IB Lit and Lang Blog 13: Breathing dreams like air...

To me, the American Dream is having an abundance of opportunities that would allow a person to soar above the average person, allowing them to gain happiness above where they were before, and possibly even gain a large amount of wealth. And by wealth, I mean having an abundance of money or valuable possessions, like jewelry. Almost every American wishes to become wealthy sometime in their lives. It seems to bring happiness to those who have it, which makes sense because they won't need to worry about material problems, like bills or debt. Some wealthy people, however, don't say being wealthy solves all of your problems, rather they say it can cause more problems. For example, those people could possibly have thieves constantly trying to take their money, while others may have family members who only like them anymore because they believe they will give them money. Once you have money, it seems like all of your problems will go away, however, it can cause some unforeseen consequences as well. However, in the culture surrounding the time when The Great Gatsby came out, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it seems like the inhabitants of that time period would have rather gotten wealth and deal with the consequences later, probably not caring enough that there even is consequences.

I certainly don't care about the consequences, I wish to be wealthy, and I'm sure lots of high school students do as well. However, it wouldn't be worth while without any friends or family to experience anything with. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby has built himself up in the years after he met Daisy, but after he was already wealthy, the only thing he actually desired was Daisy. Even after Daisy ran over Myrtle in his car, he was ready to throw away his life for the woman he loved.