In the book The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby represents the corruption of the American dream within the 1920s. He represents this in three different ways. The first of which being his rags to riches story about Dan and how Gatsby inherited vast amounts of money, upon which he loses to Dan’s ex wife. The second being his illegal means of getting money and becoming rich on his own. And the third being his death, and the fact that he killed Myrtle.
Gatsby starts off with nothing. He is born into an extremely poor family and feels that he is destined for more. This is the pure basis to the American dream, the fact that you can start with nothing and work for everything. With this in mind Gatsby set off in search of a greater life. And eventually achieved it through Dan’s will. However, it did not last long for the inheritance was all lost to the ex wife. This all ties into the corruption of the American dream because it shows that the rags to riches aspect does not apply anymore. Since Dan’s ex wife did nothing and gained everything, whilst Gatsby worked hard and worked on himself to earn the inheritance. …show more content…
Unlike before, Gatsby is now driven by his lust and love for Daisy instead of just pure ambition alone. This drives him to turn to much more illegal ways of creating income. He becomes a bootlegger with Meyer Wolfsheim. This shows that Gatsby’s once grand and pure dream of creating money through pure ambition and hard honest labour is now demoralized for he desires his goal too much and is willing to do anything to achieve it. Further representing the corruption of the American
Gatsby starts off with nothing. He is born into an extremely poor family and feels that he is destined for more. This is the pure basis to the American dream, the fact that you can start with nothing and work for everything. With this in mind Gatsby set off in search of a greater life. And eventually achieved it through Dan’s will. However, it did not last long for the inheritance was all lost to the ex wife. This all ties into the corruption of the American dream because it shows that the rags to riches aspect does not apply anymore. Since Dan’s ex wife did nothing and gained everything, whilst Gatsby worked hard and worked on himself to earn the inheritance. …show more content…
Unlike before, Gatsby is now driven by his lust and love for Daisy instead of just pure ambition alone. This drives him to turn to much more illegal ways of creating income. He becomes a bootlegger with Meyer Wolfsheim. This shows that Gatsby’s once grand and pure dream of creating money through pure ambition and hard honest labour is now demoralized for he desires his goal too much and is willing to do anything to achieve it. Further representing the corruption of the American