The Great Gatsby And The American Dream Essay - 1073 Words

The psychological concept of Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a pyramid of desirable needs organized based on the fundamentality of the stage emphasizing how â€Å"some needs take precedent over others† (Boeree). One should only move up in levels through the pyramid of needs once he has achieved the needs below. Maslow’s Hierarchy is ordered through the needs of physiological, safety, belonging, esteem and self-actualization. Often times, when individuals are preoccupied with achieving a goal of self-actualization, or maximizing their full potential in life, a few stages are skipped. This individual is not truly self-actualized. In The Great Gatsby and Death of a Salesman, the idea of the American Dream is presented differently; through†¦show more content†¦Similarly, Willy distances himself from his family due to his depression that occurs because he cannot achieve his American Dream. Willy commits suicide in the end to give his sons a chance to fulfill his American Dream of financial success for him because Willy felt he was incapable. In trying to maximize his full potential, Willy lets his family down by hurting his sons’ self esteem and devastating his wife with his death. Willy never became self-actualized himself but wanted his children to continue his legacy. Both Gatsby and Willy chased after their Dream but were unable to catch it. Willy reached for financial success and social status but sacrificed love while Gatsby attained financial success, compromising his character, to reach for love. In the end, they both lose the most basic need on the hierarchy - physical health. Gatsby is murdered because he sacrifices literally everything for Daisy’s love and Willy takes his own life, frustrated because he was unable to achieve his American Dream. Both appear to die selflessly, Gatsby sacrificing himself to save Daisy and Willy committing suicide to give his children an opportunity to thrive; but in reality , their shared infatuation of the American Dream prompts them to give up their lives because they know that they will never fulfill their lives’ potential and become self-actualized. F. Scott Fitzgerald and Arthur Miller both critique the corruption of the American Dream as theShow MoreRelated The Great Gatsby - The American Dream Essay767 Words   |  4 Pagesmade by Marius Bewley’s critical essay â€Å"Scott Fitzgerald: The Apprentice Fiction†, â€Å"Fitzgerald’s ultimate subject is the character of the American Dream in which, in their respective ways, his principle heroes are all trapped.†, can be justified through Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby and his short story â€Å"Winter Dreams†. In both pieces of literature, Fitzgerald explores and comments upon Americans and their pursuit of the American Dream through Jay Gatsby and Dexter Green’s pursuit of theirRead MoreEssay On The American Dream In The Great Gatsby9 33 Words   |  4 PagesThe Great Gatsby Essay The Great Gatsby has always been a great book, but have you ever wondered what the meaning of â€Å"The American Dream† is..? To me the american dream†¦ is anyone and everyone can come here to american and achieve their goals, they can have better lives here in the US, they can be more successful when they put their minds to it. Fitzgeralds was making it seem that the rich or more money you have the happier youll be, the better off you are in life. He paints a picture makingRead MoreThe Great Gatsby American Dream Essay1940 Words   |  8 PagesKaylie Skoumal Mrs. Sabers English II 6 October 2017 Destruction of an American Dream â€Å"The American Dream is that any man or woman, despite of his or her background, can change their circumstances and rise as high as they are willing to work† (Fabrizio Moreira Quotes). Jay Gatsby believed that he could achieve his American Dream of being successful and marrying Daisy by working extremely hard in his lifetime. He labored to make a great amount of money through a disreputable way with Meyer Wolfshiem. HisRead MoreEssay on The Corruption of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby1302 Words   |  6 Pages On April 10, 1925 F. Scott Fitzgerald published The Great Gatsby, a novel that would later become one of the best known pieces of classic literature in history. However, at the time of its publication, Gatsby was fairly unpopular ad the reviews were never consistent. As shocking as it may seem, I believe it is because Fitzgerald’s intelligence and creativity levels were way ahead of his time, which is evident when one pays close at tention to the themes of the novel. ForgivenessRead MoreEssay On The American Dream In The Great Gatsby1001 Words   |  5 Pageshas been a place â€Å"where dreams come true,† from when the colonists aspired freedom and liberty to present day where Americans pursue wealth and success. However, throughout the twentieth century, this concept of the â€Å"American dream† seemed to have deceived the commonwealth as those who aspired success found themselves poor and deprived of the benefits the American dream promised them. This idea of the corruption of the American dream is prominent in the novel The Great Gatsby, as the author F. ScottRead MoreThe Great Gatsby American Dream Essay1496 Words   |  6 Pagesforward in his head like a blind man knocking over the solid furniture.† All people have their own big dreams circulating their minds and a sort of desperation to achieve them, no matter where they grow up or live, but where someone comes from might influence what it is they’re longing for. In his novel, â€Å"The Great Gatsby,† he demonstrates the delusive and far-fetched concept of the American dream in men of West Egg compared to those of the Valley of Ashes and East Egg by describing the different lifestylesRead MoreThe American Dream In The Great Gatsby Essay1158 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"It is the elusive Gatsby, the cynical idealist, who embodies America in all of its messy glory.† Clearly as Adam Cohen asserts in his New York Times article â€Å"Jay Gatsby, Dreamer, Criminal, Jazz Age Rogue, Is a Man for Our Times†, this phenomenon is indeed true in that the American Dream is presented in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby as an idea that has been depraved into a dream characterized by the constant shift in ethics and fraudulence centered around materialistic visions of opulenceRead MoreEssay On The American Dream In The Great Gatsby954 Words   |  4 PagesGatsby changed Nick’s mi nd on the American dream and what it really is.Nick’s original thoughts on the American dream â€Å"...become again that most limited of all specialists, the ‘well-rounded man.’†(Fitzgerald 6),were much like his families in the beginning.Later after the events in his time with Gatsby Nick sees the error of his ways and returns to the Midwest giving up on his bond market dream.†Gatsby was never in it for the money and this revelation eventually caused Nick to give up his questRead MoreGreat Gatsby American Dream Essay923 Words   |  4 PagesThe novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is about the struggle of achieving the American dream, and how much a person is willing to do to reach it. The book’s focus is on the obsession of Gatsby, the protagonist, and his feelings for Daisy, a married woman who he was previously involved with. The novel also focuses on Gatsby’s determination to make her fall in love with him by the gli tz of money and power. Fitzgerald uses the symbols of wealth, superficiality and irresponsibility to conveyRead MoreThe Great Gatsby and the American Dream Essay933 Words   |  4 Pagespower are the core principles of The American Dream. Pursuit of a better life led countless numbers of foreign immigrants to America desiring their chance at the vast opportunity. Reaching the American Dream is not always reaching true happiness. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby achieves the American Dream, but his unrealistic faiths in money and life’s possibilities twist his dreams and life into useless life based on lies. Jay Gatsby believes he can buy happiness. For example