In my opinion, the American Dream is for America to have land from sea to shining sea. Oh wait, no, that's Manifest Destiny. Oops. The American dream probably has something to do with freedom and eagles. America isn't complete without freedom or eagles. If I had to put a definition to the American Dream it would be that any individual has the freedom and opportunity to succeed and move up on the social ladder for the sake of their family through the means of hard work and eagles. (Okay, maybe not eagles).
Excluding the part about eagles, this definition is very solid. It's basically the opportunity to remake yourself into a better self. Like what young little James Gatz does in order to become Jay (the great) Gatsby. He seizes his opportunity to change his life when he made the decision to save Dan Cody from his sinking yacht. James Gatz saw the dream laid out in front of him and had the courage to grab it.
One can't talk about America without talking about wealth and greed, because apparently (according to our neighborhood french person) America and greed go hand in hand. As much as freedom and eagles. My definition of wealth is a large some of something. I personally do not think wealth has to be directly associated to money. One can be wealthy in experiences or wealthy in number two pencils.
Of course, my definition doesn't exactly correlate with that of The Great Gatsby. That type of wealth is more materialistic. The characters in Gatsby are all about money. One of their defining traits are whether or not they had new money, old money, or any money at all. Money defined everything for a person. In my eyes Daisy chose Tom over Gatsby, because his money was more secure than his. How Gatsby got his new money was shifty and could fade any minute, Tom was safe. Aside from Daisy, everyone in the 1920s wanted money. Everyone wanted to have a luxury of being rich and getting whatever whenever. Many people attended Gatsby's parties just for that feeling.
American's attitude towards wealth, speaking strictly about money, is simple. Most people crave it. People want to be wealthy and that might be a generalization, but it's something that I've seen and heard everywhere. Part of the American Dream is to move up the social ladder. People want to be famous and wealthy like celebrities. They crave that high profile, simple, luxurious lifestyle. It's no coincidence that our neighborhood friendly french girl associated America with greed and money on the spot. Everyone wants it.
As for poverty, It's different. A lot of people care that there's a lot of poverty in America. Or at least they put up a front that they do. Poverty is something that people will acknowledge and say that something should be done about it, but most of the time nobody would do anything about it. In The Great Gatsby Tom was fully aware that Myrtle, his mistress, was poor. She lived in the valley of ashes. However, Tom never did anything to help her. It's sort of like, if it doesn't directly affect the individual, what does it matter to them?
My view on wealth, speaking about money, is simple. I want it. As shallow as that sounds it's true. I want to marry rich and live a luxurious life without having to raise a finger. Okay, I was just kidding (sort of). I want to be wealthy, and that's partly because I've been conditioned to crave it. Once I was 7 years old my mama told me (go make some friends or you'll be lonely) that she wants me to be rich. She wants me to make decisions that will lead me with a large sum of money and a good lifestyle when I'm older. I grew up with that lesson and It's engraved within my mind. That's why choosing a career path is such the struggle. I want to be something that I know will make me wealthy and my parents happy, but at the same time I want to be something that will make me happy.
My view on poverty is just like that of the rest of America. I acknowledge it exists and I feel bad for it. I'm well aware that poverty sucks and it's terrible. However, I wouldn't go out of my way necessarily to stop it. It's not my problem or worth my time right now. I feel like that just made me sound like a terrible person and so selfish, but I have my own problems to worry about. I'll spare money every once in a while, but I've never done anything past that.
I agree completely that Gatsby's success story is atypical. The average poor American isn't going to chance upon a wealthy mentor to help them Although Gatsby worked hard, though illegally, he was lucky. But the average poor American probably works harder than anyone else, and will always be poor. Gatsby was young, handsome, able-bodied, male, and white. Someone isn't these things would have a harder time. I can appreciate your conflict about choosing a career path. My parents also have always stressed that they wanted me to have more money and so have always pushed me to pursue being a doctor, a dentist, or a pharmacist, something that makes a lot of money. I also want to have money, I just don't know if I want to give up other career aspirations for it.
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