The Illusion Of The American Dream
The United States of America in the early to mid twentieth century was a period of dynamic nature. There were times of war, followed by times of prosperity. The United States was constantly changing, and were viewed as a heroic and beautiful country of new opportunities and flourishing life. These ideals were the grounds on which the American Dream was born. In that time the American Dream was defined as success through material gain, a speculation of the Dream that still remains today. What is the American Dream truly, and is it really attainable? In the two works of literature The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the ideals of The American Dream are thoroughly portrayed.
In most popular terms, The American Dream is mostly perceived as its definition from James Truslow Adams, which he states in one of his works as “That dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.” This simply means that everyone’s life should be great and full of wealth, with endless opportunities. It represents the idea that anyone can be happy with a wealthy life, regardless of social class or birth circumstances so long as you worked hard and persevered through the hard times of your career. The American Dream was not about the brand new shiny car, the white picket fence, and the stacks of money, It was that any man or woman from anywhere could come to this amazing country of opportunity and build a life of grandeur from nothing. Nowadays, The American Dream seems to have evolved into not a pursuit of happiness, but a pursuit of things we believe will make us happy, such as material gain. Modern Americans spend countless hours day and night trying to work towards their goals of prosperity, the image of wealth, and their materialistic needs, even if it means the deterioration of their own health and the relationships they have.
In Death of a Salesman, the American Dream embodies the main character Willy Loman, and his story of his life as a traveling salesman. The story takes place in the late 1940s, meaning the country had just come out of World War II. The country at this time was extremely prideful, the economy was booming and raining prosperousness onto a majority of United States citizens. This time itself was a time of material gain, wealth, and happiness, the envisioned “American Dream”, that the United States was the best, and could shape world peace, everyone wanted to be the most successful and outgoing they could be. Media bred the idea that anyone could be wealthy and successful and obtain their wildest dreams into the heads of the citizens of America, following the ideals to work hard, be well liked, and keep your head up. Unfortunately, too much pride can get in the way of achieving the American Dream, and cause downfall in one’s self.
Willy Loman is the perfect example of this, as his actions throughout the novel are what causes him to never achieve his American Dream, even though he thinks he knows the keys to success, happiness, and the Dream. Willy pressed to his sons that the keys to attaining the American Dream were to be well liked, and to be attractive to those around you. He lived by those beliefs his entire life, and believed himself to be successful even though he isn’t. He envies those who are more successful than him, like his neighbor and his brother who gained a fortune as a result of “luck”. These ideals however are ridiculous, as being attractive and well-liked can only get someone so far, there’s no hard work or perseverance in being carried by your social prowess or physical appearance. Envy and jealousy gets one nowhere in life, one has to create their own luck and success in this world.
Society of Willy’s time had obsessions regarding delusions of grandeur, which in turn was Willy’s biggest flaw. His delusions of grandeur made him lose touch with his entire reality, living within his own little fake world of success. These ideals of the American Dream that society imposed upon itself is the cause of these delusions. Everyone was thought to become successful, and prosper from the booming economy, and have a great life. Willy wanted his family to have everything they ever wanted, he wanted to buy his sons houses, his wife a new car. Willy didn’t think happiness was attainable without these material things until it was too late.
Willy’s failures come from his obsession with the American Dream, and with Dave Singleman, who in turn was Willy’s American Dream. He cheated on his wife in order to feel more “well-liked”, one of his ideals that he associates to being successful. His ideals that being well-liked and attractive are also the reason why his sons aren’t successful either. His Dream is superficial and materialistic, thus unattainable in most circumstances. He lives in lies and is eventually called out for it by his son Biff. He tells Willy the truth about himself and his brother, how they’re both nothing special and won’t obtain Willy’s dream. Willy, in order to evade this reality, plans to commit suicide so that his family can have the insurance money in his death, envisioning himself as a martyr.
It’s sad that Willy believed that everything he did was bringing him closer to his American Dream when in fact he was only digging himself deeper away from it. His obsessions with attaining his idea of the Dream have pulled him away from a life of unconditional love and support from his family, and freedom from all of his insecurities, which could be his real happy life, thus his real American Dream. Instead, Willy let his materialistic desires lead him to failure. He never obtained the American Dream of happiness and prosperity because he didn’t know the true meaning of it, and was only chasing his materialistic and selfish desires his entire life rather than looking past the them and living a happy life with his family. One could say Willy believed too much in the American Dream, but it was only the way he picture the American Dream that made it impossible to reach.
