A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

How would you describe the American dream?

There are a lot of aspects that are encompassed within the term, "the American dream." The American dream is what brought immigrants to this country in the 1700's, 1800's, 1900's and today. The American dream as a whole derived from the early time of initial colonization and carried through during westward expansion, the California Gold Rush, Ellis Island, WWII, and more. The American dream describes the idea that anyone can come into America with nothing and become prosperous and successful off of having a driving will power and determination to work hard and succeed. The American dream continues to describe a certain type of freedom that people believe they will have when they come to the country. This encompasses the idea that people will be free to be whoever they want to be, wether its practicing their religion of choice, getting the education they choose, and being free to move up any type of social ladder. 

Jay Gatsby or James Gatz is F. Scott Fitzgerald's human encompassment of the so-called "American dream." His origin story is the classic tale, as he came from very humble beginnings in North Dakota. But through his own determination, at the young age of 17, James took it upon himself to become the person he desired to be. To achieve this, he changed his name and worked to extreme lengths to gain wealth, specifically on a wishing boat. But when things did not go according to his initial plan, he took an alternate route by entering the war. Over time and through hard work and determination, James, now Jay, was able to accumulate the wealth he so desired and live the life he envisioned for himself. Jay Gatsby was able to work and climb the social classes in order to become something greater from the life he was born into. 

But despite Gatsby's ability to climb socially, his embodiment of the "American dream" is flawed in its premise. Gatsby's reasoning for wanting to reinvent himself is fueled by wanting to impress and fit in with the society in which Daisy was brought up in, not by his own self determination. Along with that, once Gatsby got to the social class he desired, he wanted to resort back to the times he had when he was of a lower class, being the time that he met Daisy. His execution of a whole of the American dream is built off of the idea that if the social circumstances are different, then what he found as a poorer man can be done again as a richer man. 

As a whole, Gatsby's execution of the American dream is fueled not by self-determination, but more by disillusionment. His reasoning for building the "Jay Gatsby" persona is built off of skewed intensions and once he got what he so desired, he was still left with an idea of emptiness. The "American dream" as a whole leads back to this idea. While the "American dream" is great within theory, the drive behind it is normally fueled with selfish intentions. Along with that, the chances of actually moving up socially is based largely off of luck, as found with Gatsby. The "American dream" is more of a theory, but one that cannot be executed to the fullest extent. 

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