Year 12 English IA1: Interpretation of American Dream Analysis

This essay delves into the multifaceted interpretation of the American Dream, examining its representation in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, and the documentary, Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream. The analysis explores how these texts portray the ideals of the American Dream, emphasizing themes of social mobility, economic disparity, and the impact of class and societal barriers on individual aspirations. The essay highlights how The Great Gatsby critiques the superficiality and disillusionment of the dream, while the documentary exposes the widening gap between the affluent and the less fortunate, questioning the accessibility of the American Dream in contemporary society. The essay further examines the role of corruption and the influence of the wealthy on political and social structures, ultimately concluding that the pursuit of equality and the fulfillment of the American Dream have been significantly hampered by societal inequalities.

Running head: INTERPRETATION OF AMERICAN DREAM
INTERPRETATION OF AMERICAN DREAM
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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The American Dream is one of the most coveted aspirations that are held by the residents
of the country where the reference is towards the national ethos as maintained by the residents of
the United States of America. The concept of the American Dream emphasizes that the residents
of the country make attempts to maintain a proper set of ideals and aspire to attain a proper
freedom of providing the youth of the country with the required amount of success and the
prosperity as well as the improvement of the social status that is gained by the concerned
individual. One of the major national documents that support the American Dream is the
Declaration of Independence belonging to the United States of America. The Declaration of
Independence establishes the fact that all the residents of the country tend to follow the standard
of equality. The following paper attempts a discussion on the representation of the American
Dream as have been presented within the novel The Great Gatsby and the documentary, Park
Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream. The attempt of the discussion would also
include the lens of race and the class in its dealing.
The Great Gatsby is one of the celebrated novels that had been penned down by the
famous American author, Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. The novelist through this novel
emphasizes how the concept of ‘American Dream’ experienced a metaphorical death. The novel
dismantles the overarching view of the American Society where the popular belief that allows
one to overcome their earlier stage of pathos with their hard work. As such, the attributes of the
hard work erase out the factors creating disparity among the individuals. However, the novel
breaks the myth by its dealing of the factors of the discrimination like the ones of cast, class and
economic background. The novel states the fact that the United States of America presents to the
residents the opportunity to have a better position within the society on the basis of the merit that
they demonstrate. Therefore, the novel further emphasizes on the issues that are related to the

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changes in the financial status of the protagonist. This is revealed through “Anything can happen
now that we’ve slid over this bridge,’ I thought; ‘anything at all…’ Even Gatsby could happen,
without any particular wonder.” By the placing the novel in the context of 1920, it was merely
impossible for the novelist to present in front of the reader a positive view regarding the
American Dream, which is otherwise flowery.
The barrier of the cast and class in the course of the novel has been experienced through the
character of Daisy who has been perceived by Gatsby as the personification of the American
Dream. Conditions of economic disparity along with the factors of the wealth and class, which
was rendered in excessive prominence after the first world war has prevented a certain section of
the society from achieving their desired and social and economic class. The dreams of the
characters of the novel shatters under the tragic circumstances that moves on to shatter the
pessimistic view concerned with the American dream in General. The barrier of the class and
societal background can also be understood through the character of Myrtle who was looking
forward to improve their economic condition through her relationship with Tom. Similllary the
cast and the societal based differences that Gatsby nurtured between him and Daisy prevented
him from achieving what he had desired. As such, the novel in its conclusion sheds light on the
death of the American Dream as was maintained by the residents of the country in the early
twentieth century. The metaphorical death can therefore be noted in “We drew in deep
breaths...as we walked back...through the cold vestibules, unutterably aware of our identity with
this country for one strange hour, before we melted indistinguishably into it again”.
On the other hand, the movie, Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream,
sheds further light on the huge gap between the affluent and the non-affluent classes of the
society. The director and filmmaker, Alex Gibney has successfully portrayed the difference that

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have been persistent in terms of the financial status that is enjoyed by the people belonging to the
rich and the poor classes within the society. The movie emphasizes the huge amount of the
corruption that is presented within the American Society where the financial upper class of the
society seek to resort to corruption in order to remain in the position of financial power. Concern
of the movie is the gap between the rich and the poor as it has been increasing all over due to the
influence they exert on the governmental decision making by the virtue of their power and their
financial status. The movie states that though the country had been built upon the belief that the
residents of the country would be capable of attaining a better and lucrative position within the
society with the help of the skills and the dedication to their respective jobs the factors of
disparity and discrimination has proved otherwise. However, with the passage of time it has been
observed that the country has been straying away from the initial understanding of the American
Dream. The present conditions of the country as revealed within the documentary state that the
country has been turning into “a place where money buys everything” which indicates the nature
of corruption present in the society of the contemporary time. The documentary states that
though the Americans root in the capability of hard work for climbing the social ladders, yet
achieving the American Dream has not been an easy feat in the modern times.
The documentary discusses the fact that the present day residents of the country have
been known to undertake the issues that are related to the achievement of the American Dream.
The movie showcased the fact that the differences within the American society are aggravated
due to the influences of the affluent classes on the governmental bodies that are present within
the country. The demonstration of the American society as is observed within the documentary
highlights the fact that the major barrier to the achievement of the American Dream refers to the
barrier in terms of the financial classes that have been creating a divide among the residents of

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the nation. This bears a similarity to the issues that had been put forth by Francis Scott Key
Fitzgerald in his celebrated novel, The Great Gatsby. The movie insists on the fact that the rich
people within the society have been taking advantage of their affluence in order to help in the
promotion of the laws and the regulations that would be working in their favor and would thus
help them in improving their wealthy nature. The documentary sheds major light on the fact that
the corruption in the arena of the political matters has been affecting the youth of the nation in a
negative manner. This in turn has been affecting the deterioration of the achievement of the
American Dream of equality.
The above discussion states the fact that the overall understanding of the concept of the
American Dream has been halted due to the overall increase in the corruption that is existent
within the American society. The United States of America presents to the residents the
opportunities to have a better position within the society on the basis of the merit that they
demonstrate. The country had been built upon the belief that the residents of the country would
be capable of attaining a better and lucrative position within the society with the help of the skills
and the dedication to their respective jobs. Thus it can be concluded that the present day society
has been lacking in the achievement of the equality as is demonstrated through the concept of the
American Dream.

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