The Great Gatsby is another great portrayal of the many point of views of the American Dream. The American Dream in this book is corrupted by the circumstances that embody 1920’s New York and Long Island. The 1920’s, popularly known as the “Roaring 20’s” when the book takes place, was a period of social change, growth of population, consumerism, and entertainment. Along with those changes, the ‘20’s were filled with issues including foreign immigration, racial discrimination, and women’s rights. The Great Gatsby is narrated from the view of Nick Carraway, a man from out of the area coming to New York to gain his American Dream after fighting in World War I and earning his education at college. He meets and befriends Jay Gatsby, a wealthy young man living in a gothic mansion known for throwing extravagant parties every weekend, who becomes close to Nick in an effort to be with the love of his life Daisy, who happens to be Nick’s cousin. The American Dream is dissected and portrayed in different ways within the book.
Nick Carraway, the narrator of the book, leaves his homeplace in order to travel to New York to obtain his wealth and learn about the bond business in pursuit of reaching the American Dream. He moves to West Egg, a town for the newly rich, with connections in East Egg, the nicer area of the two belonging to the upper class. The book displays materialism on a large scale straight from the get-go. Most of the characters are wealthy, self-indulgent people lacking in morals. The American Dream is supposed to be a journey of independence, finding oneself, and creating a life from hard work, but a lot of the characters were born into wealth, with the exception of Jay Gatsby. The American Dream in this book portrays more of a strive for materialism and pleasure, rather than more meaningful things.
Jay Gatsby is perhaps the stark contrast to the American Dream in his own way, throwing constant extravagant parties, his crimes, and using his materialism to obtain his goals. Once an honest man, he worked on a farm for a millionaire, where he vowed to obtain great wealth. Jay moved to New York for the same reasons as Nick, to obtain his wealth and achieve his American Dream of wealth and happiness. He then befriended Meyer Wolfsheim, who helped him make his fortune in the sale of illegal bootlegged liquor, thus starting Jay’s life of dishonesty and his pursuit for empty pleasure in entertainment and parties. He used his wealth to throw giant parties in order to gain the attention of his love, Daisy, and one could say that Daisy was Jay’s American Dream.
Gatsby’s downfall lies also in Daisy herself. Daisy was ruined for Jay when she ran over Myrtle then fled the crime scene. Daisy is a representation of the American Dream for Gatsby, as Gatsby represents society of the time, the embodiment of money and pleasure, the same virtues that ruined the American Dream. Gatsby’s tenacity to recreate his past with Daisy let him to crumble when his dream was unfulfilled. The relationship between Daisy and Gatsby is a symbol for the dying virtues of the original American Dream, now turning into a pursuit of materialistic gain instead of freedom, wealth, and happiness.
F. Scott Fitzgerald himself obtained the true American Dream, working hard and overcoming hardships to get to success. He defined the American Dream as the pursuit of happiness, and discovery in oneself. He watched the real American Dream fall to the temptations of the 1920’s in the form of money and empty pleasures, Fitzgerald himself falling into the glories of fame and fortune. Fitzgerald’s experiences during this time had probably prompted him to write The Great Gatsby, knowing firsthand what the feeling of wealth in the 1920’s feels like, realizing that the advancement of our country cannot be stopped, and that the American Dream was destroyed. This is apparent by the quote by Nick Carraway in the book “tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms further…And on fine morning – / So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” (Fitzgerald 172) Meaning the country will always want more, constantly moving forward to achieve our goals.
With that being said, what is the American Dream truly? Is it gone? Does it work? The truth is, the American Dream is very much alive. The American Dream is everything one aspires to be in life, some people come from nothing, others come from wealth, but the American Dream is the collectiveness of everyone wanting to be something or someone in this country. The American Dream is a journey. It is a journey to find oneself and to find one’s place in this country, and so long as one is honest with good intentions, they will make it in this world.