Draft of Final Project

Amber Watkins

Ms. Cline

ENG 102

3 Nov 2011

American Dream

Many people have their own outlook about the American dream, and they portray it in many ways. The author F. Scott Fitzgerald generates a corrupt and immoral American dream in some of his writings. In the beginning the story, The Great Gatsby promotes a perfect and ideal American dream in a couple places in the book, but behind closed doors it doesn’t end up as perfect as it may seem. In the book The Great Gatsby he relates the book to his life. Another book that Fitzgerald relates his life to is This Side of Paradise. In both stories one similar theme is love, and how to pursue or get that American dream. The theme that reoccurred in these stories is the American dream can be deceiving. There were also different inferences that can be made while reading both books. First inference I had made was these were both based on relationships, trust, and loss of love. I have chosen to base the theme on both books about the American dream, and the chase for satisfaction. Fitzgerald, in reality, tried to create him this American dream, which didn’t really work out. In many ways life satisfaction dealt with morals and values. Many people have their set morals they live by, and some are based off of religion. The American dream isn't so perfect if women and men do not obey the things they believe in and morals. The American dream can be signified in many ways good or bad, satisfying and unsatisfying. In the story This Side of Paradise had similar occurrences in themes like in the book The Great Gatsby.

In the book The Great Gatsby the main character Nick Carraway lived across the way from Jay Gatsby. It was no coincidence that Gatsby lived across the way from Nick. Jay only lived close to try to get to Nick's cousin Daisy Buchanan. When reading this, readers may think oh, just another love story. And yes, this is just another love story. Nick says, "I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby's house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited - they went there"(41). He was trying to grasp the attention of Nick to have a the conversation with Daisy over for tea to reminisce about the past. This caused a problem in Daisy's perfect American dream. Daisy being married, having a child, and being very wealthy, would be at risk if having to file for divorce. Daisy isn’t the only one in this state of mind. Before Daisy could even have an affair her husband was already doing the same. Daisy's husband Tom Buchanan has been having an affair for a while now. He was just chasing his satisfaction. He desired to be with women other that Daisy, but nowhere in his mind was he planning to leave her, so he just wanted his satisfaction. Fitzgerald had done this to create the corrupt American dream. Even though it would've been ok to just divorce each other, in some religions they do not find that to be right. So the better way to live is to live unhappy in the situation that person is in, but appeal to others that they are in that right, perfect, dream life.

The American dream can be a different meaning to every individual. The American dream can be having the perfect family, a big house, and white picket fence with a red door. Or another dream is to just have freedom and be wealthy. As many people can have many different inferences about how they feel the American dream should be, In the article “F. Scott Fitzgerald's evolving American dream: The ‘pursuit of happiness’ in Gatsby, Tender Is the Night, and The Last Tycoon,” the author John Callahan states, “At the end of his life, came to embrace the sense that life is essentially a cheat and its conditions are those of defeat, and that the redeeming things are not `happiness and pleasure' but the deeper satisfactions that come out of struggle.” People will do anything to reach what satisfies them. People will cheat, lie, and essentially be unhappy, just to have that idealized American dream. The article also says, “Fitzgerald embodied in his tissues and nervous system the fluid polarities of American experience: success and failure, illusion and disillusion, dream and nightmare” (Callahan). When someone goes through the American dream experience they are going to witness some encounters through the process of them reaching it, whether it’s good or bad, and also happiness. That person would maintain that lifestyle just to get by.

The similar theme is portrayed in the book This Side of Paradise. In this book the main character is Amory Blaine who falls in love with a woman named Rosalind Connage. These two both fell in love with each other; But Rosalind chooses not to be with Amory because he was poor. This relates to exactly what happen in the book The Great Gatsby. In one of the events in the Great Gatsby, Daisy states how she didn’t marry Gatsby because rich girls don’t marry poor boys. However, in the story This Side of Paradise, Rosalind married a wealthier man because Amory didn’t have as much money. This is amusing because referring to earlier on in the story Amory's mother had done the same thing with his father. This frequent similarity shows that the author has some repetition in his writing. His mother had only married his father because he had more money than the other boyfriends she had. This shows that the American dream doesn’t necessarily have to involve love and happiness. It just involves the knowledge of security, and by security means the security of money. Back in the day people only married to know that they would have a secure life style and won’t have to worry about any future finances.

Both of these stories related well to Fitzgerald’s life. The characters alone in both stories had their own similarities. Both Gatsby and Amory went to the army, which signified bravery, and intention to better their future. In both stories they fell in love with women they couldn’t seem to obtain. The women in both stories were similar because they both were powerful over the men, Gatsby, and Amory. Powerful in the decision being made, and money wise too. In the book This Side of Paradise the mother of Rosalind says, “There are several bachelor friends of your father’s that I want you to meet tonight— youngish men” (175). Rosalind basically set her up with men, instead of wanting her to be with someone she desired to be with. In some ways in both stories the women family members or friends had something to do with influencing them to marry the wealthy. These characters Gatsby and Amory both tried to make a second appearance after the reappearance when war was over. These characters fell in love with women that they couldn’t really be with. In the book The Great Gatsby, Nick notions, "A phrase began to beat in my ears with a sort of heady excitement: 'There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy, and the tired'"(81). I thought this was pretty cleaver and it pertained to exactly what these men were doing in the stories, pursing women and it goes back into the American dream. The repetition of these stories is that they all revolve around the 1920’s. I believe this was a very emotions distress in Fitzgerald life, being in love but not having that satisfaction of having that person in his life to be happy with. This goes along with the result of the American dream. They avoid happiness and love the security of their own future.

I found Fitzgerald’s themes and character generalizations came up again and again and it’s something his writings don’t change from. The American dream is something people are not happy with, but can live with. I believe that in Fitzgerald life he had an event like this that he couldn’t let go. I find that the similarity in these characters has a huge amount of significance. I believe he has made these stories alike because of the points in his life. The same issue with both of the females in the story occurred because the author Fitzgerald really did fall in love, but couldn’t spend his life with her in the end. The American dream is based on the chase of satisfaction. Fitzgerald observed people in this lifestyle, but he wanted different. Fitzgerald wanted the real love and happiness, and not just to settle. These women are both just satisfying there needs for the future, the picture perfect life, wellness, and stability.