The Great Gatsby Essay

Jennifer Vazquez 

American Literature 

Period:2 

March 9, 2018 

The American Dream

          Maya Lin once said" To me the American Dream is being able to follow your own personal calling. To be able to do what you want to do is incredible freedom." Lin was stating that the American Dream is not always following a crowd or a person. Like in the novel The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald it shows how a young man best known as Jay Gatsby from the 1920's portray's his way of living the infamous American Dream. But his way of seeing and living the American Dream is very different because he feels that he always has to fit in and make things over the top. But to other people they have different perspectives in the American Dream so today I will be explaining how I see the American Dream and how Jay Gatsby saw it as well. 

          The American Dream to me is very simple. I believe that it is having a stable job and a good family and many other people can agree as well. Many Americans imagine the american life as being famous, having money, amazing cars, and pretty much having anything they want. But in most cases that is not always true. It comes down to  first finding a career anything from a cashier at McDonald's, working at a office all day, or to even getting your degree at a University. Next comes making a family and making sure that your family always have what they need. Next is getting stressed about all the bills and not having enough money to pay the bills. What I am pretty much saying is that the American Dream isn't always what people say it is. People always think that it is all about having money and having expensive things but most of the time that is is not true. But for one person that was and that person was Jay Gatsby. 

          Jay Gatsby thought of the American Dream as being wealthy, finding the perfect woman to love, and fitting in society. These three factors made Gatsby feel that he was living life to the fullest. Gatsby was extremely wealthy he owned boats, luxurious cars, huge houses and tons of money for many other things. Which put him in a good place in society. Gatsby also believed in falling in love with the perfect woman which was known as Daisy Buchanan. Daisy and Gatsby didn't have a "normal" love story because Daisy was married to Tom Buchanan and was having an affair with Gatsby but that didn't stop their love story from happening. Also, his society status was very important to him because he wanted society to think of him as a  very wealthy and famous guy. To get society to like him he would throw huge fancy parties with alcohol, drugs, and women for everyone can like him. But that is how Gatsby thought of the American Dream. 

         Now do you think the American Dream is necessary to pursue? Or will the American Dream stay as a dream where you will have a stable job and a family to care for. Or even maybe create a dream like Gatsby did in the 1920's? But all in all only you can create your ideal American Dream the way you want it to.