keep the poor in their place in society, but Gatsby breaks free from this. Ultimately living the American dream with everything but Daisy, the love of his life. What I have come to realise throughout this study is that Horatio Alger’s theory was mainly about accomplishment. Just because someone has got wealth, does not make them any happier than someone without it. Lester realised this, and got rid of everything that made him the mundane middle aged man that he had become, focusing on an easy life that makes him, and only him, the happiest he could
Horatio Alger’s American dream is the idea that in the United States of America, if a person wants something, they can make it happen. It’s the attitude that no-one or nothing can hold a person back from their personal dreams. Regardless of race, religion, background or sex, this dream can be reached. If you want to start a company, you have to work hard to get there. This alone is why thousands immigrate to the US every year to live a life of freedom with endless opportunities. But the American dream has become more difficult to achieve, with changes in society that make wealth the end point, this begs the question; where does happiness come in?
Over the past four months, I have been studying four texts that all share …show more content…
Thompson takes stabs at American consumerism and their cultural, overwhelming need to indulge. This is also a big part of American Beauty, where Carolyn gets overly obsessed with the appearance of success. “This isn 't life, it 's just stuff. And it 's become more important to you than living. Well, honey, that 's just nuts.” Do people care too much about material possessions over experiences? In both my opinion and the writers behind these texts, yes. If I were to ask people if they would rather have their favourite car or travel around various foreign countries for 4 weeks, most would choose the car. Hunter S. Thompson believes that this is due to capitalism and its dependency on selling us material goods. The economy wouldn’t operate at the same level if they tried selling experiences.
Put simply, experiences are more valuable than material possessions, Money does not equal happiness. This is shown in one of the main themes of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. In which Gatsby has large amounts of wealth, with this wealth he buys a castle-like mansion and invites the entire town of west-egg to come and party every weekend. With all of this, Gatsby still isn’t happy. This is because he still lusts after the girl he met 5 years ago. …show more content…
Has this changed though? Even when we look into a fairly modern representation of this (American beauty) we see that this concept is outdated. This is why the fear and loathing went on a quest to find the modern day’s equivalent. Of mice and men shows the American dream as an illusion created by the rich for the rich to keep the poor in their place in society, but Gatsby breaks free from this. Ultimately living the American dream with everything but Daisy, the love of his life. What I have come to realise throughout this study is that Horatio Alger’s theory was mainly about accomplishment. Just because someone has got wealth, does not make them any happier than someone without it. Lester realised this, and got rid of everything that made him the mundane middle aged man that he had become, focusing on an easy life that makes him, and only him, the happiest he could