Essay | Literature and the American Dream

The American dream, as it developed in the nineteenth century, was based on the assumption that each person, no matter what his origin, could succeed in life on the sole basis of his skill and effort. Jay Gatsby thought he had everything in life figured out. He thought he could pretend to be someone is really not, and he would win back the love of his life. Willy Loman was a hard working middle-class man whose search for other people's dreams instead of creating his own lead to his demise. Through the course of each man's pitiful life we see that when wealth is used as an object that sets a standard, it can become destructive and the American dream can turn into the American nightmare.

Gatsby knows he needs to fulfill the American dream of becoming wealthy in order to win Daisy's love. It...
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