Gatsbys Pursuit Of The American Dream Essays (830 words)

Gatsby's Pursuit of the American Dream The Great Gatsby, a novel by Scott Fitzgerald, is about the American Dream, and the downfall of those who attempt to reach its impossible goals. The attempt to capture the American Dream is used in many novels. This dream is different for different people; but, in The Great Gatsby, for Jay, the dream is that through wealth and power, one can acquire happiness. To get this happiness Jay must reach into the past and relive an old dream; and, in order to do this, he must have wealth and power. The American Dream had always been based on the idea that each person no matter who he or she is can become successful in life by his or her hard work. The dream also brought about the idea of a self-reliant man, a hard worker, making a successful living for him or herself. The Great Gatsby is about what happened to the American Dream in the 1920s, a time period when the many people with newfound wealth and the need to flaunt it had corrupted the dream. The pursuit of the American Dream is the one motivation for accomplishing one's goals, however when combined with wealth the dream becomes nothing more than selfishness. Jay Gatsby, the main character of the story, is one character that longs for the past. Surprisingly, he spends most of his adult life trying to recapture it and, finally, dies in this pursuit. In the past, Gatsby had a love affair with the attractive young Daisy. Knowing he could not marry her because of the difference in their social status, he leaves her to gain wealth to reach her standards. Once he acquires wealth, he moves near to Daisy, Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay (p83), and throws extravagant parties, hoping by chance she might show up at one of them. He, himself, does not attend his parties but watches them from a distance. When this dream doesn't fall into place like he planned, he asks around if anyone knows her. Soon, he meets Nick Carraway, a cousin of Daisy, who agrees to set up a meeting, He wants to know...if you'll invite Daisy to your house some afternoon and then let him come over (p83). Gatsby's personal dream symbolizes the larger American Dream where all have the opportunity to get what they want. Later, in the Plaza Hotel, Jay still believes that Daisy loves him. He is convinced of this and even takes the blame for Myrtle's death. Was Daisy driving? Yes.... But of course I'll say I was (p151). He also watches Daisy as she returns home to make sure her husband doesn't harm her. How long are you going to wait? All night if necessary (p152). Gatsby cannot accept that the past is gone and done with. He believes that he acted for her and beyond his personal interest and that that should guarantee his success. Nick attempts to show Jay that his dream is unobtainable, but Gatsby innocently replie s to Nick's comment by saying, Yes you can, old sport (p141). This shows the confidence that Jay has in fulfilling his American Dream. For Jay, his American Dream is not material possessions, although it plays a big part in the fulfillment of his true American Dream, Daisy. Gatsby does not rest until his American Dream is finally fulfilled. However, it never comes about and he ends up paying the ultimate price for it. Gatsby's own characteristics, especially his obsession, contributed to his fate. Despite his attitude toward Daisy and her friends who are rich and play polo together, he, too, has been drawn in by the lure of money and fame. Unable to control his obsessive desire to have daisy, he cares little about the means by which he acquires the money to marry her. He associates with known criminals, appears to be involved with bootlegging, and is rumored to have killed a man. Finally, he lies about himself and his family to get Nick's help for his quest. The means he uses to achieve his goal ends up to be everything that he despises about the people who come to his parties. He prefers the

ETHICS AND PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY IN LEGAL PRACTICE essays

ETHICS AND PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY IN LEGAL PRACTICE essays In the decades following the Nazi Holocaust of World War II, endeavored to understand the psychology behind mass acceptance of and in large-scale moral atrocities. In 1967, Burt Ross' controversial "Wave" into group identification and blind obedience using high school students to offer insight into Nazi Germany. In 1972, Stanley Milgram designed a (filmed) experiments at Yale University, which dramatically illustrated the susceptibility of otherwise "normal" individuals to perpetrate brutality was ever conducted on the post-war German population, for whom the was initially intended (Luban, p.97). Almost simultaneously, in 1971, Philip Zimbardo conducted another (filmed) experiments at Stanford University that were originally designed investigate the effects of captivity. Unexpectedly, they revealed dramatic relating to the intoxicating power of authority and the acceptance of behavioral realities that had to be terminated very prematurely for the and emotional well being of some of the subjects. Indeed, Zimbardo was so concerned about potential long term psychological trauma from the study maintained regular, periodic consultations with the participants for afterwards. Zimbardo's famous experiment involved the creation of a using undergraduates assigned randomly to be prisoners and prison guards. Under subsequent analysis, the revelations of all these pioneering the roles played by agency, authority, obedience, corruption of judgment, cognitive dissonance theory in human behavior suggest that as many as two- the human population is capable of accepting and participating in horrific conduct under the right circumstances and external influences. The also consistent with the findings of Hannah Arendt (Luban, p.104) who the notorious Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann prior to his execution in Israel. In the everyday practice of law, these principles regularly in...