American Dream Essays

Dan Rather, the author of The American Dream: Stories from the Heart of a Nation writes about Trung Dung an Internet millionaire. He states that the term Internet millionaire became an obsession with the new economy. He mentioned that they were business heroes and guided American dreams of materialism. In …

What is the “American Dream”? When people from oppressed lands hear America, they immediately think of jobs and freedom, an opportunity to begin a new life. They imagine a place in which the streets are literally paved in gold, and they dream of a country where everyone is treated equal. …

David Trask once said, commenting on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby that “The Great Gatsby is about many things, but it is inescapably a general critique of the ‘American Dream’ and also of the ‘agrarian myth’ – a powerful demonstration of their invalidity for Americans of Fitzgerald’s generation and after.” …

Anyone can succeed through hard work and persistence. That was the original American Dream, and that notion has somewhat been at the heart of American culture through history. However, composers F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of ‘The Great Gatsby’ (1926), and Sam Mendes, director of the movie ‘American Beauty’ (1999), explain …

In the classic film Citizen Kane, director Orson Welles introduces the idea of the American Dream: a life of success and wealth. One’s formal expectation of this theme would be that of a perfect family life, large amounts of money, a successful career and ultimately, happiness. Welles redefined these expectations …

A truly great work of literature would allow a reader to compare and/or contrast any of the book’s characters–static or rounded–without much trouble. This is the case in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The book’s title character, Gatsby, is easily compared to Tom Buchanan. Their fruitless pursuance of …

In Pursuit of the American Dream The American Dream for the average slave was simple in mind, yet incredibly difficult to achieve. This basic dream was freedom, something we have lived with for all of our lives. To a slave, this is usually nothing more than a dream, one that …

Fitzgerald not only condemns the American Dream but sets the death and downfall of the American Dream as the primary theme of the novel. Throughout the novel Fitzgerald deliberately makes all characters with money appear to be unhappy, dysfunctional, snobbish, and immoral, thus contradicting the stereotyped idea of the American …

Failure of the American Dream The setting is in Long Island, New York on the parts of East Egg and West Egg. West Egg is home of the “new” rich people and East Egg is home to the distinguished rich families. Nick Carraway has just moved into his new shack …

One of the main themes in the play Death of a Salesman is the American Dream. The philosophy of the American Dream originated in the early twentieth century when many immigrants came to America in search of economic opportunities and a better life. The protagonist, Willy thinks that to achieve …