No Money, No Dream In the 1920s, the perfect idea of the “American Dream” seemed reachable for the average person. The war had ended, money was in the hands of many, and life seemed like it could not get any better. Although everyone has individual ideas for what the dream is, it always contains wealth. The dream exists and can be achieved, just not by everyone. Money plays a big role in how the dream plays out. In The Great Gatsby, it shows that there is a much darker part of the American Dream: it is not attainable for everyone, despite the hard work that goes into it. The characters George and Myrtle Wilson, help depict this dark part of the dream. No matter how hard they seem to reach it, they can never quite touch their ultimate goals,
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They were born into money, never having to worry about anything. Their parents lived the American Dream, they lived out the American Dream, and their children will too. Both of them practically were born with America at their feet. On both the social and financial chart, they both were the highest of high, they couldn’t get any better. It is a lot easier to make the American dream when born into it. They did not have to deal with the heartache that can come with it, and the hard work that some put into it. It was handed to them. The things that the others were so desperately reaching for, they had sitting in their back pockets. They could act carelessly all they wanted and had no remorse for those hurt who were below them, as seen when they abandoned the Gatsby situation. Their thoughtlessness caused pain and tragedy on others, which is an accurate representation of society at the time. "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy -- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (Fitzgerald 177). Society viewed the poorer individuals as nothing and did not care about their pain or feel any guilt about
They were born into money, never having to worry about anything. Their parents lived the American Dream, they lived out the American Dream, and their children will too. Both of them practically were born with America at their feet. On both the social and financial chart, they both were the highest of high, they couldn’t get any better. It is a lot easier to make the American dream when born into it. They did not have to deal with the heartache that can come with it, and the hard work that some put into it. It was handed to them. The things that the others were so desperately reaching for, they had sitting in their back pockets. They could act carelessly all they wanted and had no remorse for those hurt who were below them, as seen when they abandoned the Gatsby situation. Their thoughtlessness caused pain and tragedy on others, which is an accurate representation of society at the time. "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy -- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (Fitzgerald 177). Society viewed the poorer individuals as nothing and did not care about their pain or feel any guilt about