The American Dream

Money, family, property and respect, all can be cateforized under the idea of "The American Dream". To me The American Dream is merely a life long goal that is ideal for the average american. It is something that can be said to be unattainable, or unappreciated once it has been reached. Throughtout this year in english class I have looked at many books that deal with the american dream such as "The Great Gatsby", by F. Scott Fitzgerald and "Death of a Salesman", by arthur miller. Within both of these pieces of writing are examples that support the two ideas of the american dream that it is either unnatainable, or unnapreciated.

The idea that the american is unattainable can be seen through various examples of both books "The Great Gatsby", and "Death of a Salesman". An example from "The Great Gatsby" that supports this idea is how once Jay Gatsby attains his wealth and popularity and respect, he can still not gain the affection of his one true love. This shows how one can be incredibly succesful yet still not be happy, implying that the american dream is unattainable. A point of evidence from "Death of a Salesmen" that supports this idea is Biff Lowman. Biff was extremely popular and athletic in school, thinking he would become very succesful one day, but when he finally does grow up he realizes that his priorities were out of order. This shows that no matter how succesful you think you will be, you never know how things will actually turn out in you're future.


My theory that the american dream is unnapreciated once it has been reached is also supported in the two Books "The Great Gatsby", and "Death of a Salesman". In "Death of a Salesman", Willy Lowman was very happy at one point in his life, when his children were in highschool, yet he took for granted the happiness and level of satisfaction his family had. I feel that the happiness that the Lowmans had at one point was just as good as attaining the american dream and they just let it fly right by them. An example from "The Great Gatsby" that supports this idea is the way Jay Gatsby does not appreciate any of his money and throws it away on ridiculous parties and unnesesary items just to impress Daisy. This shows that his succesfulness was not appreciated and he would throw it all away for one thing, love.

Both books "The Great Gatsby", and "Death of a Salesman", do support these two negative ideas about the american dream, but this does not mean that the american dream is all bad. Both novels also tell of solid examples that reflect upon the idea of the american dream positively. An example from "Death of a Salesman", that supports this idea is how Willy Lowman does recal certain aspects and memories of his younger life as being hapy and succesful. This can show that one may be able to attain complete happines (Which can be seen as attaining the american dream), and just not notice their happiness. An aspect from "The Great Gatsby" that supports the american dream positively is how Jay Gatsby's success did bring him closer to capturing the love of his life. Although Daisy did not fall for him in the end, he did get a lot closer rather than if he was not succesful.

In closing, there are many ways one can view the ideas of the ideal "American Dream", but the two ways that i feel most repeated and renounced are the two ideas that the american dream is either unattainable or even worse, unnapreciated. Both ideas can be seen proven true through examples of the two books "The Great Gatsby", by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller. No matter how succesful one can become or how close one may get to the american dream, theres only one factor that maters in the end, one factor that determines how the rest of ones life is going to turn out, that factor is happiness.