13721987 the evolution of the american dream

8/3/2019 13721987 the Evolution of the American Dream

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William Lin

Melanie Hernandez

ENGL 250 C

5 March 2009

Response Paper 2

The Evolution of the American Dream

The Western American frontier was filled with plentiful opportunities that have been

romanticized in much of American frontier literature. The American frontier was a place where

the individual can stake out his own land and develop a personality of his own, away from the

influences of the urban culture. He had the prospect of making himself into the hero, one that he

always wanted to be, whether it be the romanticized cowboys of the Wild West, the humble gold

miner who made himself a fortune in a gold rush, or the man who helped defend his own home

against marauding Native Americans. No matter what type of identity the American

frontiersman chose, his individuality remained engrained in the mindset of Americans and

survived as the urban environment crept westward with the settlers across the nation. The

Western American frontier transformed into the American Dream, which, in turn, gave way to

diverse frontiers for social and political change.

The frontier gave Americans numerous new opportunities to satisfy their American

Dreams. People trying to pursue the American Dream often sought wealth, new social status,

and new work ethics to help them advance in society. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott

Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby told Nick Carraway that his family all died and [he] came into a good

deal of money (Fitzgerald 65). Although Gatsbys wealth was inherited, he used this wealth as

stepping stones to improve his life rather than squander it away in lifestyles of immorality like

many nouveau riche did during the Jazz Age. In addition, Gatsbys place as a colossal affair by


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any standard it was a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on

one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more

than forty acres of lawn and garden (5). And in Absalom, Absalom, by William Faulkner,

Thomas Sutpen, imported slaves and even hired a French architect to build his mansion, carried

plank by plank and brick by brick out of the swamp where the clay and timber waitedsave for

the windowglass and the ironware which they could not make by hand (Faulkner 28). Both

Gatsby and Sutpen used their newly acquired wealth to build themselves the mansion that they

had always wanted. They did not listen to others as to what to do with their wealth; instead, they

used their assets to create what they had in mind, what they had idealized as part of their

American Dream. Their newly acquired properties not only served as a comfortable home, but

they also served as a symbol of their wealth and new social status in society. In The Great

Gatsby, after Gatsby was murdered by George Wilson, Mr. Gatz, Gatsbys father, showed Nick

an entry Gatsby wrote on the back cover of a book when Gatsby was a boy. There, Gatsby had

written his schedule for the date of September 12, 1906, and underneath his schedule, he had also

listed general resolves such as No wasting time at Shafters or No more smokeing or

chewing Bath every other day Read one improving book or magazine per week Save

$3.00 per week [and] be better to parents (Fitzgerald 173). It is with this mindset that Gatsby

was able to succeed in society and attain his new social status and wealth. Many people often

choose to simply sit back and waste their lives away while still dreaming about a perfect

lifestyle; however, without work, nothing will be accomplished and definitely not the American

Dream. Gatsby, as shown through his book cover entry and resolves, understands that he needs

to work in order to achieve what he wants most. He knows that it is only through his resolve that

he can break the bad habits that prevent him from attaining this adapted version of the American

Dream. Americans had many opportunities presented to them in the frontier, but it is only


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through hard work and a resolve to improve their lifestyle and personal habits that they are able

to succeed in their goals.

As new frontiers were opened to Americans, the nation grew in many ways. After the

Armistice of World War One, America distanced itself from other nations, and this spacing

allowed America to develop a unique culture and identity. In The Great Gatsby, which takes

place during the Jazz Age, many Americans were reveling in their newly acquired wealth;

however, this wealth also led to some of the decline in morals. Unbeknownst to George Wilson,

his wife Myrtle and Tom Buchanan are involved in an affair that Daisy Buchanan knows about,

but Daisy resolves not to take action. Everyone seems to know about this affair, but nobody

seems to care enough to do anything about it, which shows that people during the Jazz Age did

not feel that they had a moral obligation to correct people traveling on an immoral track.

Immorality covered more ground than illicit affairs, Tom said Gatsby, and this Wolfsheim

bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the

counter [and that Tom] picked him for a bootlegger the first time [he] saw [Gatsby]

(133). The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution and the Volstead Act of 1919 prohibited

the manufacturing and sales of liquor in the United States and as a result, early bootleggers

smuggled foreign-made liquor into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico and from ships anchored

in international waters. Later sources included medicinal whiskey, denatured alcohol, and the

manufacture of corn liquor (bootlegging 1). Bootlegging also led to the increase of organized-

crime whose job was to formulate and give out this illegal liquor in places like restaurants to

speakeasies, which were popular during the Jazz Age because they sold liquor illegally.

Prohibition was eventually repealed by the Twenty-first Amendment in 1933, but by that time,

America had already established its organized-crime ring, which now focused on other tasks

other than distributing liquor, and this crime organization became a blemish in the American


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identity. However, this social blemish is also a crucial factor in why America is the way it is

today. Many Americans are plagued by dishonesty and selfishness, as shown by the recent

breakdowns in the financial system due to fraudulent rules. The executives of the major banks,

like the bootleggers, designed rules to simply rake in the profits in the form of ridiculously huge

salaries and absurdly oversized bonuses but ignored the consequences of these rules. Even after

the United States government bailed them out of their financial pit, they continued to keep a lot

of the bailout money for themselves without telling taxpayers or the government rather than use

it the way they are supposed to. Although not a crime, the executives pursuit of the American

Dream have caused them to choose dishonest means with which to acquire their wealth.

