The Demise of the 1920s American Dream in The Great Gatsby - InfoRefuge.com - 0 views
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the perception of the American Dream was that an individual can achieve success in life regardless of family history or social status if they only work hard enough.
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Gatsby epitomizes the idea of self-made success; he is successful financially and socially and he essentially created an entirely new persona for himself from his underprivileged past. All of the wealth and status which Gatsby acquired, that while on the surface made his life appear to be the precise definition of the American Dream were actually elements which led to it’s demise.
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“The culture of consumption on exhibit in The Great Gatsby was made possible by the growth of a leisure class in early-twentieth-century America. As the novel demonstrates, this development subverted the foundations of the Protestant ethic, replacing the values of hard work and thrifty abstinence with a show of luxury and idleness.” (Donaldson, 8)
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What Donaldson is implying here, is that the sudden wealth that many Americans began to acquire caused leisure and idleness to replace traditional ethics like hard work as qualities that were admired. None of the characters in The Great Gatsby seemed to care much about hard work once they had achieved their material goals.
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The show of luxury and idleness that Donaldson talks about is best shown in Fitzgerald’s portrayal of Gatsby’s home and parties that for Gatsby were merely devices he used in a naïve attempt to win Daisy. Although he loves her, he undeniably also sees her as a material commodity, much the way he views his home.
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This site discusses The Great Gatsby as a image of the culture of the 1920s, including the significance of the automobiles and the american dream. Gatsby's objectification of people and need for material gain to reach his goals is connected to the growth of the leisure class during this time period, which is dubbed "a culture of consumption."