Gatsby: AO3 The American Dream Flashcards
What did Fitzgerald originally want The Great Gatsby to be titled?
Under the red, white, and blue.
How did James Truslow Adams describe the American Dream?
„Better, richer, and happier life“
What did Jim Cullen say about the American Dream?
Ambiguity is the very source of the mythic power of the American Dream.
What are some interesting notes about the American Dream?
- Contains the possibility of renewal and reinvention.
- Obsession with newness obscures the way it excludes so many.
- It operates a nostalgic place between optimism and realism.
- Is fundamentally meretricious.
What is the fundamental flaw of the American Dream?
It is something only those with privilege can access.
How does this quote link to the American Dream „I was a guide, a path finder, an original settler“?
Here, Nick describes himself in terms of the American Dream. Ironic as he does not start from nothing as the myth of the Dream states. Nick has starting capital - from father, yet describes himself as a pioneer.
What does Gatsby‘s Mansion Symbolise?
The American Dream and the unlimited potential for growth.
How does the ending of the novel link to the American Dream?
-Erasure, links to theme of reinvention.
-Nick erases the obscene word from Gatsby‘s steps - trying to return to an earlier time.
What is some key symbolic imagery in the text which links to the American Dream?
-The Egg: Representative of a new beginning, and the optimism of the American Dream.
-Names: Carraway - seed with the potential for growth, Daisy and Myrtle - plants with the potential growth. Links to central theme of growth within the American Dream = the growth of the self and of material possession and status.
Explain the retrospective nature of the American Dream.
Nicks vision of new world America - captured through the eyes of old world Europeans. The American dream represents the essential longing to return back to the state of hope felt by the pioneers and colonisers seeing land for the first time. The dream is retrospective and there is a sense that Americas best days are in the past. Links to Gatsby’s inescapable sense of the past.
What is the dichotomy of the American dream?
It pulls in two directions at once - the past and present.
What does The Great Gatsby recognise?
That the meretricious dream Gatsby pursues no longer exists.