The American Dream also brought about many racial, political, and cultural complexes

and stereotypes. In Absalom, Absalom, the slave team that Sutpen brought with him, could

speak no English yet and doubtless there were more than Akers who did not know that the

language in which they and Sutpen communicated was a sort of French and not some dark and

fatal tongue of their own (Faulker 27). The people of Jefferson, Mississippi, presumed that the

language Thomas Sutpen and his slaves spoke was undoubtedly a dialect that was

unsophisticated, unrefined, and contrary to his supposed stature in society. In addition, Faulker

described numerous times in the novel the racial categorization that was common in the South,

such as the dilution of races: one-eighth black, one-fourth black, etc. In addition, Thomas Sutpen

brought over a French architect all the way from Martinique on Sutpens bare promise (26).

Sutpen did not know how to furnish a house the size of which he now possessed and decided to

hire a French architect so as to make the house not seem gaudy. Sutpen realizes that he does not

know about the new social status he has entered and thus requests help to make himself more

fitting of his new social standing, and in this aspect, he hires a French architect who was familiar


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with the tastes of the upper class to design his materialistic properties to fit the upper class

stereotype and make them not seem awkwardly extravagant.

The American Dream, like the American frontier, was often romanticized by literature.

In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrays America in the Jazz Age mostly through the viewpoint

of Nick, whose activities are mostly involved with the rich like Tom and those rising in wealth

like Gatsby. Rarely does Fitzgerald refer to the poor or describe their lifestyles; only in two

sections of the book is the poor life described, mostly through the viewpoint of George Wilson.

In real American life during the Jazz Age, however, the poor consisted of most of the American

population and they were the ones who helped bring the rich their newly acquired status. On the

other hand, in Absalom, Absalom, Faulkner gives us a gritty, realistic look at American life in the

South. The American Dream is not all a smooth cruise in the way that Fitzgerald describes, but

this rip is more like Faulkners portrayal, where numerous troubles spring up as obstacles in the

pathway of achieving a persons goal, like in the case of Sutpen. However, because of the

persistence and the popularity of the Romanticized American Dream, this was the view that

eventually came to define the American Dream and in many cases still does. This stereotype

gives Americans the courage to pursue their dreams; today, Americans have the idea that they

have to be the ones to police the world because the American Dream is based on freedom and

opportunities, and everyone else should share in the same bountiful lifestyle. Americans still

desire the perfect life full of liberty, freedom, and opportunities in the American Dream, and the

noble idea that the world should share the American way of life has helped define the current

American foreign policy. This foreign policy is what has helped rank our nation as the greatest

nation on Earth.

During the Jazz Age, when the pursuit of the American Dream was at its peak with home

purchasing, banking, cars, luxuries, novelty items, and even bootlegging, societal roles were


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formed and the walls dividing the hierarchy of American society become porous. In The Great

Gatsby, Nicks own house was an eyesore, but it was a small eyesore, and it had been

overlooked, so [he] had a view of the water, a partial view of my neighbors lawn, and the

consoling proximity of millionaires all for eighty dollars a month (Fitzgerald 5). Nick was

not just materialistically mobile in that he lived among millionaires, he was also socially mobile.

Although he is a member of the middle class trying to raise his social stature, he had the freedom

to interact with the nouveau riche and the upper class. And during Gatsbys parties, it does not

seem that Gatsby cared about who was there, only that they are relatively well dressed and there

to have fun. Although the hierarchy in society has been broken down, the genders are still

expected to fill their socially expected roles. In The Great Gatsby, when her daughter was born,

Daisy said, I hope shell be a fool thats the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful

little fool (17). Daisy is a girl who understands what it is to be an individual but is unable to

escape the gender roles imposed upon her. So she says that innocence is bliss and hopes that her

daughter will never have to suffer the mental entrapment she is experiencing. Women during the

Jazz Age were expected to be relatively meek and ignorant; although Daisy acts timid and nave

to fill her role as a wife, she understands that although she has the materialistic aspects of the

American Dream, she does not have the emotional side in that her husband is unfaithful. Her

character is more complex to be more than a mere wife; women, not just the men, are often too

involved in affairs of the heart, such as her small affair with Gatsby. Her suffering stems from

the fact that she sees the rules society has imposed upon women to hold them down beneath their

level and realizes that her daughter must be that beautiful fool society expects her to be in order

to have the freedom to enjoy the American Dream rather than suffer in an invisible, emotional

prison. Although there were strict societal roles and freedom to move among the hierarchy of

American society, Americans were still drawn into immorality and dishonesty, a cost that they


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have to pay to attain their American Dream.

The American Dream was an offspring of the American frontier. This Dream was

pursued by many Americans in various ways through purchasing materialistic properties or

gaining intellectual assets in methods both honest and immoral. Gatsby himself attained his

materialistic American Dream but was unable to achieve his emotional and mental dream, but at

the end, he decided to give up on his hunt and simply enjoy what he had. The American Dream

came at a relatively high cost to American society, moral and social decay sprung up and became

the parasite of society, eating into the lives of many people, mostly the upper class. Heavy

drinking became the norm, cheating among couples was widespread and not halted even by those

who still had moral sense, and bootlegging became the career of once-honest people reaching for

a piece of the American Dream. The frontier mindset of being the one who can overcome all

difficulties and also spread his lifestyle to others still lives among Americans. Our current

foreign policy is heavily based upon that mindset, with our military and political assets seeking

to spread and in some cases even forcing the American democracy on the world when it did not

want it. Freedom does not come without a cost, and our now-global pursuit of the American

Dream also does not come free.

Works Cited


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"bootlegging." Encyclopdia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopdia Britannica Online. 03 Mar.

2009 .

Faulkner, William. Absalom, Absalom. New York: Vintage, 1986.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 1925.

13721987 the evolution of the american dream

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