In The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald, every character in one way or another is in pursuit of happiness in their lives. All three of the literary sources agree that even though the main characters in Fitzgerald’s novel are attempting to improve their lives, the harsh reality of life eventually ruins the American Dream they are all pursuing. The primary source “The Failure of the 'American Dream' in the Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald” not only provides reputable evidence that points to the failure of the American Dream in the lives of the novel’s characters, but also elaborates the “American Dream and its origin” as well.
As described in the primary source, the American Dream is all about being successful despite the odds, about becoming more than what we should be, rather than emphasizing on what we could be. The primary source provides versions of each character’s American Dream and shows how they fail at achieving it, thus validating the thesis of the failure of the American Dream in the novel. The secondary sources provide supporting context by highlighting the different cultural elements reflected in the novel that resulted in the downfall of the American Dream in the 1920s, and how the novel’s characters are consequently affected by them.
In conclusion, each of these three sources has its own relevance and significance with regards to the topic. Tobias Bumm’s book provides the most in-depth inside into the failure of the American Dream in the Great Gatsby. Donaldson, in his article, he writes about the “growth of a leisure” (Donaldson, 8) that led to the Demise of the American dream in the 1920s and in the lives of the novel’s characters. Allen’s article presents the historical facts that support the accuracy of the incorporation of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby, thus supporting the other two sources and strengthening the thesis.
Works Cited
Allen, Frederick Lewis. Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2010. Print.
Bumm, Tobias. The failure of the 'American Dream' in the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald. GRIN Verlag, 2007. Print.
Donaldson, Scott. "Possessions in the Great Gatsby."Southern Review. 37.2 (2001): 187. Print.
